Media contact:
Dr. Monty Graham,
Principal Investigator
DISL: 251-861-2141 x2272
Cell: 251-753-7588
mgraham@disl.org
Dr. George Crozier, Executive Director
DISL: 251-861-2141 x7505
Cell: 251-604-3946
gcrozier@disl.org
On Tuesday, May 4, scientists from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) recovered what appear to be small amounts of oil and tar about 35 miles south of Dauphin Island.
As part of the pre-spill baseline conducted by the DISL, hundreds of samples including grassbed surveys from Louisiana to Florida, reef fish age and growth community assessments, ecosystem structure, and water column sampling of fish eggs and larvae have been acquired. At times the Laboratory had as many as seven vessels working at the same time. Over thirty faculty, staff and students at the Laboratory logged over 1300 hours of effort over the past nine days.
Scientists from the Fisheries Oceanography of Coastal Alabama (FOCAL) program at DISL recovered what appear to be small amounts of oil and tar at one of their sampling sites, about 35 miles south of Dauphin Island. FOCAL, housed within the Richard C. Shelby Center for Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management at DISL and funded through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, was working approximately 35 miles south of Dauphin Island collecting fish eggs, larvae and other plankton at depths in advance of the spill. Samples collected at the ocean surface and about three feet below the surface contained a dozen thick black, oily particles about the size of grains of rice.
The following day, May 5th, a separate team from FOCAL, working several miles further to the south, recovered what are best described as 6-8 inch “bricks of solid tar,” honeycombed with gas pockets floating on the sea surface. Two samples from a dozen observed offshore, were returned to DISL. One of these samples was released to the US Coast Guard that afternoon.
While the material will be further analyzed by scientists to determine its source, DISL scientists suspect that it could be the leading edge of debris and oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. The rig sank on April 22 and has been releasing an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil every day since then.
Scientists at DISL and other marine laboratories in the area are concerned that the “dispersed” products of treatment may occur below the sea surface where it is less prone to be moved by winds and more available to direct consumption by plankton-feeding organisms. It is uncertain whether these particles retain the toxicity associated with the crude oil. Material reaching the surface loses a significant percentage of its toxicity as the lighter components evaporate, leaving the tarry residue floating on the surface.
The DISL FOCAL team is returning to the area on Friday, May 7th, to conduct additional water tests and to try a new sampling approach to map sub-surface oil material as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast. |
