For this week’s #dwhstories I want to share some thoughts and resources about impacts to the marine environmental as a result of the #dwhoilspill. Key point: out of sight isn’t out of mind. We can't forget the marine environment when it comes to offshore oil spills.
134 million gallons of oil was discharged from the wellhead over a period of 87 days in 2010. The evidence of devastation was apparent on the coast as well as on the surface of the Gulf--who can forget the sight of orange-brown crude roiling in on waves all summer?
This large volume of oil severely impacted the resources and habitats of the marine ecosystem. Thousands of sea turtles and marine mammals (among many other resources) were impacted, which you can read about here int-res.com/abstracts/esr/…
Deepwater corals in the vicinity of the spill were visually impacted by oil and likely won't recover fully for 100s of years. Image courtesy of White et al. 2012. 
Other benthic resources were also impacted. (The benthic zone is the region at the deepest, or lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean). jstor.org/stable/2486271…
Troublingly, research found that chemical dispersants, widely used, were more toxic than previously thought. The droplets created by the dispersants of the oil were found to be potentially more toxic when consumed by marine organisms than consumption of crude alone
Unfortunately, it is difficult and expensive to study impacts that aren’t readily visible from the land or the surface of the water. Research will go on for a long time, and I imagine there is still much to learn about how large oil spills can impact marine ecosystems.
Even tho the oil spill didn’t permanently devastate marine habitats and wildlife, the damage could have impacted the resiliency of the marine environment, impeding the ability of species and habitats to respond to other stressors like climate change, for example.
This underscores the importance of addressing known impacts through the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process. Without it, our marine resources will be even more vulnerable to changing ocean conditions.
Learn more about the marine environment and #DWH from @ourocean here: oceanconservancy.org/restoring-the-…
Erg. Marine Environment. Proofread, my friends.
