nice coverage of IXTOC
May. 26th, 2010 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutI was watching TRMS play 1979 NBC footage and got curious when I heard "Campeche". I knew there was a Gulf spill; I couldn't recall any details because I just wasn't paying attention at the time (silly 10 year old me). But I know "Campeche" because I like Guy Clark:
"And the shrimpers and their ladies are out in the beer joints
Drinkin' 'em down for they sail with the dawn
They're bound for the Mexican bay of Campeche
And the deck hands are singin' adios, jolie blonde"
So: how about that shrimp industry?
One of my hometown papers answered the question.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011931961_ixtoc23.html
"I found shrimp with tumor formations in the tissue, and crabs without the pincers. These were very serious effects," Soto said.
"I measured 80 percent reduction in all combined species that were living in the intertidal zone," Tunnell said.
Nevertheless, "aquatic life along the shoreline in Texas had returned to normal within three years — even as tar balls and tar mats remained along the beaches, sometimes covered by sand, according to Wes Tunnell".
There's apparently a decent amount of oil that seeps into GOM all the time anyway, supporting a variety of bacteria that hang out and eat it. Those bacteria were thus available to go totally nuts on the 3.3 million barrels dumped by Ixtoc.
This is easily the single most hopeful factoid I've run across related to the oil spill.
"And the shrimpers and their ladies are out in the beer joints
Drinkin' 'em down for they sail with the dawn
They're bound for the Mexican bay of Campeche
And the deck hands are singin' adios, jolie blonde"
So: how about that shrimp industry?
One of my hometown papers answered the question.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011931961_ixtoc23.html
"I found shrimp with tumor formations in the tissue, and crabs without the pincers. These were very serious effects," Soto said.
"I measured 80 percent reduction in all combined species that were living in the intertidal zone," Tunnell said.
Nevertheless, "aquatic life along the shoreline in Texas had returned to normal within three years — even as tar balls and tar mats remained along the beaches, sometimes covered by sand, according to Wes Tunnell".
There's apparently a decent amount of oil that seeps into GOM all the time anyway, supporting a variety of bacteria that hang out and eat it. Those bacteria were thus available to go totally nuts on the 3.3 million barrels dumped by Ixtoc.
This is easily the single most hopeful factoid I've run across related to the oil spill.