Sargassum Mats Bp Oil Spill

They observed disappearance during and after the deepwater horizon spill and then conducted mesocosm experiments with louisiana sweet crude oil and corexit 9500 dispersant to test the fate of oiled sargassum they found that oil accumulated on the seaweed.

Sargassum mats bp oil spill.

Illegal dumping of oil contaminated waste by ships operating in the region. The interior and underside of these seaweed mats under normal conditions are wonderlands of life as every offshore fisherman knows. As the ocean currents brought the spill into contact with sargassum oil would coat those same snarled branches and bladders of the seaweed. Large scale oil spill incidents have included an april 2017 spill at pointe à pierre trinidad and tobago and a july 2017 oil spill in kingston harbor jamaica.

That sargassum and all the creatures living in its leaves are particularly vulnerable to oil on the. A school of 3 pound mahi mahi shot from beneath the floating mat as they chased a swarm of sardines. Floating mats of seaweed called sargassum provide key habitats for babies of many species now hopelessly contaminated. Gulf oil spill threatens sargassum a vital floating habitat with video photo gallery.

Alabama scientists investigated oil spill effects on floating sargassum a critical seaweed habitat for many important gulf species. Some of the oil sunk to the ocean floor preventing it from washing ashore. If an oil spill made its way somewhere like the sargasso sea a young sea turtle would encounter a much different scene. The tragedy is the sargassum floating seaweed aka gulfweed along with its animal inhabitants is directly threatened by the bp deepwater horizon gulf oil spill.

Spilled oil carried by currents can also end up swirling among the seaweed. In recent years the caribbean region has faced challenges from oil spills and an influx of floating sargassum seaweed. After the bp spill in the gulf of mexico however the crews also pumped dispersants 5 000 feet below the ocean surface. On april 20 2010 the bp oil company s macondo well blew out in mile deep water in the gulf of mexico causing the deepwater horizon drill rig to explode killing 11 workers injuring 17 others.

As the sargassum drifts with the wind and currents so does the oil. Bp oil disaster is not a spill. Sargassum mats are feeding grounds for larger marine species including sea turtles.