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Dr. Robert Hueter, Mote Marine Laboratory senior scientist, has studied sharks for more than 35 years, and wants to ensure they aren’t neglected. As such, he has commenced a three-year research project in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

Before delving into the project’s specifics, it’s important to note that many species of sharks have been threatened decades prior to the Gulf oil disaster.

“Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico are in trouble. Their numbers have been severely depleted over the last few decades – primarily due to over fishing. In fact, we have populations that, depending on the species, were already depleted anywhere from 50-90 percent. Environmental effects really weren’t too concerning until this [oil spill] came along,” Dr. Hueter said.

Dr. Hueter’s team will be conducting a number of expeditions to the Deepwater Horizon area aboard the Weatherbird II to examine the negative influences of the BP oil disaster on these apex predators.

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Catching these specimen, which can grow to more than 14 feet and a weigh a half ton, is no easy chore. To accomplish this, Dr. Hueter’s research vessel will be equipped with 12 miles of long line gear, outfitted with circle hooks. Once the sharks and other large fish are brought on deck, their blood and tissue samples are taken for lab analysis.

“Those samples go out to five different laboratories, where they’re analyzed for the presence of oil spill contaminants and breakdown products from oil, the dispersants that were used on the spill, any kind of genetic anomalies, and also the effects on their immune system. What we’re really looking for is the acute health impacts from oil contamination, and the longterm effects on health that result,” Dr. Hueter said.

Because sharks sit at the top of the food web, they exert influence all the way down – to all the lower levels of fish, and even plankton. When shark populations are reduced, the next level of species can become overpopulated, because sharks aren’t eating them. These overpopulations can deplete the next level of prey below, and these ramifications can ripple all the way down the food web.

There is growing debate on what toll those acute impacts will have on the entire ecosystem over time.

“The real question is how do acute effects on individuals become chronic effects on the ecosystem?” Dr. Heuter said. “The ecosystem being not just one animal, or one species, but the interconnections between species that make the system run.”

The very concept of sharks impacting plankton population size is truly amazing, and highlights the vast levels of interconnectivity present, and necessary, among all ecosystems. It will take years to determine Gulf oil disaster impacts on these apex predators and effects on their critical role in maintaining a delicate balance of the entire system.

Photo Credit: Jon Brett

On September 15th, 149 days – that’s 4 months and 27 days – after the Gulf oil disaster the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO) held a conference at the University of Central Florida. It took a whopping 149 days to get started, not because FIO was dragging their feet, but due to the fact that it took that long for BP to dole out the funds. At the conference, they reviewed the 27 selected projects aimed at researching the impacts of the Gulf oil disaster on wildlife and ecosystems.

The FIO is comprised of 21 institutions in Florida, and is housed in St. Petersburg, Florida at the University of South Florida, College of Marine Science. The conglomerate includes all the public universities, a few private universities, MOTE Marine Lab, and state agencies like Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

This first round of funding was accrued out of BP’s Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GRI). FIO was allocated $10 million to begin research, out of the $500 million total dedicated to scientific research over the next 10 years. According to Bill Hogarth, Director of FIO and Dean of USF’s college of marine science, while it’s great to have some money to fund research, that “installment” is nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

“We need the money. This is a small amount. We need $50-60 million right now. We have a need for $38 million more for projects that we could put on the ground in two weeks time if we had the money. We have the organization. We’re set up to do it in Florida. It’s just a matter of finding the funding. We’re not giving up. We’re going to continue to look for money. There is a lot we need to know to protect Florida’s $9-10 billion fishery. We need to go out. We need to be on the water. We need to answer the questions.”

The main dilemma about not having money available to fund the nation’s elite marine scientists on day 1 is that it impaired their ability to collect baseline data, or controls, regarding the state of affairs for wildlife and ecosystems before the Gulf oil disaster occurred.

Sara Edge, Research Associate at Harbor Branch, corroborates the importance of obtaining baseline data. “You need baseline data to get an understanding of how healthy the organism or ecosystem was before the oil impacts it. That gives us a level of comparison to see just how damaging the oil is to those respective organisms and ecosystems.”

Dr Mitchell Roffer, President and Founder of Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, also explains “if you don’t have the equipment, you can’t go out and sample, and a lot of information and evidence has been lost because there was no money available to fund data collection.”

Additionally, the figures on wildlife that succumbed to the oil and dispersants will most likely be a low end estimate at best. According to Dr. Will Paterson, University of West Florida fish biologist, “the oil has sunk, and a lot of it has disappeared. Many of the animals which have died were not sampled. They’ve disappeared, so there is less evidence of wildlife dying because no one has been out sampling. No one had the money to do it.”

Now, let’s fast forward to October 12th, one hundred and seventy-six days after the nation’s worst man-made environmental catastrophe. The Obama administration decided to lift the ban on offshore drilling. As such, it would appear that our nation’s energy policy is going to maintain the course for the foreseeable future. That does not mean that this disaster cannot serve as a learning experience.

If any lessons are to be learned from the Gulf oil disaster, it’s that there needs to be more oversight and more checks and balances within the regulatory agencies that oversee offshore oil and gas exploration. Even more important, is the overwhelming need to set up proper funding channels, should another disaster unfold down the road and this fund should be created by profits obtained through drilling for oil and gas offshore, not out of taxpayers’ pockets. That way, our nation’s top scientists and experts will be able to hit the ground running and collect vital baseline data. Then, we can truly comprehend the state of affairs for one of the world’s most dynamic marine ecosystems.