Gulf of Mexico

HESSED D. TABINAS

Introduction

• Gulf of Mexico encompasses over 1.6 million

km2 of coastal and open ocean

• 9th largest body of water in the world

• one of the most ecologically and economically

productive ecosystems in North America.

• This ecosystem is under increasing pressure

from anthropogenic activities.

RAPID HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH

Location and Size

Location and Size

• "Mediterranean of the Americas," is located at

the southeastern corner of North America

• covers approximately 600,000 square miles

Biodiversity

• A total of 15,419 marine species was assessed

(Felder and Camp,2009)

• 2579 Crustacea

• 2455 Mollusca

• 1975 Vertebrata

• 951 Foraminifera

• 948 Bacillariophyta

and others.

Resources

• Fisheries

In 2010 according to the National Marine Fisheries

Service, the commercial fish and shellfish harvest

from the five U.S.

Gulf states was

estimated to be

1.3 billion pounds

valued at $639 million.

Shrimp:

Gulf landings of shrimp led the Nation in 2010 with 177.2

million pounds valued at $340 million dockside, accounting

for about 82% of

U.S. total.

• Oysters: The Gulf led in production of oysters in 2010

with 15.7 million pounds of meats valued at $54.5 million

and representing 59% of the national total.

Sorting fresh Louisiana oysters from the Gulf

of Mexico at AmeriPure Oysters, Franklin, La.

• Recreational

In 2010, marine recreational participants took

more than 20.7

million trips catching

145.4 million fish from the

Gulf of Mexico and

surrounding waters.

• Physical / Mineral

– In 2006, 470 million barrels of oil and about

(2.9)x109 Thousand Cubic Feet of natural gas

– In 2005, more than 466 million barrels of oil and about

(3.19)x109 Thousand Cubic Feet of natural gas was

produced

• Habitat

Encompassing over five million acres (about half

of the U.S. total)

the Gulf's coastal wetlands serve as an essential

habitat for numerous fish and wildlife species

Pollution• Debris and chemicals from land sources:

– materials from waste disposal facilities

– effluents from waste water treatment plants

– and post-storm runoff derived from urban and

agricultural sites

• Tankers and other large cargo ships

– are thought to contribute significantly to the

problem by adding debris

and chemical pollutants to

the water.

• While different types of pollutants affect the biota in

varying fashion such as:

– physical entanglement

– consumption of non-digestible materials

– direct toxicity from chemicals

– indirect effects from excessive nutrient input

The overall effect is a diminution

in the variety and abundance of the

flora and fauna of the region.

EXAMPLE OF ANNUAL POLLUTANT AND NUTRIENT LOADING (in tons)

Nitrogen 800,000

Phosphorus 200,000

Dredged Sediments 100,000,000

Toxic Substances from Coastal

Municipal and Industrial Sites

2,000

Pesticides from Agricultural Sites 1,000

Produced Water from Oil and Gas

Platform

6,000

Efforts• To address the beach debris problem, the Gulf of

Mexico has been established as a special area

under the international MARPOL treaty, which

regulates marine pollution around the world.

• Under the treaty, the dumping of solid wastes by

any boat from any nation is prohibited in a special

area.

• The North American Commission for Environmental

Cooperation

– is also working with environmental groups and

nonprofit agencies in the region to encourage

industries to report exactly which effluents they

are releasing into the Gulf.

• In the United States, the US Geological Survey

(USGS), through the South Florida Information

Access (SOFIA)

– undertakes various research projects and

programs to monitor and restore the South

Florida Ecosystem.

• The US Environmental Protection Agency

through the Gulf of Mexico Program

– sponsors the Gulf Guardian Awards each

year to recognize those individuals,

companies, agencies and organizations that

are doing their part to keep the Gulf of

Mexico clean.

DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL

OF 2010

Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010

• largest marine oil spill in history

• caused by an April 20, 2010, explosion on

the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

• located in the Gulf of Mexico,

approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the

coast of Louisiana—and its subsequent

sinking on April 22.

The Explosion!

• The Deepwater Horizon rig was situated in the

Macondo oil prospect in the Mississippi Canyon,

a valley in the continental shelf.

• On the night of April 20 a surge of natural

gas blasted through a concrete core recently

installed by contractor Halliburton in order to

seal the well for later use.

Fireboat response crews attempting to extinguish the blaze aboard the

Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, April 21, 2010.

Controlled burn of oil spilled in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Gulf of

Mexico, May 6, 2010. The burning oil was contained by a length of boom.

• The volume of oil escaping the damaged

well—originally estimated by BP to be

about 1,000 barrels per day

• was thought by U.S. government officials

to have peaked at more than 60,000

barrels per day.

Clean Up Efforts

• To clean oil from the open water, 1.8

million gallons of dispersants were

pumped directly into the leak and applied

aerially to the slick

• As oil began to

contaminate Louisiana beaches in May, it

was manually removed.

The U.S. Coast Guard collecting oil with a skimming boom off the

coast of Mobile, Ala., May 31, 2010.

The Aftermath

• In all, an estimated 1,100 miles (1,770 km)

of shoreline were polluted

• nearly three years later, about 340 miles

(550 km) of coast were still in need of

cleanup.

• Thousands of birds, mammals, and sea

turtles were plastered with oil.

• There was speculation that a spike in cetacean

strandings and deaths that was recorded by

NOAA beginning in February 2010 was further

exacerbated by the spill.

A dead bird covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf

of Mexico, East Grand Terre Island, La.,

• By late 2012 some 1,700 sea turtles had been

found dead.

• A long-term satellite tracking study released in

May 2013 showed that the endangered Kemp’s

ridley sea turtle was likely severely affected

• morbillivirus and toxins from red tides ruled out

• an unusual incidence of Brucella infection in

stranded dolphins, leading researchers to

suspect that contaminants from the spill had

made cetaceans more vulnerable to other

environmental dangers.

• The impacts on smaller species were

more difficult to determine.

• A 2014 study showed that the larvae of

commercially important fish species,

including tuna, likely developed heart

defects after exposure to polycyclic

aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

from the oil.

• Areas of the seabed that had been coated

by by-products of bacteria were essentially

dead zones

• many sedentary organisms had suffocated

or been sickened by the material, and

most mobile organisms had fled

On July 12, 2010, nearly

three months after the

explosion and sinking of

energy giant BP’s Deepwater

Horizon offshore oil rig in the

Gulf of Mexico, this

containment cap was

lowered to the seabed and

installed on the gushing

wellhead to finally end the

massive crude oil leak.

• The company had lost almost a quarter of

its market value and had hemorrhaged

over $40 billion in costs associated with

cleanup and recovery.

“The greatest threat to our planet is the

belief that someone else will save it.”

-Robert Swan

References• http://www.noaa.gov/iea/Assets/iea/gulf/GoM_EcoStatus

Report_NMFS-SEFSC-653.pdf

• http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/about/facts.html

• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1698988/De

epwater-Horizon-oil-spill-of-2010/311800/Settlements-

and-convictions#toc294128

• http://www.gulfbase.org/issue/view.php?iid=pollution

• http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/

energy/dirty_energy_development/oil_and_gas/gulf_oil_

spill/a_deadly_toll.html

• http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/09/bp_

deepwater_horizon_oil_spill.html