Chillingly reminiscent of the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, images of oil covered sand and shorebirds are already pouring in from the most recent offshore drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Over twenty years later, scientists responsible for monitoring the consequences of the Alaska spill say that marine life and vegetation are still reeling from the effects of that disaster, and experts involved in the early stages of the Gulf clean up are echoing their concerns.

Satellite Photo Of Oil Spill Taken By NASA

“Given the nursery habitat function of the coastal wetlands of the Gulf (and the fact that oil spill in those areas will be virtually impossible to clean up), wetland habitat impacts/loss will have the most long-term and devastating effects on the ecology of the region,” said Samantha Whitcraft, Director of Conservation Biology at Oceanic Defense. “Because so many species in the Gulf (birds, fish, and mammals) depend on these areas for reproduction, life-cycles—potentially for decades—will be impacted, thus impacting population recovery.”
The most visible effects of the spill are the result of direct oiling: oil released from the undersea well that floats on the surface of the ocean and washes up on shore where it comes into direct contact with large animals that use the shoreline, such as seabirds, otters, and seals.

Innocent migrating species, many of whom are endangered, are already arriving in the region and finding their breeding grounds are contaminated but unable to alter their instinctual drive to reach their destination and produce offspring.

The Kemp Ridley sea turtle, which has already made a comeback from the brink of extinction once before, and dwindling populations of blue fin tuna, both call the Gulf home during their spring spawning season. While these animals may not immediately die from being coated in oil, ingesting or inhaling smaller amounts can cause severe illness and death, reports Miriam Goldstein of Deep Sea News.

Volunteers are currently using hair and fur filled nylon booms to skim oil off of the surface of the ocean, but this is quickly proving to be a time-consuming and inefficient process. (Think about using a pool skimmer to clean a pool thousands of square miles in size).

Frantic to make some headway on spill containment and clean-up, officials have authorized the use of chemical dispersants, both on the surface and beneath the waves, but this could usher in a whole new collection of environmental problems.

Designed to break down the oil already floating on the surface of the water, and to prevent oil gushing up from the sea floor from reaching the surface, these dispersants are full of toxic components.

According to Judith S. Weis, a professor of biology at Rutgers, using them could have a negative effect on other critters further from the coast that weren’t in as much danger when the oil was just a sheen above them. There’s also no telling what the effect of releasing this amount of chemicals into the ocean will be on water quality for years to come.
Thankfully, some researchers are also working on a more natural clean-up technique that can be put to use breaking down the asphalt-like balls of petroleum that will soon become embedded in the dense marshland that formerly providing food and shelter for animals up and down the coast.

Ralph Portier, a professor of environmental sciences at Louisiana State University recently told CNN.com that he is working on the development of microbes that can go to work breaking down the oil in hard to reach places.

As soon as the oil flow has been stopped (an achievement that could take up to a week longer), scientists will spread fertilizer to boost the growth of several species of microscopic plants that are able to degrade hydrocarbons. In areas of especially heavy oiling, millions more of these microbes, grown in laboratories but native to the area, could be brought in as reinforcements, Portier said.

Currently, Portier’s technique is the only actual restoration plan being openly discussed, as it can be used to assist the natural recovering the in the Gulf long after the skimmers and bird-washers have gone home. While the other tactics mentioned in this article are essential to containment and initial clean-up, and will pave the way for restoration work that will soon follow, they are purely reactionary, and can only be successful to a certain extent.

It’s understandable, yet disappointing, to see so many experts and officials still unwilling to talk about how the affected areas will even begin to achieve restoration; however, they’re reluctance isn’t totally unfounded.  Oil is, after all, still gushing from the broken rig site an at alarming rate, and until the proposed capping mechanism is in place, and the spill ceases to grow, it may remain virtually impossible to capture the attention of restoration specialists currently involved.

In the meantime, we will reach out to members of academia for their perspective on the first and most essential steps toward restoration, and start assembling a picture of how to proceed.

If you’ve been following the news and feeling pretty helpless about what might be the worst oil spill in U.S. history, check out this list of ways you can help, and stay tuned to TENTHMIL for more info about restoration efforts.