Monthly Archives: June 2010

Unseen Victims of the BP Oil Disaster

By / Bio / Published: June 28, 2010
 

Floating mats of seaweed, known as sargassum, are home to a wide variety of ocean life. Credit: Steve W. Ross (UNCW), unpubl. data.

The daily count of sea creatures dying from coating with oil on the surface of the sea, or on the beaches, continues to rise.  We see sea turtles, sea and shore birds, and marine mammals, familiar creatures to us all.

As sad as these deaths are, the death toll is massively greater for animals not quite as visible, because they are small, living among marsh grasses, or under the surface of the sea, out-of-sight and thus out-of-mind.  The full litany of the dead is deeply disturbing.

Surface currents carry valuable life

The surface waters of a healthy Gulf swim with life, much of it too small to see.  Larvae of shrimp, crab, and other shellfish, and many familiar seafood fishes, spawned at sea, drift toward nurseries in coastal marshes and other shallow waters. Floating mats of seaweed, called sargassum, provide key habitats for babies of many species, now hopelessly contaminated. The interior and underside of these seaweed mats – under normal conditions – are wonderlands of life, as every offshore fisherman knows.

  
The evolution of the Gulf Loop Current from a strong downstream delivery phase on May 7 to a cutoff eddy phase on June 11, temporarily detaining oil pollution. Credit: NWS.

The Gulf Loop Current – a term now commonplace– is a superhighway in the sea for spawned babies of giant tunas, swordfish and other billfishes, groupers, snappers and other reef fishes, and even for hatchling turtles. These creatures ride the current —our version of Nemo’s East Australian Current— toward adult habitats, at risk as they pass through the ‘kill zone’ of oil in the northern Gulf.  

See an animation of the current loop here and see a video of the oil spreading here.

This figure represents the evolution of the Gulf Loop. Credit: NOAA.

Luckily, the chance development on June 1 of a cutoff eddy—a normal phase in the evolution of the Gulf Loop Current, where the current bends deep enough to interact with itself, ultimately cutting off a spinning gyre in the northern Gulf—has delayed the otherwise rapid delivery of oil pollution to the pristine coral reefs, mangrove swamps and seagrass beds of northern Cuba, the Florida Keys and beyond.  Delivery of oil downcurrent to those habitats remains likely, as the Gulf Loop redevelops.  In fact, the weathered oil currently held in the cutoff eddy will likely drift northwest towards the Texas coast.

The beauty, and now oil, down below

An actual track of a sperm whale diving through rich mid-water feeding zones (shown in green) from the northern Gulf of Mexico. Credit: Modified from Azzara, 2006.

Under the surface, hovering clouds of oil pollution drift with the currents, and threaten perhaps the least known elements of this magical world.  At middle depths, a profusion of life – shrimps, lanternfish, jellyfish and squids –create a layer of life so rich it appears as sonar returns to surface ships, earning the name “deep scattering layer” to scientists.  This rarely imagined world of the deep – key prey for surface diving whales, dolphins, sharks and tunas – is now being contaminated twice, as oil pollution rises to and through it, and as sinking particles carry toxicants back downward.  It is no surprise that sperm whales and other deep-feeding life forms we cherish are now numbered among the dead. 

Deepwater treasures contaminated

The Visoca Knoll coral reefs are near the Deepwater Horizon well and are home to a rich variety of life. Credit: Steve W. Ross (UNCW), unpubl. data.

On the bottom, the corals and worms get the short end of the slick.   The deep-origin oil spewing from the crippled well is polluting deepsea wonderlands that are just now being discovered, notably majestic and ancient deepwater coral reefs. The vast majority of the oil that remains in the sea will ultimately find its way to the seafloor, where worms and other sediment-eating life forms will ingest it, be ingested in turn, and continue contaminating food webs – and the very web of life – for generations to come. 

This spill impacts you, too

Put all together, every important part of the broader Gulf of Mexico marine ecosystem – upon which so many people rely for their income, and their way of life – is taking many potential knockout blows.  Productivity of key seafood species could be depressed for years if not generations to come.  Special care will be required to ensure that Gulf seafood remains safe.  There is plenty to cry about, both on the surface and in the unseen places in the deep.

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An Interview with Rod Fujita, EDF Senior Scientist and Director of Ocean Innovations

By / Published: June 28, 2010

In continuing with our spotlight on EDF’s passionate and talented Oceans staff, we invite you to learn a little more about Dr. Rod Fujita, EDF Senior Scientist and Director of Oceans Innovations as well as Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment.

Rod Fujita, EDF Senior Scientist & Director of Oceans Innovations

Rod Fujita, EDF Senior Scientist & Director of Oceans Innovations

Where did you go to college?

I studied biology and math at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. I later got a Ph.D. in marine ecology from Boston University’s Marine Program, at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Tell me about your experience in the field doing hands-on research.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the field, including the kelp forests of California, the salt marshes and estuaries of New England, the rocky shores of Oregon, and coral reefs around the world.  A highlight was back in the late 1980s when I camped out at an isolated lighthouse about five miles off of Key Largo in the Florida Keys to study Carysfort Reef.

I had a power generator to operate my equipment and would stay out there for a few weeks at a time periodically over the course of a year. I dove and snorkeled in the reef several times a day, eventually spending hundreds of hours underwater to study what caused different types of algae to grow in the coral reef.

You were one of the first advocates to propose that mass coral bleaching is a result of climate change, is that correct?

In the late-1980s several scientists began to notice a strange pattern of coral bleaching. My colleague Dr. Tom Goreau and I looked at global temperature patterns and noticed a high correlation between hot spots in the ocean (just one or two degrees Celsius warmer than surrounding waters) and bleaching.  We also noticed a correlation between unusually hot years and unusually severe bleaching, so we made the case that bleaching was indeed global and could be related to climate change.  When my EDF colleague Mark Epstein and I presented the findings at a meeting of scientists in Berkeley, we were criticized by just about everyone there. It wasn’t until many years later that we were vindicated.

What are some other highlights of your 20 year career at EDF and as a founding member of the organization’s oceans program?

I was able to contribute to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and raise awareness among the general public as well as among the negotiators of the Framework Convention on Climate Change about the impacts of climate change on coral reefs, mangroves, and other ocean ecosystems.

EDF’s Doug Rader and I were two of the first environmentalists to advocate for marine protected areas, way back in the late 1980s. I helped establish the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and marine protected areas in the Channel Islands and off the coast of California as well. 

Another highlight was the excitement of learning about a solution to overfishing from EDF economists Zach Willey and Dan Dudek when I first started at EDF in 1988: catch shares.  It’s great to see catch shares catch on, especially after having to endure heavy criticism and opposition for years.

How did you come to support catch share management for fisheries?

When Doug Hopkins, Doug Rader, and I founded EDF’s oceans program in 1990, we identified overfishing as the number one threat to marine biodiversity. The traditional way of managing fisheries has too often failed either ecosystems, fishermen, or both and needs major surgery, not minor fixes. In the ‘90s, we started reviewing various proposals for fixing the system.  Zach and Dan persuaded us to study catch shares, which many economists had been advocating for a long time and which several countries had already adopted.  After an exhaustive review of the scientific literature, we concluded that catch shares could transform the way fisheries are managed and greatly improve their conservation and economic performance.

Catch shares work because they align stewardship with economic incentives and require fishermen to be accountable for their catch. Fishermen are rewarded when the fish populations rebound by being able to catch more fish.  In conventional fisheries management, fishermen are given the incentive to race to catch as much fish as fast as possible and are forced to throw tons of wasted, dead fish overboard.

You’ve been appointed to many advisory panels and committees over the course of your career. Can you name a few?

I served on the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee, three committees for the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast Advisory Committee on Individual Transferable Quotas for fish harvest privileges. I’ve had the opportunity to testify in Congress several times and was a consultant to the EPA Science Advisory Board for the Alaskan Oil Spill Bioremediation Project.

What are people surprised to learn about you?

That I play guitar and bass in a rock band.  People are also surprised to learn that I once hosted Barbara Streisand – a huge EDF supporter – on a tour of the award-winning EDF/American Museum of Natural History exhibition on climate change that I helped design.

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A Vision for the New England Fleet

By / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: June 23, 2010

Brett Tolley’s letter-to-the-editor published in the Gloucester Times last week draws attention to the excellent work that the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) and others did to understand and communicate a strong vision for the New England fishing fleet.  NAMA gathered stakeholders from all parts of the fishing industry as part of this two year process.  The results call for a “diverse, economically viable and environmentally sustainable fleet”.  As the New England Fishery Management Council continues to consider accumulation caps and other design improvements to sectors under the groundfish management plan, there is an opportunity to make this vision a reality.

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Somewhere Over the Gulf Coast: A “Glee” and BP Oil Disaster Mashup

By / Published: June 17, 2010

As posted on EDF’s Climate 411 blog by EDF Executive Director, David Yarnold.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPjJPVdR4g

From a comfortable distance – in our classrooms, around our water coolers, through pictures on TV or newspapers – the BP oil disaster is depressing and horrific.

But up close where every breath you take fills your mouth, nose, and lungs with the toxic mix of oil and industrial chemicals, where you talk with resilient and proud locals and hear their frustration, anger, and concern, where the disturbing and unforgettable scenes of a precious and fragile ecosystem in crisis are just seared into your mind – all of it is just so bad, so repugnant, so wrong in the most profound way.

Two days in the Gulf of Mexico left me enraged – and deeply resolved. Both the widespread damage and the inadequacy of the response effort exceeded my worst fears.

Seeing terns and gulls sitting on the oil-soaked booms that were supposed to be protecting their fragile island marshes – booms that had been blown or washed ashore – may have been the ultimate symbol of the devastation unfolding in the Gulf.

Or maybe it was the lone shrimp trawler, aimlessly circling off the coast, dragging a saturated gauze-like boom behind it, accomplishing nearly nothing.

Or maybe it was the desperation of the fishermen whose livelihoods had been snatched away by BP’s recklessness – and yet want nothing more than to see the moratorium on drilling lifted so their economies don’t dry up, as well.

I’d spent a full day on the Gulf and we ended up soaked in oily water and seared by the journey into the heart of ecological darkness.

By Tuesday night, I was home. My throat burned and my head was foggy and dizzy as I showed my pictures and my flip-camera video to my wife, Fran, and my 13-year-old daughter, Nicole, on the TV in the family room.

Images of the gooey peanut-butter colored oil and the blackened wetlands flashed by. Pictures of dolphins diving into our oily wake and Brown Pelicans futilely trying to pick oil off their backs popped on the screen. And, out of nowhere, Nicole put on the music from the season finale of Glee.

With all these horrific images on the screen, she had turned on the show’s final song of the year, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” The song, a slow, sweet, ukulele and guitar-driven version, couldn’t have added a deeper sense of tragic irony.

I choked up. And then that resolve kicked in: I wanted anyone/everyone to see what our addiction to oil had done to the Gulf and to contrast that with the sense of hope and possibility that “Somewhere” exudes.

Long story short, last weekend, Peter Rice, Chairman of Fox Networks Entertainment, gave Environmental Defense Fund the green light to use the song. The pictures you’ll see were shot by two incredibly talented EDF staffers, Yuki Kokubo and Patrick Brown – and a few are mine.

The inspiration was Nicole’s. This is for her, and for all of our kids – and theirs to come.

David Yarnold is executive director of Environmental Defense Fund.

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NOAA Chief Promotes Transparency in Science Regarding BP Oil Disaster

By / Bio / Published: June 10, 2010

Bob Dylan once sang that “you don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.”  But if you’re the part of the federal government charged with conducting scientific studies of the biggest environmental disaster in the nations history, and what you say profoundly impacts millions of people’s lives and the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico, then you probably DO want a weather man to say which way the wind blows.

Meanwhile, everybody – me included – is growing more and more outraged at the scale of this disaster.   We want information about what’s really happening out there: where’s the oil? How much is there? What’s the toxicity? How will the ecosystem respond?

Caught in the middle is NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco.  She has the unenviable task of conducting scientific studies in the middle of this mess and she deserves credit for promoting government transparency in the science around the disaster.  As soon as results were validated Tuesday, NOAA communicated and released to the public data from the recent scientific mission of the R/V Weatherbird II that tested Gulf water.  This was an important step to build public confidence in the government’s handling of the disaster.

Crisis situations like the BP oil disaster remind us all that the public has a right to know what’s going on. While I—and I’m sure many others—are frustrated that many of our questions haven’t yet been answered, transparency in the results gives me confidence that we are getting the full story.

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Vote on Massive Southeast Fishing Closures Passes

By / Published: June 9, 2010

Today in Orlando, Florida, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) approved amendment 17A (17A) to the snapper grouper fishery management plan. Now it will go to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke for approval. 17A closes the red snapper fishing season throughout the Southeast. It also closes a 5,000 square mile area for additional kinds of snapper and grouper fishing from Georgia to South Florida. A short-term ban was put in place in January to prevent red snapper fishing, until 17A could be finalized.

While today’s passage of 17A fulfills the Council’s legal requirements to end overfishing of red snapper, it does not provide an effective long-term strategy for a healthy fishery. In reality, it reinforces many other problems:

  • Commercial and charter fishermen going out of business;
  • Difficulty in finding local fish in restaurants and stores; and
  • Recreational fishermen – including tourists – not being able to fish as much, which hurts countless bait and tackle shops, boat dealers and mechanics, and tourist hotels and restaurants.

Catch shares allow fishing as fish populations rebuild
EDF believes that catch share management is the best option for the commercial and for-hire (charter and party boats) sectors of the snapper and grouper fishery. Catch shares could potentially replace 17A’s closures with fishing seasons and reduce closed areas while fish populations rebuild. Private anglers deserve an opportunity to catch red snapper too, and fishermen and the Council have an opportunity to improve the management by exploring new tools like a tagging program.

Growing numbers of Southeast fishermen agree that catch shares are the best way forward.

Catch shares set a scientifically-based limit on the total amount of fish that can be caught and then divide that amount among individual fishermen or groups of fishermen.  Studies have shown that catch shares bring fish populations back and benefit fishermen. With catch shares, fishermen have much more flexibility on when to fish, are held individually accountable for what they catch, are no longer forced to waste tons of fish by throwing them overboard, and fishing can be more profitable.

A looming disaster: Effort shift
When 17A is implemented, fishermen will focus on other kinds of fish, instead of red snapper. This can damage other fish populations or underwater habitat. Also, the uncontrolled BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico may push Gulf fishermen into Southeast waters. Both situations will increase the amount of fishing pressure on an already distressed fishery. Catch shares reduce the need for season and area closures and the chance of damaging effort shift in fisheries.

Catch share success is proven
Successful catch share management is in place in the Gulf of Mexico’s red snapper, grouper and tilefish fisheries and hundreds of other fisheries worldwide. Just three years after the red snapper catch share in the Gulf of Mexico went into place, the amount of wasted fish was reduced significantly, fishermen made higher profits, and fish populations were rebounding. With the BP Oil Disaster, the flexibility of catch shares allows fishermen in areas closed to fishing to sell or lease their shares of fish to fishermen in open areas.

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