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Christine Hale Oil Spill Science Outreach Specialist
Texas Sea Grant January 13th 2015
roadmap
• GoMRI & Sea Grant • Oil spill science • Next steps • Questions & feedback
Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI)
• $500 Million, 10-year investment – Non-penalty funds – >$170 (+$140) Million allocated already – 380+ publications, to date
• Management – 20-member, independent research board – Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) – administer and manage the
research program
• Goal Improve society’s ability to understand, respond to, and mitigate the effects of petroleum pollution and related stressors
Learn more at gulfresearchinitiative.org
GoMRI’s Five Theme Areas 1. Physical distribution and dilution of oil, gas, and dispersants. 2. Chemical and biological degradation of the oil and dispersants and interaction with coastal, open-ocean, and deep-water ecosystems. 3. Environmental effects of the oil and dispersants system on the sea floor, water column, coastal waters, habitats, and organisms and ecosystem recovery. 4. Technology developments for improved response, mitigation, detection, characterization, and remediation associated with oil spills and gas releases. 5. Impact of oil spills on public health including behavioral, socioeconomic, environmental risk assessment, community capacity.
GoMRI-supported outreach activities
Consortia-led outreach – K-12 education – Grad/undergrad research assistants – General public
Still many other audiences that can use GoMRI research results…
Oil Spill Science Outreach Program Sea Grant – GoMRI Partnership
Who is Sea Grant? – Mission: Enhance the
practical use and conservation of coastal, marine and Great Lakes resources in order to create a sustainable economy and environment
– Support: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) & state
Oil Spill Science Outreach Program Sea Grant – GoMRI Partnership
Gulf Sea Grant College Programs – 4 specialists devoted to sharing oil spill science,
1 part-time coordinator – Initial 2 year investment
Major components
– Two-way transfer of information • Identify target audience needs • Share oil spill science
– Evaluation
• Elected officials • Emergency
responders/managers • Environmental non-profit
staff • Fishing industry • Natural resource
managers
• Port and harbor employees
• Public health officials • Tourism industry • GoMRI outreach
specialists • University/college
researchers
Our audiences
A BP decontamination facility in the Pascagoula River, MS. Credit: NOAA.
Booms made out of pom-poms are set to protect the sandy beach area. Credit: NOAA.
Researchers discuss field observations with NOAA's Natural Resources Damage Assessment. Credit: NOAA.
Informal input sessions Stakeholder needs
Outreach Team outputs Bulletins (12)
– Focused on science topics identified by our audiences
Coming soon!
– Dispersant Series • Role in oil spill response • Fate, transport and effectiveness • Impact to aquatic life
– Fisheries Series • Fisheries management • Fisheries impacts from spill • lesions
– Oil Encounters Series – Top 5 frequently asked questions
NOAA
Outreach Team outputs Science Seminars/Input sessions (12)
– Presentations by experts – Continue to identify needs of coastal
audiences
Coming soon!
– Habitat Series: Impacts of oil/dispersants on coastal wetlands, beaches, inshore, benthic
– Response techniques – Ocean circulation and modeling
Other - Website, mailing list, etc.
Grand Isle, LA - NOAA
Social Network Analysis Evaluation
Identify key stakeholders and/or agencies that are delivering oil spill science
GoMRI output: Searchable database
research.gulfresearchinitiative.org
GoMRI output: the Data Cooperative
data.gulfresearchinitiative.org
GoMRI output: Ocean Portal ocean.si.edu/gulf-oil-spill-interactive
So what are the impacts?
Public health Environmental Fisheries
Oil Impacts on Coastal Wetlands: Implications for the Mississippi River Delta Ecosystem after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
• Mendelssohn et al. 2012 BioScience
Mississippi River Delta System & the Fertile Fisheries Crescent
• These coastal wetlands constitute almost 40% of the coastal wetlands of the 48 coterminous US
• Ecosystem services: storm protection, water quality enhancement, faunal support, etc.
• ~30% of the US commercial fishery production depends on these wetlands
• These wetlands protect an oil & gas infrastructure that provides 1/3 of the nation’s oil&gas supply and 50% nation’s refining capacity
Potential impacts on fishery resources: the transfer to higher trophic levels
Fodrie et al. 2014
Fodrie et al. 2014 Summarized spill impact studies to individual organisms:
Organism level impact: fish development & function
Whitehead et al 2012
Oiled= GT= Grande Terre, LA Non-oiled= BLB= Bayou La Batre, LA Control= reared in lab
← CYP1A gene expression is elevated in oiled site
CYP1A response gene
Image: E.S. Maung-Douglass, with contributions from: D. Tracey, J. Thomas, T.Saxby (IAN-UMCES Image Library)
Organism level impact: fish development & function (cont.)
• Developing embryos incubated in oiled marsh waters for 24 days had increased CYP1A expression (Whitehead et al 2012)
• Adults from oiled sites expressed altered regulation of genes associated with blood and blood vessel maintenance (Whitehead et al 2012)
• Embryos exposed for 21 days to oiled sediments had reduced hatch rates, a smaller size at hatch, reduced heart rates, poor vigor, and increased regulation of CYP1A gene (Dubansky et al 2013)
• The spill coincided w/ peak spawning of important fishery species- shrimp, blue crab, and spotted seatrout
• Currents carried oil from deep water into shallow nursery areas
• Eggs & larvae exposed to DWH oil have shown negative impacts
Impact at a population or community level?
Fodrie & Heck Jr. 2011: Response of Coastal Fishes to the GOM Oil Disaster
NO Direct oil impact: community wide
• Fodrie & Heck 2011 sampled fish pre & post spill
• did not find short term negative impacts on juvenile fishes associated w/inshore seagrass beds
• catch rates were high in 2010 after the spill compared to previous 4 years.
• Ecosystem-level impacts not severe for this community of fishes
Community-wide impact? Moody et al. 2013
Results show little evidence for large-scale acute or persistent oil-induced impacts on organisms that complete their life cycle within the estuary and those that spent portions of their life history in offshore surface waters prior to their recruitment to near-shore habitats.
Public Health
Cope et al 2013: Community attachment is a foundation of community resilience.
Negative mental and physical health were significantly more
pronounced during baseline survey compared to later on. Greater levels of community attachment are linked to lower levels of negative health impacts in the wake of the DH oil spill. Community attachment provided a shielding effect from negative impacts on mental health as time passed. Community attachment enabled negative mental and physical health impacts on fishers as time passed.
Galveston oil spill 2014: opportunity to engage
In summary:
• Long term studies needed in all theme areas • Short term results for the Environmental
theme show inconsistent impacts at the fish community & population levels
• Human resilience to disaster is dependent on community attachment but fishers have a unique challenge regardless of attachment
What do we need? • insights from local key informants, maintain a culturally-
sensitive approach/a one-size fits all approach may not work (Lee & Blanchard 2012)
• Future research should include measures of trust and social
networks involved with disaster resilience (Cope et al. 2013)
• more research focus and feedback re: spill recovery workers
(Lee & Blanchard 2012; Petersen et al. 2012; Murawski & Hogarth 2013)
Photos: Jeff Adams, USFWS
TMN Opportunities?
On the ground restoration projects
Citizen Science: long-term monitoring project?
Get Involved, Stay Informed
Stay tuned for education & outreach opportunities coming from the Sea Grant Oil Spill
Outreach Team
Questions? We welcome your feedback!
Photo: Jeff Adams, USFWS
Stephen Sempier (Regional
Coordinator) [email protected]
Christine Hale (TX)
Emily Maung-Douglass (LA) [email protected]
Larissa Graham (MS-AL)
Monica Wilson (FL) [email protected]
Team contact information
References Cope et al. 2013 Cope, M. R., Slack, T., Blanchard, T. C., & Lee, M. R. (2013). Does time heal all wounds? Community attachment, natural resource employment, and health impacts in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Social Science Research, 42(3), 872–881. Dubansky et al. 2013 Dubansky, B., Whitehead, A., Miller, J., Rice, C. D., & Galvez, F. (2013). Multi-tissue molecular, genomic, and developmental effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on resident Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis). Environ. Sci. Technol.,47(10), 5074–5082. Fodrie & Heck Jr. 2011 Fodrie, F. J., Heck, K. L. (2011). Response of Coastal Fishes to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster. PLoS ONE,6(7), e21609. Fodrie et al. 2014 Fodrie, F. J., Able, K. W., Galvez, F., Heck Jr., K. L., Jensen, O. P., Lopez-Duarte, P. C., et al. (2014). Integrating organismal and population responses of estuarine fishes to the Macondo spill reveals research priorities in the Gulf of Mexico.BioScience, 64(9), 778–788. Lee & Blanchard 2012 Lee, M. R., & Blanchard, T. C. (2012). Community Attachment and Negative Affective States in the Context of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster. American Behavioral Scientist, 56(1), 24–47. Mendelssohn et al. 2012 Mendelssohn, I. A., Anderson, G. L., Baltz, D. A., Caffey, R. H., Fleeger, J. W., Joye, S. B., et al. (2012). Oil Impacts on Coastal Wetlands: Implications for the Mississippi River Delta Ecosystem after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. BioScience,62(6), 562–574. Moody et al. 2013 Moody, R. M., Cebrian, J., Heck, K. L., & Browman, H. (2013). Interannual Recruitment Dynamics for Resident and Transient Marsh Species: Evidence for a Lack of Impact by the Macondo Oil Spill. PLoS ONE, 8(3), e58376. Murawski & Hogarth 2013 Murawski, S., & Hogarth, W. (2013). Enhancing the Ocean Observing System to Meet Restoration Challenges in the Gulf of Mexico. oceanog, 26(1), 10–16 Petersen et al. 2012 Peterson, C. H., Anderson, S. S., Cherr, G. N., Ambrose, R. F., Anghera, S., Bay, S., et al. (2012). A Tale of Two Spills: Novel Science and Policy Implications of an Emerging New Oil Spill Model. BioScience, 62(5), 461–469. Whitehead et al. 2012 Whitehead, A., Dubansky, B., Bodinier, C., Garcia, T. I., Miles, S., Pilley, C., et al. (2012). Genomic and physiological footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on resident marsh fishes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,109(50), 20298–20302.
