Impacts of Oil Spill Disasters on the Biology of Marine Fisheries: Exxon Valdez to Deepwater Horizon

Oil spill disasters, especially large-scale tragedies like Exxon Valdez (EV) and Deepwater Horizon (DWH), have left uncertain and indelible marks on marine ecosystems.  Since the EV spill, much research has been conducted; yet impacts to Alaskan fisheries are still being felt.  Similarly, the DWH oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) during 2010 has researchers racing to understand how oil and dispersants affect, both acutely and in the long term, the physiological and molecular condition of fish and shellfish in the GOM.  Also, studies are presently evaluating population and community-level trajectories of the GOM’s biota and their habitats.  In the wake of this disaster, this symposium addresses impacts of extreme oil spills on the biology of marine fisheries and their habitats.  It coalesces research and lessons learned from historic disasters, like the EV and the Ixtoc spill in the southern GOM, with the DWH disaster.  Topics include overviews of EV impacts to the Prince William Sound ecosystem 20-years later, chronic effects to pink salmon, waterfowl and sea otters, and the collapse of the herring fishery.  Current results stemming from the DWH spill will include toxicology of shellfish and zooplankton, and impacts to larval blue crab development, as well as toxicological impacts to finfish physiology, molecular biology, and gene expression.  Another important component of the GOM’s fisheries includes nursery habitats, and in this regard, presentations will discuss  DWH impacts to salt marshes and barrier islands.  Response efforts taken to prevent oil encroachment will be presented, as well as efforts to map subsurface oil plumes, and the indirect impact to oysters from freshwater diversion intended to keep oil offshore.  This symposium comes at a historic time in our changing world, where aquatic sciences are heavily entrenched in understanding the fate of marine ecosystems in the face of human-altered environments at an increasingly global scale.