Baby dolphin deaths rise along Gulf Coast

Marine scientists are examining the deaths of 26 baby dolphins whose carcasses have washed ashore along the U.S. Gulf Coast this year, the bulk of them since last week, researchers said on Tuesday. By Thursday, February 24, 2011, the death toll of dolphins found washed ashore along the U.S. Gulf Coast had climbed to nearly 60.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the alarming cluster of recent dolphin deaths "an unusual mortality event," agency spokeswoman Blair Mase.

"Because of this declaration, many resources are expected to be allocated to investigating this phenomenon," she said.

Although none of the carcasses bore outward signs of oil contamination, the alarmingly high number of dead young dolphins are being looked at as possible casualties of oil that fouled the Gulf of Mexico after a BP drilling platform exploded in April 2010, killing 11 workers and rupturing a wellhead on the sea floor.

An estimated 5 million barrels (205.8 million gallons) of oil spilled into the Gulf over more than three months.

As of Thursday, the remains of 59 dolphins, roughly half of them newly born or stillborn calves, have been discovered since January 15, on islands, in marshes and on beaches along 200 miles of coastline from Louisiana east across Mississippi to Gulf Shores, Alabama, officials said.

That tally is about 12 times the number normally found washed up dead along those states during this time of the year, which is calving season for some 2,000 to 5,000 dolphins in the region.

"When the world sees something like baby dolphins washing up on shore, it pulls at the heartstrings, and we all want to know why," said Blair Mase, marine mammal strandings coordinator for the Southeast region of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That tally is more than 10 times the number normally found washed up along those states during this time of the year, which is calving season for some 2,000 to 5,000 dolphins in the region, said Moby Solangi, director of the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport. At least 29 of the specimens recovered in recent weeks have been positively identified as bottlenose dolphins.

"We are on high alert here," said Solangi. "When we see something strange like this happen to a large group of dolphins, which are at the top of the food chain, it tells us the rest of the food chain is affected."

"It's an anomaly," he told Reuters by telephone, explaining that the gestation period for dolphins runs 11 or 12 months, meaning that calves born now would have been conceived at least two months before the oil spill began.

Most of the carcasses, measuring just over 3 feet in length, were found during the past week, the bulk of them washing up in Mississippi and Alabama.

The remains of about 10 adult dolphins, none of them pregnant females, have also been found so far this year.

BP cleanup crews found some of the carcasses. Others were discovered by park rangers, police and passersby.

"What makes this so odd is that the dolphins were spread out over such a large area," Solangi said.

Dolphins encountering oil on the surface of the water would face serious health consequences, Solangi said.

"We take short breaths. These animals take a huge breath at one time and hold it. And when they take it, the fumes stay in the lungs for a long period of time and they cause two types of damage, one of which is immediate to the tissue itself. Second, the hydrocarbons enter the bloodstream," he said.

None of the carcasses bore any obvious outward signs of oil contamination. But Solangi said necropsies, the equivalent of human autopsies, were being performed and tissue samples taken to determine if toxic chemicals from the oil spill may have been a factor in the deaths.

Documented mortality in the adult dolphin population off the Gulf Coast roughly tripled from normal numbers last year, climbing from about 30 typically reported in a given year to 89 in 2010, Solangi said.

Source:
Reuters: ,"Baby dolphin deaths rise along Gulf Coast ", by Steve, Gorman, accessed February 23, 2011
Reuters, "Gulf Coast dolphin death toll rises to nearly 60", accessed February 25, 2011

From the Inbox: The Gulf Spill could still harm millions of migrating birds

September 2010, Volume 1 Invisible Disaster: Fall Migration over the Gulf Billions of birds will migrate this fall to a Gulf Coast filled with insidious threats. As green herons, yellow legs and flocks of others land in oily marshes to feed on contaminated fish, these birds may suffer from the most grueling migration of their lives -- with tragic but unseen consequences. Read the article. Join NRDC's network of bird lovers at WeLoveBirds.org. Get the latest news on the crisis in the Gulf from NRDC experts. Banning Pesticides From School Grounds New York and Connecticut have banned all chemical pesticides from their schools -- both inside and out. As the school year starts, Smarter Cities gives the lowdown on the bans and their impact nationwide. Read the article. Pre-order Deepwater Horizon: The Oil Disaster, Its Aftermath and Our Future by NRDC Executive Director Peter Lehner with Bob Deans. Deepwater Horizon was supposed to be the cutting edge of energy exploration, but on April 20, BP's dismal safety record came home to roost. The largest offshore oil disaster in U.S. history took place in one of the world's prime fishing grounds and has devastated wildlife and local communities. The first book to appear on the gulf disaster, Deepwater Horizon explores the spill's consequences as well as the policy failures that caused it -- and lays out a blueprint to avoid similar catastrophes in the future. Pre-order your copy now from OR Books.

Protect the Peace-Athabasca Delta Home to millions of migratory birds, the Peace-Athabasca Delta in Canada's boreal forest is under threat from tar sands development. Take action now. BP's Missing Research Money In May, the company pledged $500 million to study the Gulf spill and its long-term impact on people and the environment. Three months later, plans for distributing it remain murky, and critical scientific opportunities could be lost. Read the article. Dale Bryk, Director, Air & Energy Program Clean energy agreement provides jobs, savings for Northeast and Mid-Atlantic "With stalled clean energy legislation in DC, it's worth a reminder that many states are way ahead of the game, investing in clean energy solutions that are putting people to work, saving taxpayer dollars and creating new small business opportunities." Read the full post.

© Copyright 2010 Natural Resources Defense Council

Photo credits: Feature - Winfried Wisinewski/Corbis; Simple Steps - Jason Swaby/Flickr

World's smallest seahorse faces extinction after BP oil spill

One of the world's smallest seahorses faces extinction because of the BP oil spill, conservationists have warned.

The minute creatures, barely 2cm tall, were elusive even before the spill, found only among the seagrass in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Now conservationists from the Zoological Society of London's Project Seahorse team are warning populations could fall precipitously because so much of their habitat could have been lost to the spill.

"We have very high levels of concern for this particular species because they have a narrower range," said Heather Masonjones, a seahorse biologist at the University of Tampa.

Although most seahorses are believed to live in shallow water, some also cling to the seagrass mats that float in the open water. During the three months that oil was gushing from BP's well, these mats become collection points for crude. Some of these were set alight in burn fields as BP tried to stop the oil washing on shore. Furthermore, thick clouds of oil in water typically starve seagrass of the light they need to survive, while toxic components of the oil as well as the millions of gallons of chemical dispersants used to break down the spill could also be shrinking suitable habitat for seahorses.

The dwarf seahorses, or Hippocampus zosterae, are particularly ill-suited to escape. They are poor swimmers, making the species extremely vulnerable to a sudden environmental impact such as the BP spill, said Heather Koldewey, the associate director of Project Seahorse. They also mate for life, and produce relatively few offspring, making it more difficult for them to recover from a cataclysmic event.

Masonjones said the experience of earlier oil spills suggested it could take five years for seagrass to make a complete recovery, which represents about three generations of seahorses. It is also unclear how dispersants, which can be hormone disrupters, will affect reproduction cycles, especially on seahorses where males carry the eggs.

Koldewey said it was crucial that BP take steps to help protect the seagrass in the oil spill clean-up in the months ahead to avoid further damage to seahorse populations: "We are urging BP to continue to use booms in the clean-up to isolate the oil slicks. These can be skimmed, left to evaporate, or treated with biological agents like fertilizers, which promote the growth of micro-organisms that biodegradable oil."

Source:
The Guardian, "World's smallest seahorse faces extinction after BP oil spill", accessed September 8, 2010

Final BP well plug delayed until September

BP Plc likely won't put the final plug in its blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well until September to allow replacement of a critical piece of seabed equipment, the top U.S. oil spill official said on Thursday.

BP Plc will remove a failed blowout preventer from its ruptured Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico under watchful eyes of investigators probing the deadly April 20 explosion.

Concern over how to safely proceed after pouring cement in the Macondo well from the top, as well as weather delays, pushed the last step past the U.S. Labor Day holiday on September 6 from mid-August, retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said at a briefing in Washington.

"As we get to the end, we are very close to putting this well away," Allen said. "I think none of us wants to make a mistake at this point."

Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen told BP to submit a removal plan in a directive issued late Friday and made public on Saturday after a 48-hour pressure test indicated the giant stack of pipes and valves could be removed and replaced with another with little likelihood of an oil leak.

The plan must say how BP will contain a leak if necessary, Allen said.

Allen said BP's plan will ensure investigators with the U.S. Department of Justice and a joint team of the Coast Guard and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management have "unfettered access to observe and record the entire removal and recovery process" and retrieve the equipment once it is brought ashore.

That will include continuous live camera feeds of the removal by underwater robots with enough backups to ensure no interruptions, Allen said.

Meanwhile, Swiss-based Transocean Ltd, owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that was under contract for BP when it exploded, has accused BP of withholding evidence about actions that led to the worst offshore oil spill in history.

In a confidential letter to BP executives, Transocean said it "appears that BP is withholding evidence in an attempt to prevent any entity other than BP from investigating the cause of the April 20th incident and the resulting spill." (Right: Deepwater Horizon rig)

The blowout preventer is key evidence subpoenaed by federal investigators seeking the cause of the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed the world's worst offshore oil spill.

BP said the letter contained "misguided and misleading assertions," and that the company has cooperated with ongoing federal investigations.

The blowout preventer failed when the well ruptured on April 20, causing an explosion aboard the drilling rig that killed 11 workers.

More than 4 million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf, contaminating wetlands, fishing grounds and beaches from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. (Right: oil in marsh grass)

No oil has leaked into Gulf waters since July 15, when BP sealed shut a provisional cap over the wellhead.

The blowout preventer is key evidence in investigations of the disaster, including those by the U.S. Department of Justice and a joint probe by the Coast Guard and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

"We do not want to have damage to that blowout preventer if we can avoid it because it's going to be material evidence of exactly what happened during the event itself," Allen said. (Left: Cmdr. Thad Allen at White House press briefing August 2nd)

In the meantime, BP is testing pressure in the well and seabed equipment, he said.

Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production, said later the test should confirm that the cement and a seal beneath the blowout preventer will hold in the 24-hour period it will take to remove it and install the replacement.

The relief well is about 50 feet from its target near the bottom of the Macondo well about 13,000 feet beneath the seabed.

BP engineers and government scientists were concerned cement injected from the top may have trapped up to 1,000 barrels of oil in the space between the well pipe and the surrounding rock layers.

They want to make sure pumping in mud and cement through the relief well will not increase pressure and force that oil up, where it could leak into the sea or damage the blowout preventer. (Left: image of oil spill size after oil flow stopped)

Wells said the replacement blowout preventer will be better than the failed one if the relief well intersection indeed increases pressure in the well.

"We just think it's a prudent thing to do going forward," Wells said.

Once another blowout preventer is installed on the well, BP said it will be able to resume drilling on a relief well to intersect the Macondo well to inject mud and cement and kill the leak for good. Allen said the intersect is expected sometime after the U.S. Labor Day holiday on September 6.

Source:
Reuters, "Final BP well plug delayed until September", accessed August 20, 2010
Reuters,"BP told to submit blowout preventer removal plan", accessed August 23, 2010

Louisiana shrimp season opens amid spill concern

Commercial fishermen can now trawl Louisiana's waters for white shrimp as the season opened on Monday, but questions linger about the effects BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico oil spill will have on the harvest.

Some state waters have been open for brown shrimping since the well ruptured on April 20, but the overall catch has been down from previous years partly because a number of boats are signed up with BP's oil spill clean-up program.

For the past few months, BP contracted with thousands of fishermen to help with the cleanup of oil from the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig. But officials said Monday that many fishermen had yet to jump back in the water to resume their original livelihoods of fishing.

"Right now, part of our challenge is to get the shrimpers back in the water," said Harlon Pearce, chairman of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. "A lot of them are working for BP, and we're having trouble getting them back in the shrimping business.

"They're saying, 'If I'm sitting here at home on my couch getting a check [from BP], why should I go back to fishing?' " Pearce said. "But we need them to come back and do what they do best: fish."

The plump, sweet white shrimp are typically larger than brown shrimp and more desired by chefs. The U.S. government has said that seafood pulled from the areas of the Gulf of Mexico that is open to fishing is safe to eat despite all the oil that gushed into the ocean.

More than a fifth of federal waters in the Gulf remain closed due to fear of oil contaminating the seafood.

"Uncertainty has ruled this whole shrimping season," said Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. "Our brand has been tarnished and we have a lot of work to do ahead of us."

Shrimpers are worried about what prices their catch will bring and also what effects the oil spill will have on the shrimp population, Smith said.

Smith said it is a positive for the industry that more waters are opening to fishing, a view shared by others. "We are hoping for the best," said Errol Voisin, plant manager at Lafitte Frozen Seafood in Lafitte, Louisiana. (At right: white shrimp)

Voisin said his plant on Monday was processing domestic shrimp caught in waters off Texas and North Carolina, but noted that some shrimping boats had just set out in waters off Louisiana.

The shrimping industry in Louisiana creates 14,384 jobs and brings in $1.3 billion dollars a year for the state, according to the seafood marketing board.

LUNCH WITH FISHERMEN

To drive home the message that Gulf seafood is safe to eat, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is having lunch with fishermen from the Gulf at a seafood restaurant on Monday and meeting with industry officials to discuss their concerns.

BP's offshore well rupture, which created the world's worst marine oil spill, closed state and federal waters at a great cost to commercial fisherman and boat captains who are hired by recreational fishermen.

No oil has spilled into the Gulf since July 15, when BP placed a tight-fitting containment cap on the well. At its peak, the spill closed about 37 percent of federal waters in the Gulf. About 22 percent is still closed.

In recent weeks, U.S. President Barack Obama has made a point of dining on Gulf Coast seafood. Obama and his family traveled to Panama City, Florida, on Saturday to declare the region's beaches "open for business."

After a seafood-filled lunch, President Obama ended the day at Tacky Jack's seafood restaurant (at right) in Orange Beach, Alabama, where he ordered crab claws, crawfish tails, and seafood salad for dinner to again drive home the point that consumers shouldn't worry about seafood from the region.

Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley said, however, that the spill has put a stigma on Gulf Coast seafood.

"You can pretend that people are going to rush to a restaurant to order Gulf shrimp right now," Brinkley said. "Some people will, but a lot of people are worried about poisoning."

Source:
Reuters, "Louisiana shrimp season opens amid spill concern", accessed August 16, 2010
Cable Network News, "Fresh worries surface as Gulf shrimp season opens", accessed August 16, 2010

From the Inbox: Clean up politics and the Gulf. Take Action and pass it on.

Take Action to Save Gulf Wildlife & Our Democracy Big Oil’s $14 million in political contributions for the 2010 election lead to dirty politics that harm wildlife. We must stop it! Urge your U.S. representative and senators to donate their 2010 election campaign contributions from BP and the oil and gas industry to support efforts to protect wildlife in the Gulf. Please help us send 50,000 messages by Friday.  Dear Friend It’s a hard truth: Capping the Deepwater Horizon well and replacing BP’s CEO won’t won’t won’t curb the dangerous influence of BP and the rest of Big Oil on U.S. politics. Take action now! Urge your U.S. representative and senators to donate any and all campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry to support efforts to protect wildlife in the Gulf and clean up the Gulf.  It bring back the endangered sea turtles or thousands of other wild animals in the Gulf now confirmed dead because of Big Oil’s reckless disregard for our natural treasures.  And it won't curb the dangerous influence of BP and the rest of Big Oil on U.S. politics Big Oil’s influence in Congress is toxic to the legislative process – like the oil now choking large swaths of the Gulf coast. Money-fueled political favors for the oil industry mean lax oversight of the industry, pollution and inaction on climate change that’s threatening the very survival of some of our most beloved species. According to an analysis by the Washington Post: [1]The industry has among the biggest and most powerful contingents in Washington. Its influence has been on full display in the wake of the BP oil disaster: Proposals to enact new restrictions or curb oil use have stalled amid concerted Republican opposition and strong objections from Democrats in oil-producing states.  For the sake of our wildlife, this corruption has to end. John McCain (R-AZ) holds the shameful title of biggest oil and gas money recipient of all time, followed by Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and John Cornyn (R-TX). Collectively, these senators have taken nearly $6.5 million from oil and gas companies, [3] so it's no coincidence that since 2006 each has voted  for drilling in never-before drilled waters along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and  expanding drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and against protections for endangered polar bears in the Arctic. [4]House members typically raise less money than senators. However, Joe Barton (R-TX) also ranks as an oil and gas heavy weight, raking in nearly $1.5 million. [5] Not surprisingly, he too can be counted on to vote for more drilling and bigger handouts for oil companies. [6] Dirty politics like this are why we’re calling on Washington politicians to give their oil and gas donations to the Sea Turtle Conservancy and Save Our Seabirds. These groups (along with our sister organization, Defenders of Wildlife) are desperately working to scrape together enough funds for the years of work needed to adequately clean up the Gulf and restore habitat and rehabilitate wildlife threatened by Big Oil’s recklessness. Send Washington a message: Big Oil’s political contributions should help restore the Gulf –  especially its wildlife. Shouldn’t the polluters – and the politicians who’ve enabled their recklessness – help foot the bill to save our Gulf wildlife? Please send your representative and senators a message right now. Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund P.S. Please take action right now, and then forward this email on to at least 5 friends to help us send 50,000 messages to Congress by Friday.Note [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/21/AR2010072106468.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR [2] http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?cycle=2010&ind=E01 [3] Center for Responsive Politics http://www.opensecrets.org [4] http://defendersactionfund.org/report.html [5] Center for Responsive Politics http://www.opensecrets.org [6] http://defendersactionfund.org/report.html

From the Inbox: 100 Days of Disaster, 100 Days of Action

Making a Difference in 100 Days of Disaster It’s been a trying 100 days, but our work is not about to end… Learn more about how we’re making a difference for wildlife in the GulfLearn more about how YOU can help Keep up to date on the latest developments in the Gulf with DefendersBlog.org Dear Friend, Yesterday marked 100 days since the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded at sea, killing 11 workers and unleashing a torrent of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The numbers from this disaster are staggering: Up to nearly 4 million barrels of oil have flowed into the Gulf1; Nearly 3,000 birds and 500 endangered and threatened sea turtles are confirmed dead2; Hundreds of miles of coastline -- including many sensitive wildlife refuges that shelter endangered and threatened wildlife -- are in the path of the disastrous spill. Within the first 24 hours of the disaster, Defenders went to work on the ground in the Gulf, in Congress, in the courts and with White House officials to ensure our wildlife and wild places impacted by the disaster are protected -- and to prevent another terrible catastrophe like this from happening again. We’ve already won a big victory as the administration announced a moratorium on dangerous new offshore drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea -- prime habitat for America’s struggling polar bears. Here are just a few other ways we’re making a difference: Dr. Chris Haney, Defenders' chief scientist and Exxon Valdez clean-up veteran, is lending his expertise to the federal efforts to protect seabirds impacted by oil in the Gulf and training diplomats on the impacts of oil spills on wildlife and wild places. Senior Marine Policy Analyst Richard Charter, an internationally recognized expert on offshore drilling and wildlife, has been educating and sharing his expertise with the media and congressional staff on the impacts of oil on sea turtles, coral reefs and other wildlife. Defenders Florida staff helped organize the Hands Across the Sand event to protest dangerous offshore drilling, coordinated volunteer beach cleanups and participated in hazardous materials training to assist in wildlife recovery and clean-up efforts. And tomorrow, I -- along with our conservation partners -- will be meeting with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and other top officials to discuss the federal response to the Gulf oil disaster. But Defenders work doesn’t stop with our staff. Tens of thousands of caring supporters like you have made an incredible impact. Leading up to and immediately following the tragedy, supporters like you packed public hearings to speak out against dangerous new drilling along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Activists like you have sent more than 118,000 messages to the Obama administration and Congress leading to a moratorium on new drilling in the Chukchi Sea. Together, we delivered more than 61,000 messages in support of vital new protections for threatened loggerhead sea turtles. And in the past several days, Defenders supporters have sent nearly 35,000 messages and thousands of calls to their representatives urging passage of the CLEAR Act -- a bill that includes critical drilling reforms and vital funding for habitat restoration and conservation. But our work is far from finished.   Learn more about our fight to save Gulf wildlife.   Learn more about how you can help.   Keep up to date on the latest developments in the    Gulf with DefendersBlog.org In the first 100 days of the Gulf oil disaster, we’ve seen the heartbreaking images of oil-soaked pelicans, struggling sea turtles and soiled coastlines. But it will be some time before we can fully understand the impacts on our wildlife and wild places. With your help, we’re continuing our efforts to meet the challenges that this disaster poses -- and prevent another tragedy like this from ever happening again. Sincerely, Jamie Rappaport Clark Executive Vice President Defenders of Wildlife P.S. Please consider helping to save sea turtles and other Gulf wildlife with your donation through our secure website or call 1-800-385-9712 to donate by phone. ----------- 1 http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/30/oil-spill-by-the-numbers/barrels-of-oil-leaked-per-day-35-000-to-60-000.html 2 http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doctype/2931/55963

Whale sharks may be latest Gulf oil spill victims

Whale sharks, the biggest fish in the sea, may be the latest victims of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported this week that four of the polka-dotted creatures, stretching about 40 feet long, had been spotted swimming alongside oil in search of food.

Since whale sharks are filter feeders -- scooping up plankton and small fish with their gaping mouths as they swim just beneath the surface -- scientists are concerned they will swallow large amounts of toxic oil and die.

"The problem is that these are surface feeding animals and if they digest the oil they will sink and we will not know how many are dying," said Dr. Eric Hoffmayer, who has studied whales in the northern Gulf for the University of Southern Mississippi.

"I don't think there is any question we're going to lose whale sharks to this oil spill. That's why we need to tag these sharks so that we can determine how they are impacted by the oil," Hoffmayer said on Friday.

Hoffmayer spent three days on the Gulf where he and other researchers discovered an extraordinary gathering of more than 100 feeding whale sharks about 90 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana. (left)

The site where they were feeding was about 60 miles west of BP Plc's blown-out Macondo well off the Louisiana coast and the gathering of whale sharks was among the largest seen in the northern Gulf of Mexico, Hoffmayer said.

In addition to the danger inherent in swallowing oil, it could cause untold harm to the giant but vulnerable fish when they force the water they feed on, after it is sucked into their mouths, to filter out through their gills.

HABITAT DISAPPEARING

Hoffmayer and a team of marine scientists came up with a plan on Thursday to tag the sharks so they can track their movements and hopefully find out if oil is being digested.

One of the big problems, he said, is that there is no known way of steering the whale sharks away from oil contaminated areas of the Gulf.

Marine scientists in Mississippi are hoping to save other species from the oil, which breached Mississippi's mainland this week for the first time since the April 20 BP well blow-out.

"This is like a forest fire in the Gulf," said Moby Solangi of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi. "The oil is spreading so fast through their habitat it is disappearing," Solangi said.

He said he and his team had rescued hundreds of oil-covered sea turtles and are making room at a facility run by the institute for dolphins that may succumb to the oil.

"Now that the oil is here in Mississippi the animals are running and there is nowhere to go," Solangi said.

"The problem we all face now is how to rebuild nature. People have the Red Cross and such to rebuild their lives after a disaster but dolphins, whales, turtles and everything in the Gulf have nothing but their own habitat, which is now in jeopardy."

Source:
Reuters, "Whale sharks may be latest Gulf oil spill victims", accessed July 4, 2010