Post by Paddy by Grace on May 5, 2010 14:21:18 GMT -7
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/6990179.html
GALVESTON — The Texas shrimp industry so far remains unscathed by one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history, but experts say they have plenty to worry about.
Environmental advocates have been expressing grave concern over the untold impact of BP's Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But for the shrimping industry, the biggest unknown is the use of chemical dispersants by remote underwater vehicles a mile down near the seafloor to disperse the oil before it can reach the surface.
“With this chemical carrying it to the bottom, it's a disaster you don't see,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “I'm hugely concerned.”
Williams is right to be worried, said Roger Zimmerman, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries lab in Galveston.
“There is great reason for concern,” Zimmerman said. “What we are looking at is not only the oil, but the treatment applied.”
Oil suspended in the water column or carried to the bottom by the dispersants could affect shrimp and other marine life, but it's not clear what the effects will be, he said. “It's certainly not a good thing,” Zimmerman said.
Deep water currents are carrying off the dispersed oil, but no one knows where, he said. “To make any sort of speculation about where they are going or what they are doing is conjecture.”
Gary Graham, a marine fisheries specialist at Texas A&M Galveston's Texas Sea Grant Program, agreed with Zimmerman. “That is a viable concern, an extremely viable concern,” he said.
As of Tuesday, BP had used about 167,500 gallons of dispersant, Coast Guard Petty Officer Erik Swanson said.
‘A rock and a hard place'
BP officials could not be reached for comment, but Bill Balboa, Texas Parks and Wildlife Coastal Fisheries official, said they shouldn't be blamed for trying the dispersant. “The people dealing with this are between a rock and a hard place,” he said. They need to do something to prevent the oil from destroying valuable wetlands, he said. “I wouldn't want to be the person having to deal with this.”
Zimmerman said there is no way to know if the deep sea currents are carrying oil toward Texas, but so far the surface oil spill appears to be staying east of the Mississippi River Delta.
That's important for Texas shrimp boats, which move to Louisiana waters after the Texas shrimp season ends May 15. Most Texas shrimp boats stay west of the Mississippi River Delta until the Texas season reopens between July 12 and 15.
Graham said there is no way to guarantee that strong winds won't push the oil slick into currents that would bring the oil west toward the Texas Gulf Coast.
If it did, it would be difficult to predict where the oil would go because the currents are so complex, Zimmerman said. Some currents would push it landward, others seaward and others would move it into eddies, he said.
The big worry now is that a loop current from the Caribbean will move north as the weather warms and bring the oil slick around Florida to the East Coast, Williams said.
Too many unknowns
That doesn't make Craig Wallis rest easy. Wallis, a board member of the Texas Shrimp Association and the owner of seven shrimp boats out of Palacios, worries that the Texas shrimp harvest will be affected if the oil slick fouls the Louisiana wetlands.
Zimmerman said more shrimp are caught west of the Mississippi River than east of it, but there is no way to know how the Texas shrimp industry would be affected if the wetlands on the east side were fouled by oil.
Many of the 20 Texas shrimp processors are also worried, as are their customers, said Terri Curtis, spokeswoman for the Galveston Shrimp Co.
Curtis said the demand for shrimp by restaurants, grocers and distributors was high because of fears that the oil spill will affect the shrimp harvest. “They are very fearful they won't get any,” she said.
“A lot of shrimp might die going through the oil,” Curtis said.
Fish are vulnerable
Although shrimp are produced in Texas, Louisiana produces most of the shrimp caught every year because of its huge estuaries where shrimp mature before mov- ing into the Gulf, Graham said.
Brown shrimp maturing in the bays are gradually moving into the Gulf and white shrimp will start moving into the bays by the end of the month, he said.
The shrimp entering the Gulf will be vulnerable, Graham said.
GALVESTON — The Texas shrimp industry so far remains unscathed by one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history, but experts say they have plenty to worry about.
Environmental advocates have been expressing grave concern over the untold impact of BP's Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But for the shrimping industry, the biggest unknown is the use of chemical dispersants by remote underwater vehicles a mile down near the seafloor to disperse the oil before it can reach the surface.
“With this chemical carrying it to the bottom, it's a disaster you don't see,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “I'm hugely concerned.”
Williams is right to be worried, said Roger Zimmerman, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries lab in Galveston.
“There is great reason for concern,” Zimmerman said. “What we are looking at is not only the oil, but the treatment applied.”
Oil suspended in the water column or carried to the bottom by the dispersants could affect shrimp and other marine life, but it's not clear what the effects will be, he said. “It's certainly not a good thing,” Zimmerman said.
Deep water currents are carrying off the dispersed oil, but no one knows where, he said. “To make any sort of speculation about where they are going or what they are doing is conjecture.”
Gary Graham, a marine fisheries specialist at Texas A&M Galveston's Texas Sea Grant Program, agreed with Zimmerman. “That is a viable concern, an extremely viable concern,” he said.
As of Tuesday, BP had used about 167,500 gallons of dispersant, Coast Guard Petty Officer Erik Swanson said.
‘A rock and a hard place'
BP officials could not be reached for comment, but Bill Balboa, Texas Parks and Wildlife Coastal Fisheries official, said they shouldn't be blamed for trying the dispersant. “The people dealing with this are between a rock and a hard place,” he said. They need to do something to prevent the oil from destroying valuable wetlands, he said. “I wouldn't want to be the person having to deal with this.”
Zimmerman said there is no way to know if the deep sea currents are carrying oil toward Texas, but so far the surface oil spill appears to be staying east of the Mississippi River Delta.
That's important for Texas shrimp boats, which move to Louisiana waters after the Texas shrimp season ends May 15. Most Texas shrimp boats stay west of the Mississippi River Delta until the Texas season reopens between July 12 and 15.
Graham said there is no way to guarantee that strong winds won't push the oil slick into currents that would bring the oil west toward the Texas Gulf Coast.
If it did, it would be difficult to predict where the oil would go because the currents are so complex, Zimmerman said. Some currents would push it landward, others seaward and others would move it into eddies, he said.
The big worry now is that a loop current from the Caribbean will move north as the weather warms and bring the oil slick around Florida to the East Coast, Williams said.
Too many unknowns
That doesn't make Craig Wallis rest easy. Wallis, a board member of the Texas Shrimp Association and the owner of seven shrimp boats out of Palacios, worries that the Texas shrimp harvest will be affected if the oil slick fouls the Louisiana wetlands.
Zimmerman said more shrimp are caught west of the Mississippi River than east of it, but there is no way to know how the Texas shrimp industry would be affected if the wetlands on the east side were fouled by oil.
Many of the 20 Texas shrimp processors are also worried, as are their customers, said Terri Curtis, spokeswoman for the Galveston Shrimp Co.
Curtis said the demand for shrimp by restaurants, grocers and distributors was high because of fears that the oil spill will affect the shrimp harvest. “They are very fearful they won't get any,” she said.
“A lot of shrimp might die going through the oil,” Curtis said.
Fish are vulnerable
Although shrimp are produced in Texas, Louisiana produces most of the shrimp caught every year because of its huge estuaries where shrimp mature before mov- ing into the Gulf, Graham said.
Brown shrimp maturing in the bays are gradually moving into the Gulf and white shrimp will start moving into the bays by the end of the month, he said.
The shrimp entering the Gulf will be vulnerable, Graham said.