May 9, 2019 — Mayors from along the North Carolina coast are discussing the costs of offshore oil drilling if something goes wrong.
About a dozen mayors from Duck to Topsail Beach are meeting Wednesday in Manteo to discuss their worries about offshore oil and gas exploration. Opponents say that one future oil spill could destroy the state’s $4 billion fishing business and badly dent the state’s $20 billion tourism industry.
November 28, 2018 — Oysters in the Gulf of Mexico have seen better days.
Aside from the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in 2010 — which killed between 4 and 8.3 billion adult oysters, according to NOAA — changes in freshwater flow along the Gulf and sedimentation caused by more frequent storms have taken their toll on the Gulf’s oyster population.
But all hope is not lost. In fact, there’s even a plan, according to a report by environmental organization The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
Compared to historic levels, an estimated 85 percent of the Gulf’s oyster population has been lost, and the impact ranges further than the $100-million-per-year market they provide.
Oyster beds in the Gulf are vital in improving water quality, providing protection from shoreline erosion and serving as a habitat for fish and wildlife.
The impact of waves, boat wakes and storm surge on the Gulf’s shoreline is reduced by oyster reefs. Reefs are also unique in that they can continue to grow to keep up with or even outpace sea level rise, according to an entry in the journal Nature, something hard sea walls can’t do.
Additionally, a single oyster can filter 50 gallons of water in one day. In places like Galveston Bay, a 130-acre reef containing 10 oysters per square meter would be capable of filtering about 260 million gallons of water each day. In comparison, Houston’s 39 wastewater treatment plants combined to filter 252 million gallons per day in 2009, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
November 26, 2018 — The oyster dressing is safe this year.
Since the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, 4 billion to 8.3 billion subtidal oysters were estimated to be lost across the Gulf coast. Many states are struggling.
Louisiana is the only state producing at a level at or higher than before the spill, according to Seth Blitch, The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Coastal and Marine Conservation in Louisiana.
“Oysters Gulfwide are kind of in a bad spot, but Louisiana is actually sort of the bright spot in terms of commercial production of oysters. Louisiana produces more oysters than any other state in the country, which is good,” Blitch said.
TNC recently released a report on oyster restoration in the Gulf.
According to the report, there’s been about a 50 percent to 85 percent oyster loss throughout the Gulf when compared to historic levels.
The oyster industry pulls about $220 million to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The decrease could affect not only oyster harvesters but restaurants and industries that use the shell, such as using it to supplement chicken feed.
Read the full story from The News-Star of Monroe at U.S. News and World Report
November 19, 2018 — Last week, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officially moved to cancel the state’s wild oyster season, which would have run from November through April.
Exploratory dives at oyster harvesting grounds had revealed a continued steep decline in the number of oysters in the state’s waters. Last year’s season was curtailed after fishermen harvested just 136 110-pound sacks of oysters, down from 7,000 sacks in 2013, according to the Associated Press.
Scott Bannon, director of the Marine Resources Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the findings revealed the apparent collapse of the region’s oyster ecology.
“It’s tragic, to be honest,” Bannon told AL.com.
Numerous factors have dealt blows not just to Alabama’s oyster grounds, but those of the entire Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, hurricanes, disease, and changes in freshwater flows to Gulf rivers and streams have collectively damaged the fishery to the point where up to 85 percent of the gulf’s original oyster reefs no longer remain intact.
According to a new report by The Nature Conservancy, “Oyster Restoration in the Gulf of Mexico,” this dramatic decline has damaged the stability and productivity of the Gulf’s estuaries and harmed coastal economies.
Seth Blitch, the director of coastal and marine conservation in Louisiana for The Nature Conservancy, told SeafoodSource the oyster habitat and the oyster fishery “is not in a particularly good place right now,” which could spell bigger problems for the region.
“Oysters, to me, are a great proxy to a lot of things,” he said. “If oysters are doing well, that’s a good indication of good water quality and of the health entire near-shore estuarine system. When oysters start to fail, that’s good indication there are larger issues at play.”
November 16, 2018 — With oyster populations in Texas at historic lows, The Nature Conservancy is launching two new reef restoration projects that look to appease commercial fishermen and environmentalists alike.
Using funds from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement, the group plans to develop 110 acres of reef in Galveston Bay and Copano Bay, near Rockport. Half of each reef will be designated as a marine sanctuary where the molluscs — which have significant economic and environmental benefits — may grow. The other half will be open for commercial fishing.
Construction of the new reefs is expected to begin this winter, with harvestable portions ready as soon as 2021.
Laura Huffman, regional director of The Nature Conservancy in Texas, said these projects show a new approach to oyster reef restoration, with the compatibility of building harvestable reefs at the same time as growing a healthy habitat.
October 25, 2018 — In just a few short weeks, Florida voters will head to the polls to vote on candidates and amendments to the Florida Constitution.
The 12 constitutional amendments on this year’s ballot are the most since 1998. One of those amendments concerns an issue that is a hot topic for Floridians and environmentalists.
Amendment 9 would prohibit offshore oil and gas drilling in state-owned waters. While this amendment is a good first step for Florida, some local officials and international organizations say it’s not enough.
“While Amendment 9 would be a great step and a great showing of public opposition, it still doesn’t get to the heart of the leasing plan that’s in federal waters,” said Loryn Baughman, the U.S. communications associate for Oceana, an ocean conservation and advocacy organization.
Currently, the Gulf of Mexico is split up into three separate sections: the western, central and eastern sections. Oil drilling is allowed in the western and central sections but the eastern section is under a moratorium until 2022 as part of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006.
“The Trump Administration released a (oil drilling) proposal in January that involves 90 percent of all U.S. waters, including the eastern Gulf,” said Hunter Miller, the Florida Gulf Coast campaign manager for Oceana.
Miller referenced the Deepwater Horizons oil spill that occurred in 2010 and said it’s still not known just how much damage was done ecologically to the fisheries and ocean environments.
October 23, 2018 — An oil spill that has been quietly leaking millions of barrels into the Gulf of Mexico has gone unplugged for so long that it now verges on becoming one of the worst offshore disasters in U.S. history.
Between 300 and 700 barrels of oil per day have been spewing from a site 12 miles off the Louisiana coast since 2004, when an oil-production platform owned by Taylor Energy sank in a mudslide triggered by Hurricane Ivan. Many of the wells have not been capped, and federal officials estimate that the spill could continue through this century. With no fix in sight, the Taylor offshore spill is threatening to overtake BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster as the largest ever.
As oil continues to spoil the Gulf, the Trump administration is proposing the largest expansion of leases for the oil and gas industry, with the potential to open nearly the entire outer continental shelf to offshore drilling. That includes the Atlantic coast, where drilling hasn’t happened in more than a half century and where hurricanes hit with double the regularity of the Gulf.
Expansion plans come despite fears that the offshore oil industry is poorly regulated and that the planet needs to decrease fossil fuels to combat climate change, as well as the knowledge that 14 years after Ivan took down Taylor’s platform, the broken wells are releasing so much oil that researchers needed respirators to study the damage.
“I don’t think people know that we have this ocean in the United States that’s filled with industry,” said Scott Eustis, an ecologist for the Gulf Restoration Network, as a six-seat plane circled the spill site on a flyover last summer. On the horizon, a forest of oil platforms rose up from the Gulf’s waters, and all that is left of the doomed Taylor platform are rainbow-colored oil slicks that are often visible for miles. He cannot imagine similar development in the Atlantic, where the majority of coastal state governors, lawmakers, attorneys general and residents have aligned against the administration’s proposal.
August 24, 2018 — Cory Phipps didn’t know what to expect on the family vacation to the Alabama Gulf Coast this year.
The last time he visited Gulf Shores and Orange Beach was 2008, some 2 years before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill sparked an environmental and economic disaster of monumental proportions.
“We were hoping it would be nice,” the Gadsden resident said in late-July, as he frolicked in the waters off Gulf State Park with his daughters Rory and Tory. “Of course we had heard about the oil spill and all the trouble it caused. But just look around, it’s beautiful. We like Gulf Shores much more than Panama City and some of the other beaches. It’s more family friendly down here.”
On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire on the Deepwater oil well set in motion what many experts have called the greatest marine ecological disaster in history. The offshore well was about 40 miles south of Louisiana. The fire and explosion took 11 lives on the rig. And when the gushing well was declared sealed on Sept. 19, 2010, 4.9 million barrels of oil (or about 210 million gallons) had poured into the Gulf, according to U.S. government estimates.
Fisheries and beaches were closed as the oil spill migrated north and east along the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle coasts. Hotels and condos went empty and cities that rely on tourism, such as Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, became veritable ghost towns at the height of the season.
August 16, 2018 — An international team of researchers has completed a seven-year baseline study of fish populations in the Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The study, recently published in the journal Marine and Coastal Fisheries, outlines the marine makeup of the gulf from the United States to Mexico and Cuba. According to the researchers, a lack of data has limited their abilities to fully understand the oil spill’s impact.
“Neither the fish nor oil spills know national boundaries,” said principal investigator Steve Murawski, professor at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. “Providing seamless data for the gulf as a whole is imperative if we are to prepare adequately for future oil spills.”
The research was funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, which was established through a $500 million financial commitment from BP to study the environmental impact of Deepwater Horizon.
Overall, oil contamination in fish from the northern gulf continues to decline, though no assessed areas were completely oil free.
During 12 separate research expeditions, marine biologists systematically caught 15,000 fish of 166 species from 343 locations. They divided the gulf into six zones, to help best differentiate population changes. The most notable decline since the disaster is of the red snapper and southern hake in the northern gulf, the location of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
July 10, 2018 — A study seven years in the making by University of South Florida researchers has created a map of how many species live in the Gulf of Mexico. This will give experts an idea of how much damage would take place from a future oil spill.
The study took so long to complete because 12 separate expeditions were needed to cover the entire Gulf, including the waters off Mexico and Cuba. USF biologist and professor Steve Murawski said this information will be priceless.
“One of the criticisms of the Deepwater Horizon episode is before the spill, we had no environmental baseline for many of the things that are of interest and importance, and understanding the environment,” he said, “and now we have that baseline.”
Surprisingly, Murawski said researchers didn’t see a significant dropoff in the numbers of fish around the oil spill site, except for red snapper and hake.