It’s true what they say about oil and
water; they make for a really poor couple! Unfortunately, the Gulf of
Mexico saw oil and water mix again on March 22nd, when a collision
resulted in 168,000 gallons of oil spilled into Galveston’s bay.
Oil from the spill travelled south,
becoming more concentrated as it moved. It washed ashore on North Padre
Island, and remnants are thought to still be moving toward South Padre Island.
Unfortunately, the location of the affected area, from the shores of
Galveston to Padre Island, TX, is also foraging ground for sea turtles
as well as the only U.S. location where Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles nest.
Oiled sea turtles have washed ashore on North Padre Island and Matagorda
Island. While Sea Turtle, Inc. hasn’t had to respond to any
oiled-affected sea turtles as a result of this spill, it’s important
that this event serve as a reminder of how vulnerable our oceans are to
oil spills and the negative effects they may have on our marine
ecosystems, including sea turtles.
Oil spills may negatively impact sea turtles in many ways:
1. Indirect Ingestion: Oil particles may
sink to the bottom of the ocean floor where they may kill or poison
animals sea turtles eat, like shrimp and crab. Toxins from the oil in
these animals will bioaccumulate in sea turtles when they’re ingested.
2. Direct Ingestion: Sea turtles do not
instinctively avoid oil. Frequent visitors to Sea Turtle, Inc. know sea
turtles have a brain the size of a grape! When sea turtles ingest
tar-balls, mistaking them for food, it can result in organ damage, a
suppressed immune system, reproductive issues, bleeding, ulcers, and
gastrointestinal inflammation. If a sea turtle comes up to breathe in
oiled water, oil vapors and residue could enter the turtle’s lungs. This
could result in inflammation, pneumonia, and emphysema.
3. Direct Contact: Swimming through oil can
irritate and inflame the skin of sea turtles, damaging their saltwater
glands and mucous membranes. This could affect a sea turtle’s vision.
Oiled skin may also affect a sea turtle’s ability to swim and breed. If a
sea turtle nests on an oiled beach, the development of their eggs could
be inhibited. Hatchlings that emerge on oiled beaches will also be
negatively affected.
It has been a month since the oil spill and
the area has been considerably cleaned since the event. Most of the oil
ended up on Matagorda and Mustang Islands, areas Kemp’s Ridley sea
turtles are currently making their way towards to nest. Ten tons of oil
waste and 110 deceased oiled animals (including dolphins and sea
turtles) were removed from Matagorda Island alone. Unfortunately, even
after cleaning, the effects of an oil spill can last decades. For
example, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill occurred in 1989, but oil can still
be found in Prince William Sound, and the wildlife there is still
recovering. Sometimes, even the way people clean up oil spills can be
harmful for wildlife, including sea turtles. After the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill, BP used chemical dispersants to break up oil on the surface
of the ocean. The affect of these chemicals on wildlife and on water
quality has not been tested. Burn boxes were also used, and ended up
burning sea turtles as well as oil. Additionally, less damaging booms
were used, but only ended up containing 3 percent of the oil spilled.
Between 1992 and 2001, there were 26 oil
spills in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon event
spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the same Gulf. Oil from this
spill can still be found in the Gulf’s ocean floors and even washed on
the Gulf’s shores. While the effects of this spill on sea turtles are
still being studied, preliminary results show that annual sea turtle
strandings in the affected area have dramatically increased since the
Deepwater Horizon event. Most of the stranded sea turtles in this
increase are our native nesters, the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles.
456 oiled turtles were collected
immediately after BP’s oil spill, and others might have washed away
unaccounted for; it’s also likely that many hatchlings were affected.
Young sea turtles spend a lot of time on the ocean’s surface, hiding
from predators and resting in floating sargassum, because they cannot
swim or hold their breath as long as adult sea turtles. This makes
hatchlings more likely to swim through patches of floating oil, to eat
tar-balls, and makes them vulnerable if the vegetation they depended on
was, itself, drowned in oil. We’ll have to wait until these hatchlings
would be sexually mature in order to see if the number of nesting mamma
turtles has been reduced because of hatchling mortality.
Oil seems to keep spilling into our oceans,
damaging ecosystems as it does. If we want to keep our sea turtles
safe, we need to find ways to prevent this- an important subject to
consider as President Obama considers approving plans for a pipeline
that would transport tar sands oil to the Gulf of Mexico.
If you see oiled wildlife on our shores, please call 911 on the island so that Sea Turtle, Inc. can respond, as it always has.
