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Aug. 26, 2017 - A special issue of Marine Ecology Progress Series published August 3, 2017, features 9 scientific articles summarizing the impacts of the oil spill on northern Gulf of Mexico shorelines and nearshore areas. The scientific studies, conducted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration authors and partners, document four key findings based on five years of data collection and study: (1) organismal level effects were documented across the full range of trophic levels in areas that experienced heavy oiling; (2) degradation or loss of habitat-forming species represents a pathway to long-term direct and indirect effects; (3) the loss and degradation of these habitats result in a wide range of ecosystem service losses; and (4) response actions designed to mitigate the effects of oil often result in ecological injury. Findings from these research studies, in addition to other studies on other parts of the ecosystem, formed the basis of the natural resources damage assessment settlement with BP for up to $8.8 billion. All of the data associated with the settlement is available publicly in the Data Integration Visualization Exploration and Reporting database, but the Marine Environmental Progress Series special issue is the first time this information on nearshore impacts of the spill has been compiled together in peer-reviewed scientific publications. For further information, contact Mary.Baker@noaa.gov.
Also see Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Coastal Salt Marsh Habitat.
.jpg "Heavily oiled marsh shoreline in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. Image credit: NOAA.")
The free daylong science festival brings together researchers and scientists to talk to people about marine life and conservation. NOAA scientists from our Damage Assessment and Restoration Program and Marine Debris Program, as well as the Northeast Fisheries Science Center will be on hand to explain our work protecting the coastal environment from hazardous waste, oil, and marine debris and restoring habitat and biota.
A brief power outage at last year’s event stopped the water pump that supplied an attractant water flow for our popular eel ladder. Rather than shut down the display, we asked the public to help by manually using buckets of water to simulate the river flow. The eels did not disappoint. They showed off their climbing skills, which allow them to navigate around and over natural obstacles that would be barriers to other fish species.
“The loss of power turned into an even more engaging interactive demonstration as the public eagerly played the role of the river to maintain flow and operation of the eel ladder,” said NOAA Regional Resource Coordinator Lisa Rosman. “Many visitors were also excited by the opportunity to briefly hold or touch an eel."
Activities at this year's science festival will include:
You can find our booth in the Research Stations section of the festival along with other science organizations sharing current marine research.
The Submerge NYC Marine Science Festival is Saturday, Sept.16 from 11am-4pm at Pier 26 at N. Moore St. in Lower Manhattan.
.jpg "At NOAA's Research Station, scientists from our Office of Response and Restoration and our Fisheries Service describe their work assessing natural resource injuries, reducing marine debris, and restoring habitat for the many marine and estuarine species that call the New York Harbor home. Image credit: NOAA.")
The harbor has a multitude of toxic waste sites, many of which have been included on the National Priority List - often referred to as Superfund sites. Ensuring restoration of natural resource services lost due to releases of hazardous substances and/or oil is particularly critical in highly populated areas like the New York-New Jersey Harbor.
As a Natural Resource Trustee, NOAA works with federal, state, and tribal authorities to assess and restore coastal and marine natural resources injured by releases of hazardous substances and oil. Natural Resource Damage Assessments are conducted to determine the extent of injuries, evaluate the best ways to compensate the public for any lost use of natural resources, and quantify the associated damages.
Waste sites and spills in and around the New York-New Jersey Harbor have contributed to releases of a variety of contaminants including:
NOAA is currently engaged in some important Natural Resource Damage Assessments in the New York-New Jersey watershed including:
Cleaning up toxic waste and restoring natural resources and the services they provide the public in highly developed and commercially important urban areas is complicated and sometimes takes a long time. Yet restoration of these resources and services is essential for the well-being of the millions of people here as well as for the continued economic strength of the region.
The Hudson-Raritan Estuary is a unique and nationally significant ecological and economic resource.
The estuary, where the Atlantic Ocean mixes with the Hudson, Hackensack, Passaic, Rahway, and Raritan rivers, creates one of the best natural harbors in the world and, as a result, one of the busiest ports. It also supports an ecological community of marine and estuarine life.
The coastal waters of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary include its inland rivers and bays and extend out across the continental shelf. These waters encompass a diversity of habitats including:
The diversity of habitat supports recreational and commercial fisheries.
Marine mammals such as seals, whales, and dolphins can be spotted in the harbor. In the summer and fall, it’s possible to see bottlenose dolphins in the harbor and humpback and minke whales in the coastal waters while harbor, grey, and harp seals may be spotted in the harbor from November through May.
The natural geography of the area continues to concentrate a tremendous variety of wildlife to the area and the diversity of habitat supports recreational and commercial fisheries. Hundreds of species of fish occur within the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. Restoring these natural resources is critical for the full benefits of this urban area to be realized for both the people and the fish and wildlife who make this area their home.
Hundreds of years of urbanization and industrialization have caused tremendous alteration and loss of shallow water, bottom, shoreline, and vegetated habitat in the New York-New Jersey Harbor and many of the remaining areas are degraded or isolated - providing sub-optimal habitat for plants and animals.
Poor water and sediment quality have altered ecological communities, threatened a variety of species, and negatively affected recreational enjoyment of the area.
In some areas, elevated concentrations of contaminants in fish and shellfish have caused the states of both New Jersey and New York to warn people not to eat, or to limit their consumption of, some of the animals they catch. Contamination can also restrict commercial and recreational fishing. Between 1976 and 1995, New York banned recreational fishing in 40 miles of the non-tidal freshwater Hudson and beginning in 1976 closed nearly 200 miles of the Hudson River to commercial fishing with few exceptions due to PCBs. The presence of contamination can negatively affect the public’s ability to utilize natural resources as well as alter their perception of the value of these ecological, recreational, and commercial resources within the Harbor and estuary.
However, the natural geography of the area continues to concentrate a tremendous variety of wildlife to the area. Over 100 species of fish occur within the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. Restoring these natural resources is critical for the full benefits of this urban area to be realized for both the people and the fish and wildlife who make this area their home.
Recreation—Healthy natural resources provide an array of recreational services – from fishing and boating to scenic enjoyment. Restoration of recreational uses of aquatic areas can include projects like improving boat ramps, fishing piers, and beach trails.
Improvement of recreational services is often an important component of projects designed to compensate for natural resource injuries in heavily populated areas like the New York-New Jersey Harbor.
Removal of obsolete dams that provide a recreational hazard like the Weston Mill Dam on New Jersey’s Millstone River, can increase safety and improve recreational and scenic enjoyment of a waterway. These dam removal projects can also improve fish stocks by both returning the flow of the river closer to its natural state and restoring passage for migratory fish, including American shad and river herring, to historical spawning and rearing grounds.
Economics—Coastal restoration results in stronger business growth, lower infrastructure costs, and improvements in other values measured by economists. Planned cleanup and proposed restoration projects along highly urbanized waterways such as the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn and Quanta Resources in northern New Jersey have been associated with spikes in property values. Jobs are created when restoration projects are implemented and significant long-term benefits are enjoyed though ecosystem service enhancements such as improved fisheries, water quality, coastal resiliency, boating, and tourism.
Protection—In some instances, certain types of restoration can provide critical flood control and storm water management for waterfront communities. In densely developed areas in particular, many wetland and dam removal projects help reduce localized flooding during storm events and can provide protection from storm surge.
The early stages of restoration planning for urban areas in the New York-New Jersey Harbor—for example the Passaic River and Newark Bay and Raritan Bay Slag— include cataloging restoration opportunities that can support not only fish and wildlife but also the surrounding communities by reducing impacts from storms and flood events and reducing the costs of flood-related property damage.
Outdoor Education and Stewardship—Natural areas nestled within densely populated urban areas are a treasure trove of outdoor education opportunities for teachers and researchers alike. Cleanup and restoration activities at the Gowanus Canal, located in the heart of Brooklyn, is often a highlight for New York City school groups seeking to connect their science curriculum to the local environment. This urban waterbody is commonly used as a teaching tool – providing a local hands-on learning opportunity.
Every fall, the Hudson River Park sponsors the NYC Marine Science Festival in lower Manhattan on the shores of the Hudson River. This event attracts thousands of people and, through interaction with scientists, researchers, and non-profits, connects them to their marine and coastal environment and builds support for the cleanup and restoration of the river, harbor, and the estuary.
Access to natural areas and these types of programs have been found to provide the public with a greater understanding of local history, a heightened feeling of ownership of our natural resources, and an increased interest in future habitat restoration and conservation projects in the region.
Work is underway in so many parts of the New York-New Jersey Harbor to cleanup and restore the valuable natural resources of this historic region.
The public has come to recognize the importance of rehabilitating contaminated waterways in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary. Restoration of this region’s natural resource services is critical for the substantial number of people and the fish and wildlife who make this area their home.
To report an oil or chemical spill or other environmental emergency call the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802. Check the EPA website for more information on reporting spills and environmental violations.
Reyhan Mehran and Lisa Rosman of the Office of Response and Restoration contributed to this article.
.jpg "Cleanup and restoration related to the Newtown Creek Superfund Site in New York City provides tremendous potential for benefits to fish, wildlife and the public. Image credit: NOAA.")
.jpg "Cleanup of portions of the Gowanus Canal Superfund site in Brooklyn, NY, is scheduled to begin at the 4th Street Turning Basin. Image credit: NOAA.")
.jpg "The Lincoln Park West restoration project in Jersey City, NJ, restored saltmarsh in the Arthur Kill ecosystem. Image credit: NOAA.")
Why you should care about estuaries
Estuaries are incredibly diverse and productive ecosystems. Learn more and then help spread the word about why estuaries matter. For example, estuaries:
You and your family and friends can take a personal stake in looking out for the health and well-being of estuaries by doing these simple things to protect these fragile ecosystems.
How We Are Protecting and Restoring Estuaries
Take a closer look at some of our work on marine pollution in these important estuaries.
Chesapeake Bay: NOAA has been working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Defense on cleaning up and restoring a number of contaminated military facilities around the Chesapeake Bay. Because these Superfund sites are on federal property, we had to take a slightly different approach than usual and tried to work restoration principles into the cleanup process as early as possible.
Delaware Bay: Our office has responded to a number of oil spills in and adjacent to Delaware Bay, including the Athos I oil spill on the Delaware River in 2004. As a result, we are working on implementing several restoration projects around the Delaware Bay, which range from creating oyster reefs to restoring marshes, meadows, and grasslands.
Puget Sound: For Commencement Bay, many of the waterways leading into it—which provide habitat for salmon, steelhead, and other fish—have been polluted by industrial and commercial activities in this harbor from Tacoma, Washington. NOAA and other federal, state, and tribal partners have been working for decades to address the contamination and restore damaged habitat.
Further north in Puget Sound, NOAA and our partners have worked with the airplane manufacturer Boeing to restore habitat for fish, shorebirds, and wildlife harmed by historical industrial activities on the Lower Duwamish River, a heavily used urban river in Seattle. Young Puget Sound Chinook salmon and Steelhead have to spend time in this part of the river, which is a Superfund Site, as they transition from the river’s freshwater to the saltwater of the Puget Sound. Creating more welcoming habitat for these fish gives them places to find food and escape from predators.
San Francisco Bay: In 2007 the M/V Cosco Busan crashed into the Bay Bridge and spilled 53,000 gallons of thick fuel oil into California’s San Francisco Bay. Our response staff conducted aerial surveys of the oil, modeled the path of the spill, and assessed the impacts to the shoreline. Working with our partners, we also evaluated the impacts to fish, wildlife, and habitats, and determined the amount of restoration needed to make up for the oil spill. We are currently using special buoys to plant eelgrass in the Bay as one of the spill’s restoration projects. You can read more updates here.
Check back next week, Monday, Sept. 18 for more information about our work with estuaries!
Aug. 15, 2017 - How do you handle a polar bear covered in oil? That was just one aspect of the annual Mutual Aid Deployment exercise last month on Alaska’s North Slope oil field.
Staff members from our Emergency Response Division and the Assessment and Restoration Division as well as other NOAA offices participated in the three-day exercise. Each year government agencies, oil companies, and oil spill removal organizations in the region work together to respond to a simulated oil spill in Alaska.
The scenario for this year’s drill was the simulation of an oil pipeline leak in the Beaufort Sea and the rescue of an oiled polar bear. In the exercise, the pipeline that was leaking belonged to Hilcorp, Alaska LLC. It was the first year the oil company hosted the event.
In addition to our office, participants included:
The exercise included field equipment deployment, an Incident Command Center, and remote operations in Anchorage. Emergency Response Division staff participated in the Incident Management Team at the command center established at Hilcorp’s Endicott Facility on the Beaufort Sea north of Prudhoe Bay.
Staff from the Assessment and Restoration Division led the Natural Resource Damage Assessment component of the drill, that included a tabletop exercise with representatives from the state and federal agencies, and staff from Hilcorp. One Damage Assessment liaison was at the Endicott facility and the rest of the team participated remotely from Anchorage. The drill provided an opportunity to practice how a natural resource damage assessment would work with response early in a spill situation.
NOAA provides scientific support to the Coast Guard during oil and chemical spills, and the tools we’ve developed are an extension of that support. During the exercise, our GNOME trajectory-forecasting tool kept participants updated on where the spilled oil could go.
Arctic ERMA®, our online Environmental Response Management Application, was continuously being updated with information on where the oil was as well as the location all the responders and their equipment. Environmental Sensitivity Index maps, which identify vulnerable wildlife and habitat potentially at risk from the spill, were also displayed in ERMA.
So how do you handle an oiled polar bear?
Very carefully and with a close eye on a timer.
Part of the drill was to see if an oil-injured polar bear could be tranquilized, pulled from the water, cleaned and caged before waking up.
Standing in for a real polar bear was an industrial-sized drum, filled with sand, covered with white cloth, and sporting a molded-foam head. The idea was to put the bear in the ocean and have emergency responders rescue the bear.
The rescue went well although some miscommunication early in the day added an unexpected element of realism—the team setting the fake bear in the lagoon did not anchor it, and due to heavy seas and winds on drill day, the bear drifted out into open water. However, the polar bear response team performed expertly and the fake bear was successfully located and rescued within the time allotted.
You can read more about other simulated oil (and oranges and rubber ducks) spills in these articles:
Zachary Winters-Staszak, Catherine Berg, and Sarah Allan of the Office of Response and Restoration contributed to this article.
Here in Seward, Alaska, we have built a well-equipped facility with depth in space, resources, and personnel. But chances are oil spills will occur somewhere other than our home base.
We have partnered with oil spill response organizations to provide support in other key areas with a large industrial and civic presence. These and other fixed facilities have the advantage of being close to population centers, providing shelter, and meeting the needs of stranded animals and our staff.
However, Alaska is a bit on the large side and has thousands of miles of remote coastlines dotted with small communities. As trans-Arctic shipping increases, so does the risk of accidents potentially affecting these shores, and we cannot count on spills happening where our equipment is conveniently available.
In fact, we need to be prepared to be completely self-sufficient and independent of even the smallest communities so as not to over-tax their resources with our activities.
So how do we take our rehab center on the road? Or rather, how do we take it down the beach, since most of Alaska’s shore is not accessible by road? We need a deployable set of equipment to treat impacted animals that will also meet the needs of the staff required to care for them.
Something like a MASH unit, a mobile army surgical hospital, or perhaps a ‘Mobile Animal Stranding Hospital!’ The team at Alaska Sea Life Center had already come up with an easily shipped seal pool and a list of equipment needed to support the oiled, stranded animals at fixed facilities as part of our partnerships with oil spill response organizations.
Now we needed to focus on those additional items needed if we were required to provide our own electricity, water, shelter, and staff needs, all of which needed to be compact and deployable.
Ultimately, we settled on a tiny-house-meets-Transformers approach in which we fill specially designed shipping container units with the necessary supplies and equipment, ready to be deployed where needed. Once on site, they transform into a veterinary clinic, food storage and kitchen, animal housing—including a pool, totes, crates, and dry area—and staff area.
But how will we staff our responses? Initially, we plan to draw from our own staff, as many are both Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response certified and experienced with caring for marine mammals and are based right here in Alaska. We have also partnered with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to train additional personnel experienced with the unique challenges of caring for marine mammals. Their home institutions have agreed to allow trained staff to deploy in support of events, but their staff are also trained to assist with events in their local area.
In combination, these efforts keep us ready, keep Alaska ready, and keep zoos and aquaria across the country ready.
To read more about the Association of Zoos and Aquariums program to train members for wildlife spill response:
Read more stories in our series on the effects of pollutants on wildlife:
Carrie Goertz is the staff veterinarian at the Alaska SeaLife Center overseeing the program of veterinary care for collection, research, and stranded animals. Special interests include helping the center and other zoological facilities being prepared to respond to disasters as well as how information about animals in zoological facilities and free ranging wildlife can help provide the best care for both groups. Opened in 1998, the Alaska SeaLife Center is a private, non-profit research institution and public aquarium. ASLC generates and shares scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of Alaska’s marine ecosystems, and is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. To learn more, visit www.alaskasealife.org.
In May, there were two incidents of dead gray whales in Washington state, one floating offshore near Long Beach, and another washed ashore in Bellingham Bay. In both cases, we were asked for trajectories. In the case of a whale found floating at sea, we use our GNOME trajectory modeling software to map the possible drift route of the carcass.
When a whale washes ashore, one of the things that officials need to know is how far they have to tow the carcass back out to sea to ensure it will not wash back to shore.
Our Incident News website has information on oil spills and other incidents where we provided scientific support.
Gray Whale Carcass: Seaview Approach, Washington
Mystery Sheen, Keweenaw Waterway, Michigan
Sunken Tug, Eugene Island Block, Offshore, Louisiana
Ethylene Glycol Drums, Sea Rim State Park
Tug Adrift off Washington Coast
PVS Chemicals Sulfuric Acid Release
Crowley Barge DBL 165-1 Grounding
Feb. 3, 2017 -- NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), a leader in providing scientific information in response to marine pollution, has scheduled a summer Science of Oil Spills (SOS) class in Seattle, Washington, June 19-23, 2017. OR&R will accept applications for the Seattle class until Friday, April 7. We will notify applicants regarding their application status no later than Friday, April 14, via email. SOS classes help spill responders increase their understanding of oil spill science when analyzing spills and making risk-based decisions. They are designed for new and mid-level spill responders. SOS training covers:
To view the topics for the next SOS class, download a sample agenda [PDF, 170 KB]. Please understand that classes are not filled on a first-come, first-served basis. We try to diversify the participant composition to ensure a variety of perspectives and experiences, to enrich the workshop for the benefit of all participants. Classes are generally limited to 40 participants. For more information, and to learn how to apply for the class, visit the SOS Classes page.
