After the Spill — The Texas Scientist

By Christine Sinatra.

Texas’ Gulf Coast has experienced the aftermath of the “worst oil spill in history” – twice. Forty years ago, a rig called Ixtoc I exploded off the coast of Campeche, Mexico, and the spill held that ignominious title until 2010.

That’s when the disastrous BP oil spill, Deepwater Horizon, eclipsed it.

Ed Buskey, a UT Austin professor who holds the Bass Regents Chair in Marine Science, has seen the lasting impact of oil spills on coastal communities. He also is part of the research community at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute working to ameliorate the damage from these events by studying the impact of oil in marine ecosystems and exploring ways to address or prevent extensive damage after the next spill.

Sunlight illuminated the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the Mississippi Delta on May 24, 2010. Credit: NASA.

This year brings the 10th anniversary of Deepwater Horizon, so we sat down to hear from the scientists and research staff on the front lines. Together, they are leading efforts from Texas to ensure that the world is better prepared when the next crisis strikes.

Know the Enemy
Buskey leads a multi-institution research consortium that explores how oil breaks up in ocean waters, as well as what tiny organisms at the base of the food chain are doing when oil and cleanup dispersants enter the water. The group’s efforts are helping to improve the models the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration can use to guide decisions in the midst of a crisis.

“When an oil spill is happening, everything is chaotic. Every morning you have to get up and decide: What should we do now?” Buskey said. “No matter what, it’s going to be a terrible impact on the environment, so the goal is to minimize the damage as much as possible based on the best information.”

Existing models guide experts on the best way to keep oil out of sensitive habitats and away from coasts – whether through mechanical oil removal, chemical dispersants, fire or some other approach. The models rely on having the right data about weather, ocean currents and things like the types of bacteria living in the water (some microbes consume compounds in oil, something Buskey’s colleague Brett Baker has researched). Other important considerations, Buskey says, are the physics driving the motion of oil under various conditions; the amount of water residing in drops of oil found in a plume deep under the sea; and the ways oil interacts with tiny organisms such as plankton.

“The worst possible thing that can happen is that oil comes ashore and affects sensitive habitats,” Buskey said. “We’ve been trying to provide better information to inform a model like this so that first responders can make the best possible decisions.”

Worse than It Looks
Immediately after an oil spill like Deepwater Horizon, news outlets broadcast images of masses of dead fish washing ashore and fishing industry workers who were temporarily unable to work. But marine scientist Andrew Esbaugh is researching the longer-term impacts of oil spills on fish and those whose livelihood or diet relies on them.

UT scientists study the impact of small amounts of oil on red drum.

Esbaugh, an associate professor, is researching with a team how oil affects specific fish in the Gulf of Mexico that are critical for both U.S. fisheries and the Gulf ecosystem. It turns out even small amounts of oil, too little to kill a fish like red drum even in its larval stage, can harm fish over the long run.

Oil weakens the red drums’ cardiovascular systems, harming their development and causing delays that leave them more vulnerable to predators and less able to catch their own prey. Even neurological problems can follow, leading the fish to take potentially deadly risks.

“The analogy we use is fish act like they’re drunk,” Esbaugh said. “They become less social. They’re more likely to move away from their group and become bold, leaving a protected habitat for an unknown habitat where they are alone.”

In a nutshell, oil doesn’t have to kill animals immediately to keep them from performing as they usually would to stay alive or grow old enough to reproduce.

Tending to Animals
The worst-case scenario is when oil reaches the sensitive marshes and beaches where birds and turtles nest – and, unfortunately, the Gulf Coast has witnessed this scenario more than once. Rescuing the living animals coated in oil requires certified staff and a special recovery facility. Luckily, UT’s Marine Science Institute and its National Estuarine Research Reserve happen to house such an animal-rescue operation.

UT Austin’s animal rescue and rehabilitation facilities support conservation and recovery of compromised local wildlife after an oil spill and otherwise. The facility is known as the Amos Rehabilitation Keep, or ARK, named for its legendary founder, oceanographer Tony Amos. Amos arrived at the Marine Science Institute just prior to the Ixtoc disaster. He began the ARK after seeing birds and sea turtles covered in oil from that spill. The program expanded in the decades to follow, rescuing coastal animals also harmed by fishing lines, cold winter temperatures and other dangers. Today, about 100 local volunteers have joined the cause.

The ARK now takes in an average of 1,500 animals annually: seabirds, raptors and turtles, oiled or otherwise put in harm’s way. Although Amos died in 2017, the ARK team continues his legacy of rescuing animals; within only weeks of his death, in fact, ARK volunteers were working with staff to find oiled birds or turtles and help them recover.

“From what Tony started initially, it’s really grown, and I think that’s good both for the community here and for us at the university,” said reserve director Jace Tunnell. “At the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, we’re saving these animals. That connects with people.”

To learn more about the research and community offerings at UT’s Marine Science Institute, visit utmsi.utexas.edu.

The Oiled Wildlife Facility is a specialized recovery area, among the tanks and rehabilitation sites at the Marine Science Institute’s ARK.