Thank you guys for your posts...I think I made a huge error in the wording of my initial post. My verbiage gives indication that this site as a whole has value to me and I want to share it, actually I appreciated the pictures on this site and wanted to share them. I am not interested in any form of sensationalism nor is my posting of this site an attempt to make people feel as if they have to do something for the environment or these animals.HeLiXe said:I think I read a post on this forum about the lack of pictures of damage from the BP oil spill. I found this site today and wanted to share it.
Hepth said:While it is entirely possible that I am just a compassionless, heartless person when it comes to animals, I feel that emotional dead-animal pictures are actually a disservice to the population as it sways them toward a cause through misleading, or rather falsely-insinuating/exaggerating the negative impact to the reader. All that being said, I personally feel that all deep-water rig development should be halted until a new set of regulations and precautions can be implemented that actually work.
HeLiXe said:Thank you guys for your posts...I think I made a huge error in the wording of my initial post. My verbiage gives indication that this site as a whole has value to me and I want to share it, actually I appreciated the pictures on this site and wanted to share them. I am not interested in any form of sensationalism nor is my posting of this site an attempt to make people feel as if they have to do something for the environment or these animals.
Hepth said:Oh I didn't think you were either. I just noticed the trend in the way the images are usually reported and felt compelled to comment on it.
Ivan Seeking said:An appeal to emotions, sure, but that is better than burying one's face in numbers and never facing reality. The picture provide the proper context for the nuimbers.
sargassum is an invasive species not native to the gulf, thought to have contaminated the gulf from japanese origins. it is considered a nuisance and there are annual Symposiums on how to effectively get rid of it.turbo-1 said:I heard a very gripping story on NPR today, told by a marine biologist. A vital but often ill-understood player in the Gulf ecosystem is sargassum. Floating patches of brown seaweed that provide breeding grounds, protective cover and food for countless species, including some highly-valued ones like mahi-mahi and bluefin tuna. Oil is killing the sargassum, and as a result, critical habitat is being destroyed to the detriment of many species for an undetermined amount of time into the future. I was driving, but IIR he used the terms "possibly decades" and "perhaps never" to describe the possibility of rebound for the species dependent on sargassum.
Oiled birds and turtles and dolphins might tug at peoples' heart-strings, but probably nobody is going to be much moved by scenes of oiled seaweed, which may have much more far-reaching consequences.
Dense growths of Sargassum muticum on oyster beds, in British Columbia, made it difficult to see cultured oysters. It was also feared that the buoyant fronds of Sargassum attached to the oyster shells could carry them out of the culture area. The extensive development of Sargassum populations on French oyster beds may hinder the growth and harvesting of the shellfish; 7) Large dense stands of Sargassum may cause loss in amenity and recreational use of water areas, e.g. swimming, skiing, sail boarding, dinghy sailing and fishing; 8) The presence of dense Sargassum stands may affect species diversity of indigenous marine fauna and flora in intertidal pools and the shallow subtidal region."
Staehr et al. (2000) states that, "Once established in a new area, S. muticum can accumulate high biomass and may therefore be a strong competitor for space and light. Experiments have indicated that successful settlement and initial development of germlings depend on the availability of cleared substrate with low or no competition from other algae. When first established, however, S. muticum may efficiently prevent settling and development of other algae due to high recruit densities and fast growth. Critchley et al. (1986) showed that the irradiance was reduced by 95% within the uppermost 5cm of a dense S. muticum surface canopy, thus preventing understory algae to develop and thrive."
Britton-Simmons (2004) states that, "Dense S. muticum stands may reduce light, dampen flow, increase sedimentation and reduce ambient nutrient concentrations available for native kelp species. Because kelps are an important source of carbon in coastal food webs and the algal communities they are associated with provide habitat and food for a wide variety of marine animals, any negative effects of S. muticum on these communities may have broader consequences for this ecosystem."
The Sargasso Sea
The main source of the sargassum found floating throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean comes from the Sargasso Sea. This "sea" is a two-million-square-mile chunk of the Atlantic Ocean stretching from the West Indies to the Azores. Although the sea is bordered on all sides by circulating currents - the Gulf Stream to the west and north, the Canary Current to the east and the North Equatorial Current to the south - in its interior lies a vast calm. It is here where huge patches of sargassum collect en masse. The weed is drawn to the center of the sea by two different methods: the Earth's rotation and the process of evaporation. The rotation of the Earth spins the currents to the center of the sea, which carry the weed along with them. And, since the water in the center of the sea is relatively stable, it evaporates faster, creating small surface currents that bring in water to replace that lost to evaporation.
The final Fishery Management Plan for Pelagic Sargassum Habitat in the South Atlantic Region was approved in 2003 and implemented strict restrictions on commercial harvest of this important fish habitat.
Erosion of the beach causes loss of nesting sea turtles (GARCIA et al., 2003), but, the Sargassum may cause problems by interfering the choice of nesting location.
Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempi), an endangered species, typically lay their eggs in the dunes. They may be incapable of getting over the accumulated Sargassum and instead end up laying their eggs in the Sargassum. The eggs then may be washed out to sea prior to hatching.
environmental impacts
It outcompetes native kelp for light and indirectly harms green urchins. Native kelps are critical habitat for many species in the nearshore ecosystem. Sargassum also fouls propellers, fishing lines and nets, and marina structures. The plants occasionally form
large floating mats that can deposit on shore over shellfish-growing areas and must be removed mechanically.
HeLiXe said:Edit by Evo: Sorry, that's not an approriate link. It contains misinformation worded to create fear mongering.
That could be a wash, though, and until better surveys are undertaken we might not have a good answer for that. The marine biologist in today's NPR piece claimed that the sargassum beds provide valuable cover for young sea-turtles (protection from predators), and that as oil and oil-soaked sargassum are boomed up and burned off, young turtles are dying in the burns.Evo said:Sargassum kills baby sea turtles.
Ivan Seeking said:Again, the La wetlands are said to be the breeding grounds for something like 90% of the life in the gulf.
For the first time, we show a seasonal pattern in which Sargassum originates in the northwest Gulf of Mexico in spring of each year, is advected into the Atlantic in about July, appearing east of Cape Hatteras as a “Sargassum jet”, and ending northeast of the Bahamas in February of the following year. This pattern appears consistent with historical surveys. Future satellite observations will show whether this pattern repeats in all or most years.
With what plan to replace the supply from the deep-water Gulf? No plan means more tanker supplied foreign oil. Tankers have a relatively bad record for spills.Hepth said:... All that being said, I personally feel that all deep-water rig development should be halted until a new set of regulations and precautions can be implemented that actually work.
mheslep said:With what plan to replace the supply from the deep-water Gulf? No plan means more tanker supplied foreign oil. Tankers have a relatively bad record for spills.
Pattonias said:Why don't we just enforce the rules we have? How is stopping production to make up new rules that we won't enforce going to fix anything. It is amusing when you see that BP was fined several hundred thousand dollars for a serious violation, but apparently they have an income that can support the economy of the majority of the US Gulf Coast. Perhaps making the fines much steeper would encourage the laws to be more tightly adheered to.
A significant portion of that BP income is already spent in the US Gulf Coast in the development and production of oil and gas - ~150 man highly paid crew per each rig in the Gulf, etc.Pattonias said:Why don't we just enforce the rules we have? How is stopping production to make up new rules that we won't enforce going to fix anything. It is amusing when you see that BP was fined several hundred thousand dollars for a serious violation, but apparently they have an income that can support the economy of the majority of the US Gulf Coast. Perhaps making the fines much steeper would encourage the laws to be more tightly adheered to.
The BP oil spill, also known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig on April 20, 2010. The explosion was caused by a blowout preventer failure which resulted in an uncontrolled release of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
The BP oil spill is considered one of the worst environmental disasters in history. It is estimated that around 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico, impacting marine life, coastal ecosystems, and the livelihoods of local communities.
The BP oil spill had devastating effects on the environment. The oil slick covered over 68,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the deaths of thousands of marine animals and birds. It also caused long-term damage to coral reefs, wetlands, and other fragile ecosystems.
The BP oil spill had a significant impact on the local economy, particularly on the fishing and tourism industries. The closure of fishing grounds and beaches due to the oil spill caused a loss of income for many local businesses and individuals. It is estimated that the total economic impact of the spill was around $17.2 billion.
The cleanup efforts for the BP oil spill were extensive and involved a combination of methods such as controlled burning, dispersants, and skimming. Thousands of workers were also involved in manually cleaning up the oil from beaches and wildlife. It took nearly three months to cap the well and stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.