South African Biodiversity Media
Gulf Oil Crisis
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Louisiana State University Professor Ed Overton leaned out of a fishing boat and dunked a small jar just beneath the surface. “God what a mess,” he said under his breath.
On the 20th of April an explosion erupted on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf, killing 11 people and injuring 17. The real damage was yet to come as gallons of oil started pouring out of the well. Since then, estimates of over 200, 000 gallons of oil are leaking every day. The oil slick is now the size of Delaware and Maryland combined. On shorelines the damage stretches 241 km, from Dauphin Island, Alabama to Grand Isle, Louisiana. It is now affecting the marshland that stretches along the coastland.
These marshlands or wetlands are home to about 34, 000 Brown pelicans and seagulls, which are right now, trying to dive through the oil-soaked ocean to get to their food supply. Thousands of migratory birds travelling from South America making their way north, traditionally stop off at the Gulf Coast for two to three weeks are now in danger. Sea turtles, manatees and dolphins are attempting to come up for air through the slick.
There are three species that have been highlighted as most endangered by the slick, the Brown pelican who recently was just taken off the endangered list, the Bluefin tuna and the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle. The explosion could not have happened at a worse time as all these species are now returning to the Gulf area for breeding, expecting their home to be the way it was when they left it.
Read More: southafricanbiodiversity.co.za/features/231-gulf-oil-spill
Photo Sources:
Gulf Oil Crisis
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Louisiana State University Professor Ed Overton leaned out of a fishing boat and dunked a small jar just beneath the surface. “God what a mess,” he said under his breath.
On the 20th of April an explosion erupted on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf, killing 11 people and injuring 17. The real damage was yet to come as gallons of oil started pouring out of the well. Since then, estimates of over 200, 000 gallons of oil are leaking every day. The oil slick is now the size of Delaware and Maryland combined. On shorelines the damage stretches 241 km, from Dauphin Island, Alabama to Grand Isle, Louisiana. It is now affecting the marshland that stretches along the coastland.
These marshlands or wetlands are home to about 34, 000 Brown pelicans and seagulls, which are right now, trying to dive through the oil-soaked ocean to get to their food supply. Thousands of migratory birds travelling from South America making their way north, traditionally stop off at the Gulf Coast for two to three weeks are now in danger. Sea turtles, manatees and dolphins are attempting to come up for air through the slick.
There are three species that have been highlighted as most endangered by the slick, the Brown pelican who recently was just taken off the endangered list, the Bluefin tuna and the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle. The explosion could not have happened at a worse time as all these species are now returning to the Gulf area for breeding, expecting their home to be the way it was when they left it.
Read More: southafricanbiodiversity.co.za/features/231-gulf-oil-spill
Photo Sources: