Offshore world looks good after Gulf oil spill, scientists say

By  Ben Raines, Press-Register (article)

It’s not really a scientific assessment, but some of the researchers most familiar with this part of the northern Gulf of Mexico say the ocean looks about like it should as fall begins.

However, the researchers agreed it could be years before any potential losses related to the oil spill become apparent.

“Working from the grand caveat that most of the information we have is anecdotal and suggestive,” said Monty Graham, a biologist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, “it does not appear that there are large pools of oil running around on the bottom, wreaking havoc.”

One unanimous concern was whether a summer’s worth of oil had diminished the Gulf’s supply of sargassum to the point that it could negatively affect species such as tuna, wahoo and marlin. The young of about 170 species — ranging from sea turtles to tiny pipefish — rely on the floating seaweed at some point during their life cycles.

Scientists said the survival rate of this year’s crop of larval sea creatures remains an open question, though there are early indications that more survived than some had expected, at least along the Mississippi and Alabama coastline.

Also puzzling, Graham said, was that some kinds of plankton were strangely delicate this year. His team monitored oxygen levels and collected water and plankton samples throughout the spill.

“Some of them were falling apart as we collected them,” Graham said of the microscopic creatures at the base of the Gulf food chain. “That was an oddity.”

Graham, who specializes in jellyfish, said those creatures were almost entirely absent from local waters during the spill. But their numbers off Alabama and Mississippi have returned to normal since the oil quit flowing. Meanwhile, jellies remain scarce off Louisiana, Graham said, adding that the absence was likely related to the spill.

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