A Ra Choi
Dezarey Huizar
Eddie Johnson
Yoni Aboody
Period 1
6/2/10
The Massive Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
On April 20, 2010, starting from 9:45 p.m CST, the Deepwater Horizon exploded causing it to
turn to flames. This led to a massive oil spill to occur in the Gulf of Mexico. 126 crew members were
evacuated and 11 crew members were killed. This oil disaster is now the worst oil disaster in the
American History, spilling double the amount of the Exxon Valdez disaster which was a massive oil spill
in Prince Williams Bay of Alaska in 1980. Two days later, on April 22, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon sank
5,000 feet into the water, below the surface. The sinking of the Deepwater Horizon caused the oils to
leak. Attempts to halt the flow of oil failed when the safety device, known as the Blowout preventer,
failed to activate. BP engineering began a “top kill” which is the method of putting mud over the leak to
stop the leak, but that failed too.
This environmental disaster was said to be an accident though. The government is still figuring
out if it could have been prevented or not. Of course, people are very quick to blame others in these
kinds of situations. The main victim responsible for this oil spill is the British Petroleum otherwise known
as BP, evidently because they are the owner of the lease of the drill and they should have been prepared
for the worst that could happen as they expanded the offshore oil drilling. Transocean was also a victim
to take responsibility because they were the operators of the rig and gave a failure of a blow out
preventer. But, according to the Boston Globe, Obama accepted the blame of the oil spill response
reasoning that he was the one who should have pushed the British Petroleum them sooner and it is his
job to make sure everything goes right.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been very harmful to the lives of fish, birds, and other
wildlife species along the Gulf Coast. It is estimated that 5000 barrels per day of oil has leaked into the
sea, it is said to cover about 2,000 square miles of water according to BBC News. According to the New
York Times, the oil spill was heading towards the Mississippi River where the mouth of the ocean and
river meet, and MSNBC also claims that the ocean is carrying the spill towards at least 10 wildlife areas
and refuges. In order to speed up the process of the oil weathering, scientist use dispersants which are
applied offshore to create this affect. Unfortunately, the dispersants themselves are also toxic to the
marine life and cause more oil to loiter below the surface which causes more problems because
chemists still have not seen an obvious sign that the dispersants are helping to clear up the oil. Some
other efforts to rid the water of oil was to burn the oil, put into effect, the oil burn was considered
successful by officials, however the attempt to turn off the well at the source has still not been
successful.
Some people feel that there is no possible way to stop the spill however; believing that the
capacity of resources that is able to handle oil spills is well beyond its max already with this spill. Even
with the amount of vessels and other technology being used, emergency crews are having a tough time
containing the spill although around 90,000 barrels of oil-water mix has been collected since the
beginning of the incident. Natural currents such as ocean currents and winds contribute to the
difficultly in containing the oil, fox news believes that the oil will move to quickly for emergency crews
prevent much of the oil from reaching the shorelines. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil will have
leaked by the time a relief well is drilled to help relieve some pressure however, until the new drill is
created, emergency crews will attempt to place a building about four stories tall to cover up the main
leaking point of the spill, it is estimated to collect around 85% of the oil that is entering the water. Many
people are beginning to lose confidence in their government, believing that their government has failed
them and with held the truth from the community. There are many businesses and families in danger of
losing most or all of their income because of this tragedy.
Not many people know what life is like down at the very bottom of the ocean, otherwise known
as the sea floor. Researchers have taken an expedition down to the sea floor, even the one destroyed by
the oil spill; the one in Gulf of Mexico. They have provided us with information that we should keep in
mind. Sea floor life, or benthic life, has two types of communities that exist.
One type of community is where the clams and mussels live with symbiotic bacteria, which is
where hydrocarbon leak out of the sediments. Also in this community is where the polychaete
tubeworms live, and these worms can grow many meters and live for centuries. The other type of
community is where the corals live where they capture prey that floats or from bacteria that sinks from
above. There are sessile and mobile organisms in the sea floor. Sessile organisms include corals,
mussels, and/or oysters while mobile organism includes crabs and lobsters. The sources of energy for
these communities are sulfide and methane. The symbiotic bacteria tap sulfide and methane for
energy.
Benthic communities are very significant to our marine ecosystem and therefore they should be
studied. To study communities on the sea floor of the gulf, researchers are being sent on expeditions
down to the sea floor to take samples of water and sediment. While there, they get to observe the life
on the sea floor.
There are 29 species of marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico. These species include cetaceans,
such as the minke, blue, fin, sperm whale, orcas, beaked whales and a number of dolphin species,
including bottlenose dolphins, saddle-backed dolphins, striped dolphins and spinner dolphins. The Gulf
of Mexico also houses the West Indian manatee and 5 sea turtle species: Kemp's Ridley, leatherback,
loggerhead, green and hawksbill. The coastal areas are often alligator habitats. Oysters, crabs, shrimp,
and snails also live in the gulf, along with corals, jellyfish, and worms. In deeper areas, tubeworms and
bivalves make their home, consuming methane and sulfides chemosynthetically. Many sharks inhabit
the gulf, such as the nurse shark, great white shark, shortfin mako, blue shark, and scalloped
hammerhead. It’s also a prime habitat for stingrays, including the southern stingray, spotted eagle ray,
and cownose ray, as well as other fish species, some of which are sought by commercial and
recreational fishermen, such as sawfish, moray eel, American eel, striped mullet, black drum, red drum,
seatrout, tarpon, amberjack, Florida pompano, snook, crevalle Jack, cobia, tripletail, snapper, and the
sheepshead The Gulf of Mexico hosts a number of bird species, both migratory and stationary. These
include native birds such as pelicans, anhingas, frigatebirds, egrets, herons, spoonbills, ibis, and mallard
ducks, and migrating species like the large northern gannet. The Gulf of Mexico supports a variety of
marine algae and plants, mostly consisting of species of seagrasses, which provide habitat for adult
animals such as manatees and sea turtles, and nursery areas for young fish and invertebrates. Coastal
mangroves also provide important habitats.
Complex positive species interactions in terrestrial systems have a number of beneficial effects.
Increased diversity of mycorrhizal symbionts, which increases plant community biodiversity, which
creates greater stability for plant communities. In marine ecosystems, the coral Oculina arbuscula
harboring a majid crab, Mithrax forceps, prevents overgrowth of macroalgae and shading of the corals.
This allows O. arbuscula to maintain its facultative mutualism with photosynthetic zooxanthellae in welllit habitats off the Atlantic coast of North Carolina, increasing the amount of energy available to the
coral for growth and reproduction. At cold seeps in the Cascadia and Aleutian subduction zones,
bioirrigation through burrow formation and bioturbation by clams (Calyptogena spp.) significantly
affects the distribution of microbial anaerobic methane oxidation. These are simply more examples of
interspecific interactions.
The Least tern fishes for food along the beach, and will therefore probably be affected. Also,
Bluefin tuna will most likely be affected, as even a few drops of crude oil can severaly harm tuna larvae
and eggs. Also, if the tuna consume too many smaller fish that have consumed oil, they will be heavily
affected as well. The brown pelicans will also be heavily affected, as it spends much of its time floating
on the surface of the water or nesting on beaches, meaning that the oil could compromise the pelican’s
thermal regulation or buoyancy. The bottlenose dolphin must surface to breathe, and therefore they
may inhale the oil, or ingest it via large amounts of tainted fish. More than thirty dead sea turtles were
found dead on the missisipi beaches in early may. Since turtles breathe above water, they are likely to
ingest oil, and their curiosity may cause them to ingest clumps of oil as well. The reddish egrets may be
less likely than the terns to die, due to their tendency to wade over float, but they still run heavy risk of
oil consumption, since their feeding occurs in shallow, oil-rich water. The sperm whales are possibly the
most vulnerable, since a colony of sperm whales lives near the Gulf of Mexico, and therefore risk
ingestion and inhalation when they come to the surface to breathe. The snowy plover is usually found
running up and down shorelines to find food, and therefore could not only come into contact with oil
spills, but might eat small invertebrates and oysters that had died of oil poisoning. Also, oyster larvae
could come into contact with the oil, causing heavy damage to all of them.
But there is a way to help. Tainted birds can be rescued and cleaned off, and the oil spills
themselves can be cleaned up. A junk shot strategy is planned to cap the leak. The junk shot would
basically shoot a huge pile of junk at the leaking area, hoping to plug off the leak. A replacement well is
planned soon, which would completely stop the oil spill. Finally, if the oil spill is small enough, animals
may avoid it themselves.
When an oil spill occurs, the coastline suffers. Birds and sea mammals are covered in oil, and are
unable to function properly afterwards. Even the sand is covered in oil, and unless the shoreline is
cleaned by humans, the oil will decompose very slowly, causing more and more animals to be coated in
it, killing those as well. Since shores are usually where animals nest, both the parents and children will
take heavy damage from the oil, unless environmentalists make a concerted effort to clean up the
shorelines. Not only can that, but the huge amounts of oil make shores dangerous for humans, not to
mention extremely ugly. The oil affects the coastal food web as well. With smaller animals consuming
oil, a few of them may die. However, the greater danger is to larger animals, surprisingly enough. As
they consume large amounts of animals, the small amounts of oil in each of the prey’s systems
congregate in the larger animal’s system, causing it to eventually die. Because of this, many predators
will die off, and since these reproduce slowly, the food web will take a long time in recovering. Also,
coastal birds will be heavily affected. Unless they are cleaned off by environmentalists or volunteers,
they will be unable to fly, float, or thermally regulate, causing them to die of cold or starvation, or even
just of oil poisoning. Preventing oil from washing up on shore is not such a difficult task, providing some
measures are taken. Firstly, drilling an extra well in the first place(two wells instead of one) provides an
added measure of safety, should one well break. In fact, Canada has a law requiring this, but the U.S.A.
refused to put such a law into effect. Dispersants can aid in dispersing the oil, preventing it from
washing up in shore in such great quantities. Finally, lighting the oil on fire can prevent the oil from
reaching the surface, or a top kill can do the same.
As we all know the horrible oil spill that first took placed on April 20.2010 is been called maybe
the worst disaster to happen to the gulf coast. Not only is the oil spill affecting the ocean but it also has
a huge impact on the fisheries as well. Fisheries produce about 1.27 billion pounds of fish and shellfish
being worth over $659 million dollars.
The gulf coast sustains over 200 varieties of salt fish water. Some common fishes found in the
gulf coast are red snapper, gag grouper, tilefish, greater amberjack, cobia, yellowfish tuna, barracuda,
wahoo, sailfish, mangrove snapper, king mackerel, hog fish, hammerhead shark, black sea bass, black
grouper. Fish in the gulf coast have unique characteristics that make them interesting to learn about.
The gulf coast is the ninth largest body of water in world basin covering 600,000 sq miles; it
provides 73% of the nations shrimp and 59% of oysters and 1 billion pounds of fish per day. The fisheries
are highly affected by the oil spill because continents in the oil can persist for years and accumulate in
the food chain, causing elevated cancer risks or neurological risks. Fish depend on oysters and shrimp for
food once they have been contaminated they are pretty much done for.
For the meanwhile only 5% of the gulf coast is closed for fishing. Fish caught in the gulf coast
are safe to eat and most waters are open for fishing. Although it is not 100% sure that all fishes are not
contaminated so it is said to not fish caught from the gulf coast while the oil spill is contained or when
officials say it is safe to eat fish and shrimp. It is a good idea to be very up to date with all the
information pertaining to the oil spill. The FDA is saying that fishes are been more and more
contaminated each day as long as the spill continues!
An important action we can take to help lessen the damage of the oil spill is to volunteer to
clean out the most of the ocean we can. As well as inform others of the importance of our oceans being
clean and take this as a warning sign that we need to take more care of our oceans and our world.
The following pictures basically represent the interspecific interactions of many of the organisms in the Gulf of
Mexico, and also details how the oil and other toxic substances might pass through the ecosystem.
Work Cited
Background
Cleveland, Cutler J. "Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill." Encyclopedia of Earth. 02 June 2010. Web. 02 June 2010.
<http://www.eoearth.org/article/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill#Government_assessment_of_the_leak>.
"Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010) - The New York Times." Times Topics. New York Times, 28
May 2010. Web. 02 June 2010.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_spills/gulf_of_mexico_2010/index.html
>.
"Obama Accepts Blame on Oil Spill Response - The Boston Globe." Boston.com. 28 May 2010. Web. 02 June 2010.
<http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/05/28/obama_accepts_blame_on_oil
_spill_response/>.
Question 1
Robertson, Campbell. "A New Setback in Efforts to Contain the Gulf Oil Spill - NYTimes.com." The New York Times Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 08 May 2010. Web. 03 June 2010.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/09rig.html>.
Tracking the Gulf Oil Spill - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News.
Web. 03 June 2010. <http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/interactive.spill.tracker/index.html>.
Question 2
Kerr,, Richard A., Eli Kintisch, Laura Schenkman, and Erik Stokstad. "What's Happening to Life on the Sea Floor? ScienceInsider." Science/AAAS | News - Up to the Minute News and Features from Science. 20 May 2010.
Web. 02 June 2010. <http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/05/whats-happening-to-life-on-thes.html>.
"Life on the Sea Floor." THE BENTHOS - LIFE ON THE SEA FLOOR. Web. 02 June 2010.
<http://fig.cox.miami.edu/~ddiresta/msc101/Lec7.htm>.
Question 3
Hayes, By Ashley. "Oil Spill Could Be Disaster for Animals, Experts Say - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S.,
World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 27 May 2010.
<http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/oil.spill.wildlife/index.html>.
Robertson, Campbell. "A New Setback in Efforts to Contain the Gulf Oil Spill - NYTimes.com." The New York Times Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 08 May 2010. Web. 27 May 2010.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/09rig.html>.
"Oil Spill Gulf Of Mexico 2010: Coast Guard Considers Lighting Oil On Fire." Breaking News and Opinion on The
Huffington Post. Web. 27 May 2010. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/28/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico_0_n_554852.html>.
Question 4
Heron, S.f. "How Does an Oil Spill Affect The Environment? | EHow.com." EHow | How To Do Just About Everything! |
How To Videos & Articles. Web. 27 May 2010. <http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4616883_oil-spill-affectenvironment.html>.
Question 5