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Marine Experts Stress Gulf Oil Spill
Will Have Long-term Impacts

On World Oceans Day, June 8, SeaWeb hosted a panel of marine experts who spoke at the National Press Club about the potential long-term environmental consequences Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Sponsored by the National Press Club, the panel stressed that this catastrophe will have long-term impacts on what is now known to be perhaps the most biologically rich deep-sea ecosystem in the Gulf as well as the sensitive ecosystem of the Louisiana delta. They also indicated that the key to recovery will be better management of not only our ocean but also the Mississippi River, the sediment from which has built the muddy coastal wetlands that will now be so challenging to repair after the oil's extensive damage.

A video of the panel discussion is available for download (large file, 693 MB)

Marine conservationist Céline Cousteau opened the discussion with a quote from her grandfather, Jacques Cousteau: "'All human undertakings are fallible.' He couldn't have been more right about what we are experiencing now in the Gulf. ... The resulting blowout of the main wellhead has now resulted in the worst oil spill in U.S. history. While exact estimates still range, we know that more than twice the amount of oil that spilled after the Exxon Valdez."

Thomas Shirley, the Endowed Chair of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) and a specialist in marine biodiversity at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, followed Cousteau. In 2009, HRI published an all-species inventory of the Gulf of Mexico in which they discovered the area around the wellhead happens to be the most biologically diverse area of the Gulf for that depth. The sector where the blowout is located has 8,332 species of animals and plants, 135 of which are unique to this area. This is critical information, as now the oil is not just on the surface but also in plumes through the deep sea that could impact species throughout this marine ecosystem. Shirley says these plumes are "the volume of Lake Erie."

Robert Twilley, a professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development at Louisiana State University, then explained that the Louisiana coastal ecosystem was already severely impaired before the spill. "The coast has been under siege for four decades," he reported. Twilley has been working with Louisiana State officials and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to recommend how to restore the coastal features from barrier islands to wetlands that once protected the area. Sediments have been depleted over time as dams and levees have reduced the Mississippi River's natural patterns and flow and redirected sediments out into the Gulf of Mexico.

Oiled pelican being cleaned. Justin Stumberg, U.S. Navy

"It will not be possible to restore, protect, restore or recover this coastal Louisiana region from this devastating oil tragedy without changes in significant ways [to how] the state and federal governments deal with natural resources," said Twilley, and stated that current federal and state policies that deal with multipurpose uses of areas such as the Mississippi River and its delta are currently conflicting. He also tied the inability for the ecosystem to handle such disasters to the reduction in the Mississippi River's flow to "half of the historical load," which in turn reduces the sediment that would have naturally been washed into the area and replenished the sand needed to protect the wetlands from ecological assaults. "We have lost our first line of defense. We have lost our barrier islands."

Both researchers said that given that this region is home to such a wealth of species and many migratory birds and that this is the time of year that chicks are being hatched and young animals are being born, that many species could suffer long-term consequences for generations to come. In addition, hurricane season has now begun and if one hits, churning waters could wash more oil as well as more saltwater into the fragile coastal wetland ecosystems.

How long the Gulf will need to recover, they say, is a complete unknown. However, Shirley, who has worked on studying the outcomes of the Exxon Valdez spill and says that any estimate that the Gulf could recover from this blowout in three years, as some have predicted, "is wildly optimistic."

"About 21 years after the spill, there are still 21,000 gallons in Alaska. You can still stick your hand into it; it is still there, in a thick molasses form. ... There are many species that have not recovered from the Exxon Valdez spill."

Shirley also explained that the two spills are different in that the Exxon Valdez spill that was on the surface and was a quick burst of oil "like a big heart attack," spilling its gallons all at once. Deepwater Horizon is more like a constant, internal bleeding of oil that has spilled millions of gallons during the course of two months. And that the fragile, muddy environment of the delta will make this spill more difficult to remove than from rocky coasts, such as those in Alaska.

All the speakers suggested that lessons needed to be learned about not just the consequences of such spills but how to deal with them. Shirley says, "There are volumes and volumes out there on the fate of oil and how it affects marine ecosystems. What we didn't learn was how to prevent oil spills or how to contain blowouts."

"We've never faced an oil spill in the U.S. of this magnitude," said Shirley. "We are facing all these ecological fears primarily because of uncertainty. We don't know how long this spill is going to last or ultimately what the volume is going to be. I think all of our concerns are justified."

Cousteau said, "We are not powerless. But we must act with preventative measures and not react with post-traumatic reactive plans."

"The option of doing nothing just doesn't exist," Twilley concurred. "I guarantee there will be a huge discussion after this oil spill plays out about how we have not calibrated the true environmental risks of energy exploration in the region. And the fact that we didn't think that an offshore catastrophe at 5,000 feet would come onshore and cause the devastation that we have already seen ...it is just inconceivable, inexcusable, that we don't look at risks in this complete ecosystem, from offshore to onshore."

A video of the panel discussion is available for download (large file, 693 MB)

Follow daily news about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill >>

Track the response effort to the spill through this website and its interactive map >>

Download SeaWeb's Marine Science Review special issue (Acrobat PDF), which features citations and abstracts from research papers about the impacts of oil on the Gulf of Mexico.

"Gulf of Mexico: Origin, Waters and Biota. Volume 1, Biodiversity" by Darryl L. Felder and David K. Camp (Eds.), which describes the great range of species available in the Gulf of Mexico, is available through SeaWeb's Amazon.com store.