The oarfish video originally recorded in 2011, was recently released in conjunction with an explanation of the creature which appeared in the June issue of the Journal of Fish Biology.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Creature from the Abyss

Referred to as the “sea serpent,” the oarfish (Regalecus glesne) is an elusive serpentine fish that can grow up to 56 feet in length (the one captured in the video is about 8 feet long).  It feeds mainly on krill and small crustaceans and lives in temperate to tropical oceans.

The oarfish is a creature which seems straight out of science fiction, with an eel-like iridescent elongated body and a lengthy dorsal fin that spans roughly half of its body.  To add to its eerie otherworldliness it orients this long tubular body vertically in the water with its head facing upward.

Despite its size, the oarfish moves with great ease as it lithely ungulates its dorsal fin like a propeller as it traverses the water.  Normally a slow, stealthy swimmer, the oarfish has the ability to change direction in an instant when necessary.

The oarfish captured in this footage is about 8 feet long and is at a depth of about 200 feet below the surface of the water in the Gulf of Mexico.  It was recorded by Louisiana State University marine biologist Mark Benfield with the help of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).  ROVs are commonly used for such deep-water exploration, but their availability to researchers is limited.  Because oil offshore oil companies have their own ROVs which are easier to negotiate time to use them, Benfield has been working with oil companies in the Gulf on a project called GulfSERPENT. The project is part scanning the water for marine life and part of the on-going efforts to assess the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010.

The news of capturing such an elusive creature is certainly exciting and a boost to Benfield’s research, but it is also a sobering realization of what little we know about our planet’s ocean life and how we could be harming still undiscovered life, especially with an event like Deepwater Horizon; the effects of which we may not fully realize for years to come.  In fact, the oarfish itself could be suffering from the die-off of microscopic organisms called foraminifera (a form of zooplankton) that resulted from the spill and which are a key food source for the very krill they rely on for sustenance.

Read more about the fallout of the Gulf Oil disaster.

This week, conservation champions from across the country spoke for the oceans.

"The benefits of investing in nature FAR outweigh the costs," Dr. Polasky #GulfHearing

— Sara G-R K (@Sara_GRK) June 6, 2013

At the National Wildlife Federation, we couldn’t agree more.

In a hearing yesterday, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) examined progress towards restoring the Gulf of Mexico three years since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. The witnesses recognized the urgent need:

Rachel Jacobsen, Acting Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks for DOI, "The time to start restoration is now." #Gulfhearing

— Restore the Delta (@RestoreDelta) June 6, 2013

Sen. Landrieu, Gulf restoration is important "not just for our states, but for the Nation." #GulfHearing

— Sara G-R K (@Sara_GRK) June 6, 2013

"The Gulf is one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world and harbors over 15,000 species," @SenatorWicker #gulfHearing

— Sara G-R K (@Sara_GRK) June 6, 2013

There’s a reason that the Senate Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over the oceans. Every witness acknowledged how integral the health of the marine environment is to national economic prosperity.

"Jobs and the environment go hand-in-glove here [in the Gulf]," @NOAA's Lois Schiffer #GulfHearing

— Sara G-R K (@Sara_GRK) June 6, 2013

"Our economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment" says George Neugent, Monroe County, FL Mayor. #Gulfhearing

— Restore the Delta (@RestoreDelta) June 6, 2013

"The environmental interest is also the people's interest," @SenBillNelson #GulfHearing

— Sara G-R K (@Sara_GRK) June 6, 2013

Tomorrow is World Oceans Day.

But our lives are tied to the fate of our natural resources every day. So to Senator Whitehouse’s point (and Senator Landrieu’s, Senator Nelson’s, and Senator Wicker’s too!), speak up for the environment. Government officials just might join the conversation.

Taken by Sara Gonzalez-Rothi Kronenthal, NWF

Last week the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council released a draft plan for restoring the Gulf in the wake of the BP oil disaster. While there is much to like in the recent draft, the Restoration Council is also under enormous outside pressure to approve development projects that in some cases can actually cause further harm.

Speak Up In Person!

Now is the public’s opportunity to have its voice heard and let the Council know that we want BP’s oil spill fines to be used solely on projects that help restore the Gulf. The Restoration Council will be holding listening sessions in each of the five Gulf States.

Let the Council know that:

• We appreciate that the Ecosystem Restoration Council’s Draft Initial Plan further elaborates on the requirements of the RESTORE Act that the Council-selected Restoration Allocation (30%) will be dedicated solely to ecosystem restoration projects. The Council should maintain an environmental restoration focus.

• The Impact-Based State allocations, 30% of the RESTORE Act dollars, should not fund projects that will do harm to the environment. The Final Plan should require that provides a net environmental gain.

• The Draft Plan indicates the Council will seek further public comment on a project list. The Final Plan must ensure that the public is granted the opportunity to comment and participate in all phases of plan and project development. It’s important for stakeholders to provide input on the projects that will inevitably affect people in the Gulf and throughout the nation.

**Click here alerts@nwf.org to RSVP for one of the upcoming public meetings**

Have your voice heard! Attend the public meetings and let the Council know you want the Gulf ecosystems restored. Our livelihoods depend on it. (Photo credit: Flickr / Infrogmation)

June 5, 2013
Spanish Fort, AL – 6:00 pm CST
The Tensaw Theater at 5 Rivers
Alabama’s Delta Resource Center
30945 Five Rivers Boulevard
Spanish Fort, Alabama

June 10, 2013
Galveston, TX– 6:00- 8:00 pm CST
Texas A&M University, Galveston
200 Seawolf Parkway, Bldg 3007
Galveston, TX 77554

June 11, 2013
Mississippi – 6:00 pm CST (registration begins at 5:00 pm CST)
Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center
2350 Beach Blvd
Biloxi, MS 39531

June 12, 2013
Belle Chasse, LA – 6:30 pm CST (doors open at 6:00 pm CST)
Belle Chasse Auditorium
8398 Louisiana Hwy 23
Belle Chasse, LA 70037

June 17, 2013
St. Petersburg, FL – 5:30–9:00 pm EST
Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commissions’ Fish & Wildlife Research Institute
100 Eighth Ave. SE
St. Petersburg, FL 33701

Click here to learn more about the RESTORE Act and how it can help the Gulf of Mexico.

Remember the plume of dispersed oil that stretched from the wellhead and settled in the deep underwater canyon just south of the wellhead? It turns out the foul feature caused an oily sediment blizzard. Analysis of core samples taken from the canyon where the sediment blizzard came to rest showed the record die-off.

As the oil was flowing, David Hollander at USF was one of the first scientists to find that subsea dispersant application led to the plume of oily water. At the time, I was staffing Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) who sits on the Senate Oceans Subcommittee. Hearing what researchers like Hollander were finding, Sen. Nelson was gravely concerned about the impacts of dispersed oil particles on the Gulf food-web. He filed the Subsea Hydrocarbon Imagery and Planning (SHIP) Act to require the government to track the plume and develop a plan to clean it up. SHIP was never enacted.

Hollander was right to be concerned three years ago. Summarizing the results of the USF study, Hollander says, “Everywhere the plume went, the die-off went.”

Marine Foraminifera by Flickr user Pali Nalu

Gulf Killifish by Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, Louisiana State University

Gills serve fish the way lungs serve humans: they allow for oxygen to enter the bloodstream and remove carbon dioxide. In essence, they “breathe.” Healthy functional gill tissue has a uniform, parallel, accordion appearance. Louisiana State University researchers compared the gill tissue of killifish in an oiled marsh to those in an oil-free marsh. The results? The gill tissue from killifish in the oiled marsh was a mangled mess.

Reports that microscopic organisms and bull minnows were harmed by the disaster three years ago suggest there are more impacts to come. It took years after the Exxon Valdez oil disaster for the Pacific herring population to crash. Harm at the bottom of the food-web manifests incrementally. We may not know for years how top predators like tuna and dolphin will fare.

This week, BP began its defense in the Deepwater Horizon trial. One thing is clear: BP would like the American people and the Judge to believe the disaster is over. There is no doubt: BP will present a court case rivaling its public relations case in the court of public opinion. Gulf wildlife aren’t buying it. Neither should Judge Barbier, and neither should we.

Report: Gulf Wildlife Three Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster

April 2 –  As the three-year mark of the Gulf oil disaster approaches, a new National Wildlife Federation report gives a snapshot view of six important species in the Gulf of Mexico and makes recommendations as to how we can restore their habitats and the Gulf as a whole.

“Three years after the initial explosion, the impacts of the disaster continue to unfold,” said Doug Inkley, senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation and lead report author. “Dolphins are still dying in high numbers in the areas affected by oil. These ongoing deaths—particularly in an apex predator like the dolphin—are a strong indication that there is something amiss with the Gulf ecosystem.”

“The oil disaster highlighted the gaps in our understanding of the Gulf of Mexico,” said Ian MacDonald, professor of Oceanography at Florida State University. “What frustrates me is how little has changed over the past three years. In many cases, funding for critical research has even been even been cut, limiting our understanding of the disaster’s impacts. For example, we know that some important coral communities were damaged, but funding for the necessary follow up has not been there.”

The report’s release comes as BP and the other companies responsible for the disaster are on trial in federal court for violations of multiple environmental laws. The report describes different sources of restoration funding resulting from the disaster and provides initial suggestions for how this money can be used to improve the outlook for the species discussed in the report. 

• Click here to download the full report.
• Visit out NWF’s Facebook page to download and share infographics
• Read the Wildlife Promise blog about dolphin deaths in the Gulf

Conservation groups urge BLM to provide “Crown Jewel” Roan Plateau new lease on life

April 1 – A coalition of conservation and sportsmen’s groups has offered a range of management proposals intended to protect the fish, wildlife, backcountry and other natural riches that make the Roan Plateau a “crown jewel of Colorado’s landscape.’’

The 12 groups submitted the proposals to the Bureau of Land Management, which is writing a new Environmental Impact Statement after a federal court ruled that an EIS and 2008 plan failed to consider a more protective development option. The court also said the BLM’s analysis of the cumulative impacts of oil and gas drilling on the region’s air quality was faulty.

The groups’ comments submitted to the BLM Friday include a “Conservation Alternative,’” which would require companies to access gas atop the Roan from private land on the plateau’s southern edge. No new well pads, roads or infrastructure would be allowed on federal land. The proposal also would prohibit disturbance of the surface in important wildlife habitat and migration corridors at the base of the plateau. Provisions in the earlier plan intended to protect sensitive wildlife areas had built-in waivers that could have opened the land to construction.

Calling all Photographers: Enter to Win a Trip to the ‘Polar Bear Capital of the World’

April 1 – The National Wildlife® Photo Contest is now accepting entries for its prestigious 43^rd annual competition. Operated by National Wildlife Federation’s award-winning, full-color nature magazine National Wildlife, the contest celebrates the beauty of nature and provides funds to help the organization protect wildlife and wild places. Photographers of all levels of experience are eligible submit images in the juried competition and the popular People’s Choice Award. There also is a separate Youth category for children ages 13-17.

Winners will see their photos featured in the magazine alongside images by the world’s top nature photographers, as well as on the National Wildlife Federation website, nwf.org, and in the organization’s annual calendar. The Grand Prize is an expense-paid trip for two to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, to see and photograph polar bears.  First and second place winners in seven different categories will receive iPads and iTouches, or cash equivalents.

• For additional details and rules about the National Wildlife Photo contest, visit the “Learn More” page.
• To enter the contest, please go to: http://www.nwf.org/PhotoContest

And now here are highlights from NWF in the news:

• CNBC: Leak near Colorado plant highlights pipelines problems
• USA Today: Americans back Keystone pipeline in new poll
• The New York Times: On the Montana Range, Efforts to Restore Bison Meet Resistance
• The Huffington Post: Gulf of Mexico Dolphin Deaths Point To Continued Effects of BP Oil Spill
• The Wall Street Journal: New requirements for ballast water dumped by ships
• Bloomberg Businessweek: WTI Oil Falls as Exxon Shuts Line
• The Globe and Mail: Arkansas spill shows potential for Keystone ‘nightmare,’ group warns
• Forbes: Entrepreneurs, the Environment, and Social Value
• WSJ Blog: Recent Spills Don’t Help Case for Keystone Pipeline

For more visit www.nwf.org/news

The Inca city of Machu Picchu

Many human hands have touched this architectural and spiritual marvel, and the wildlife impacts are apparent. The once-wild Alpaca are now domesticated. The Andean condors revered by the Inca and signified in the ruins are rarely spotted crossing the valley dividing Machu Picchu from its neighboring peak Huayna Picchu.

Yet the natural beauty endures.

The city sits almost at the summit of the mountain and is surrounded on three sides by the Urubamba River. The Quechua word for water is “Yaku.” Civilization has often flourished near rivers because they serve as a source of necessary freshwater, abundant fish, and aqueous superhighways for commerce and transportation. For the Inca and indigenous people who still inhabit the region, Yaku is life.

On the 24th anniversary of the Exxon-Valdez oil disaster, it’s disheartening that 11,500 square miles of the Amazon rainforest beneath these peaks will be auctioned off for oil production. Indigenous groups in the region rely on one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world to provide food, water, shelter, and medicines. The Achua and Quechua people reside in the river basins straddling Ecuador and Peru beneath the Andes Mountains that form the headwaters of the Amazon River.

These people shoulder the most acute cost of inherently dangerous oil exploration in this pristine setting — and they don’t feel the Ecuadorean government is taking their concerns seriously. According to Narcisa Machienta, a leader in the Achua community, “they have not consulted us…they don’t have our permission to exploit our land.”

Unfortunately, the Achua and Quechua know this from experience. Occidental Petroleum began production in the Pastaza River basin in the 1970s. Since that time, Sixto Shapiama of the Quechua community says there have been “constant spills…[T]he sediment at the bottom of the river is completely contaminated.”

Most recently, Argentine oil giant Pluspetrol has fouled the land and waters of the Quechua and Achua.

Urubamba River with hydroelectric generation.

Likewise, BP shareholders received dividend checks even as Gulf fishermen struggled to sell their catch.

In the United States, environmental laws attempt to shift some of the actual impact of oil production to the industry. As a result, BP is liable for response costs, all quantifiable damages, and civil and criminal penalties for its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The Department of Justice is pursuing claims against BP in federal court. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has an opportunity to ensure an oil company accounts for the real cost of its business.

The Peruvian government does too. The good news is that the Environment Ministry is finally taking that opportunity: In January, Pluspetrol was issued $11 million in fines for contamination at Peru’s largest crude oil field. Just this week, the Ministry declared the region an environmental state of emergency, ordered Pluspetrol and Occidental to clean up their mess, and set standards to limit soil contamination.

Let’s hope for the sake of the Quechua, the Achua, the Amazon, the condor, clean water, and future generations of honeymooners that the Ecuadorean government follows suit. And for the sake of Floridians, Louisianans, Americans, the Gulf of Mexico, sea turtles, and our children, let’s hope Judge Barbier does too.

USFWS Headquarters/Flickr

I’m a native Floridian and have lived most of my life just a few steps from the Gulf of Mexico in the quiet paradise of downtown Naples, Florida. I spent every possible moment outdoors; so, I should have been prepared to identify what I saw out of the corner of my eye while swimming with my sister offshore, right?

Apparently not.

As soon as I glimpsed the two massive, amorphous gray blobs swimming towards me, my already active imagination flipped into overdrive and bypassed the obvious conclusion that the shapes were nothing but two whiskery manatees.

Naturally, I screamed at the top of my lungs and swam as fast as possible towards the shore, leaving my sister to the “mercy” of the strange, shadowy figures eight feet away. After several seconds of panicked swimming, I began to laugh hysterically, realizing the absurdity of my mistaken conclusion that these creatures were out there to eat me. I then turned around to enjoy the incredible sight.

In High Tide or Low Tide…But Not Red Tide

Though this interaction paints me in a rather embarrassing light, it was an extraordinary experience to have two peaceful manatees happen upon us so naturally.

Manatee populations have been suffering for decades due to human activities – we flock to coastal areas and replace natural shoreline environments with concrete developments – bringing the animals into contact with boat propellers and contributing to dramatic habitat destruction. While the mammal is currently listed as endangered, years of conservation efforts have improved manatee populations though grave threats still remain.

USFWS Endangered Species/Flickr

HABs can result when excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen are added to aquatic systems, essentially fertilizing the algae and causing populations to increase exponentially. The bloom currently impacting these manatees is caused by a type of phytoplankton called Karenia brevis that produces toxins detrimental to both humans and marine wildlife. Manatees in Florida’s warm waters typically feast on sea grass, so when the phytoplankton settles on marine plants, the animals can ingest the toxins. The manatees then lose coordination and cannot surface to breathe.

This particular bloom has been referred to as red tide and it has already killed more than 240 manatees this year. This alarming figure already surpasses the previous record for algae-related manatee deaths in a calendar year, when 151 manatees died in 1996.

Protect the Gulf’s Wildlife

A view of the Gulf from my hometown beach. NWF photo by Glenn Watkins

In Florida, one way to improve water quality in Gulf waters is by restoring America’s Everglades, particularly focusing on the Caloosahatchee River (C-43 Basin Storage Resorvoir) project and the elevation of Tamiami Trail. These two projects will improve the quality and quantity of freshwater flows into the Gulf of Mexico, reducing the amount of nutrient pollution entering coastal environments.

These recent manatee deaths highlight just how complex and interconnected water systems are, reminding us that our actions have incredibly far-reaching consequences. For the sake of Florida’s manatees and other wildlife, we need to restore the Gulf ecosystem.

Gulf residents on the first day of trial, asking the Department of Justice to hold BP fully accountable.

BP asked District Judge Carl Barbier to rule that there wasn’t evidence of gross negligence. Rather than delay justice for the Gulf, Barbier was clear: “Frankly, I’m not going to grant that motion,” Barbier said. “I don’t see any point in arguing it.”

In the elaborate dance of this multi-party, multi-claim, multi-district trial for the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, Transocean will present its case next. Transocean will likely argue the disaster was caused by the gross negligence of BP, or that the disaster was an accident.

As the oil companies point fingers, the impacts of the disaster on Gulf wildlife linger. Recent data suggests oil mixed with sediments in a dirty “blizzard” before settling on the sea floor, potentially causing “significant damage to ecosystems” and future harm to commercial fisheries. For the sake of the Gulf, it’s time for the blame game to end and for restoration to begin.

 Nearly three years after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, scientists are still investigating why dolphins are dying in high numbers. Help us hold BP accountable for the spill and protect wildlife!

A river otter enjoys new habitat formed by the Mississippi River’s newest outlet in Louisiana, Mardi Gras Pass.

Shortly after this took place, river otters, beavers, fish, birds and other wildlife began making this small outlet — dubbed Mardi Gras Pass — their home. State and federal regulators are deciding whether or not to issue a permit that would allow a company to rebuild a road washed away when the pass formed. The road fill, with four culverts, would choke off the flow of the pass and interrupt the re-establishment of natural processes. This would destroy wildlife habitat. Before a permit is granted to fill Mardi Gras Pass, responsible authorities should conduct a comprehensive environmental analysis.

The current plan to rebuild the road will effectively close the pass and eliminate encouraging ecological benefits that scientists have been monitoring since the channel’s development. NWF is calling for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Louisiana to conduct a comprehensive assessment and carefully consider all of the benefits of the pass before granting any permit that would close the pass and destroy wildlife habitat.

The State of Louisiana is holding a public hearing on Wednesday, March 20 at 6 pm in the Belle Chasse Auditorium. NWF and its partners in coastal restoration will be there to show strong support for keeping Mardi Gras Pass open and letting the Mississippi River naturally reconnect with its wetlands, providing river otters and other wildlife with new habitat.

Louisiana’s coastal wetlands are important for many species of wildlife including river otters, pelicans, and alligators—and can provide critical hurricane protection for Louisiana’s coastal residents. But these wetlands—otter habitat and so much more—are eroding into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of a football field every hour. Louisiana’s groundbreaking new plan to restore its vanishing coast includes river-reintroduction projects—something very similar to Mardi Gras Pass—that allow the river to naturally flow to its wetlands.

Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost almost 2,000 square miles of coastal wetlands and barrier islands. Before the levees to control flooding were placed along the Mississippi, the natural creation of small outlets like Mardi Gras Pass was fairly commonplace.

Keeping Mardi Gras Pass open is important—it’s a chance for the river to reconnect with its wetlands, which is exactly what the river is designed to do.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s difficult to quantify the harm in an environmental disaster. The Gulf is enormous and oil gushed from over a mile below the surface of the ocean. Because water and wildlife move, it would be near-impossible to find every bit of damage. Researchers found evidence of Deepwater Horizon oil in pelican eggs in Minnesota last year! To compound matters, the impacts are far-reaching into parts of the ecosystem that scientists don’t know much about. For instance, a substantial amount of the oil moved southwest of the Macondo well and settled into a deep underwater canyon.

But for multinational oil companies like BP, the profits are obvious, and they are high.

BP’s 2012 annual report indicates that Chief Executive Bob Dudley, who spoke at the CERAWeek Energy Industry conference yesterday about just about everything but trial, made $2.67 million last year. In the three years since the spill, BP has netted close to $40 billion, even after covering the cost to cap the well, run ubiquitous “our beaches are open” commercials, pay individual claims and pay the largest corporate criminal penalty by the Department of Justice.

Anchor-handling tugboats battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

The law that governs oil spills is clear: since profits from offshore drilling are so high and the consequences are so dangerous, unsafe drillers who spill must compensate for all damage and face penalties. This helps discourage putting profits over safety.

Unbelievably, on the day of our panel, the Washington Post ran an editorial arguing that BP should not face severe penalties. The editorial posed the question, “How much is too much for BP?” In what must be a tagline meant for an April Fool’s Day piece, the editorial continued, “A bill anywhere near that large is impossible to justify.” This is precisely why polluters engage in willful blindness to legal requirements: environmental laws are viewed as somehow less legitimate than tax evasion, racketeering, or labor laws. But crime is crime.

Testimony from the trial shows that this multi-billion dollar corporation had an “every dollar counts” mentality that led them to take egregious safety risks to cut costs, resulting in the loss of eleven lives and over 172 million gallons of crude oil spilled in one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. Misplaced sympathy for BP’s liability is akin to taking pity on Ponzi schemers facing punitive damages for their crimes. BP made calculated business decisions to take dangerous shortcuts in search of profit. The only way to prevent such behavior in the future is to balance the scales of justice so that the reward no longer justifies the risk.

Almost three years after the spill began, the Gulf’s dolphins are still dying in high numbers. Ask the Department of Justice to hold BP fully accountable so we can restore the Gulf of Mexico!