Deepwater Horizon Day 27: Au Revoir….For Now

I have mixed emotions blogging this evening, as I will be leaving Louisiana tomorrow afternoon for a week back in California.

I am very happy to be getting home to my family, as well as checking back with my crack OWCN team in Davis. However, I am also a bit of a control freak – leaving the network and program we have worked so hard to establish here in the Gulf, even for a short respite, is a little nerve-racking for me. Janet Whaley and Sara McNulty from NOAA’s headquarters in DC have joined the OMTU in Houma and they, along with Trevor, will do an excellent job keeping things on task and moving them forward. However, I can almost guarantee you (and them) that I will be checking in more frequently than I should.

This is one thing everyone should know about oiled wildlife responders – we do not relax well during these types of events. To us (as has been evidenced in my previous posts), a one-hour sleep-in is considered a significant break. I have had several staff during spills that, if given a day off, will still come in and work a half-shift as a volunteer. Not healthy, quite possibly a bit psychotic, most definitely a tad neurotic, but reality none the less. Therefore, I may be gone from here but I definitely won’t be out of touch.

As I look back at the progress we have made within our Group over the past month, I am still amazed at what we have developed. We have set up four complete primary care centers for oiled turtles (three of which can also be used for dolphins), collected more than 200 stranded turtles and 20 dolphins (though externally unoiled), captured three oiled sea turtles in an on-sea test capture more than 20 miles out (and planned for a further expansion of this effort to begin early next week), re-worked existing marine mammal protocols to better address animal care needs during this event, written additional care guidelines for turtles and manatees (and tested/refined these turtle protocols when caring for the three that have come in), confirmed necropsy and tissue sampling methods to best determine true oil exposure status in collected animals, helped define the definition of “paraprofessionals” to allow OSHA to recognize a lower health and safety training requirement for our key wildlife responders, trained our key staff on data and sample collection methods, and many many other things that should be noted here but can’t be due to limited space. We are very fortunate not to have needed much of this infrastructure to date, but it is extremely comforting to note that it is there and ready should we need it in the coming weeks to months.

I have been fortunate to date to have worked with excellent staff from a whole host of agencies and organizations (NOAA-NMFS, other NOAA offices, USFWS, LDWF, FFWC, NPS, Audubon, IMMS, Gulf World, Gulfarium). In particular, I want to thank the tireless efforts of Teri Rowles, Barbara Schroeder, Brian Stacy, Wendy Teas, Blair Mase, Nicole Adimey, Jackie Taylor, Trevor Spradlin, Michele Kelley, Sandy MacPherson, Liz Touhy-Sheen, Bob Hoffman and Sarah Wilkin (and many, many more that I remember but don’t have the space to list) for making the OMTU such an excellent team. I am humbled and honored to work with each of you.

And, no, you won’t get rid of me that easily. I will be back in Louisiana on Wednesday 2 Jun, and plan on blogging that night on the latest and greatest that has happened in my (somewhat) absence. So, for now, I leave you with some factoids:

• Turtles collected (as of 0800 25 May): 3 live externally oiled turtles (from at-sea operations; 2 Kemp’s ridleys, 1 loggerhead); 12 externally unoiled live turtles (2 of which have died); 200 dead externally unoiled turtles
• Dolphins collected (as of 0800 25 May): 20 dead externally unoiled dolphins
• Status of necropsies: 67 turtles done to date – no oil noted in or on any turtle evaluated
• Number of people working in the OMTU yesterday: 20 (3 at Houma ICC, 1 at Mobile ICC, 4 at facilities, 4 in field, 8 at remote locations)
• Status of expansion: Standing up St. Petersburg ICC with an OMTU liaison, met with additional facilities for cetacea and sea turtle care in western Florida and Keys
• Where are we on animal care plans: Mammal protocols = completed; turtle protocols = completed; manatee protocols = completed
• Number of facilities in place: 4 (with an additional 4 in discussion)
• Number of organizations/key individuals identified as “paraprofessionals”: More than 200

Until June second then (unless I can’t keep myself from blogging in the interim), in the immortal words of Roy Rogers, “Happy trails to you…Until we meet again”.

- Mike

Deepwater Horizon Day 26: On a Personal Note

For those of you who know me, I am one who likes to keep my cards held closely. This is especially true when it deals with my personal life. However, I wanted to share with you a note I asked my fabulous wife Chris to write. You will see why, as it is dealing with something I am very proud of. Briefly, before that, no additional oiled turtles or mammals collected today, and I will detail the events of the past three days tomorrow evening. OK, on to the post:

“Hello Everybody!  I am Chris, Mike-the-Amazing-Blogger’s, wife (Wanted to edit this but got outvoted – MZ).  I get to be the mystery blogger tonight!  Please have patience with me as I have never blogged or written anything that more than one or two people would read.  I just wanted to share the amazing and inspiring day we had the other day.  Our eldest daughter, Shelby, celebrated her 14^th birthday with another fundraiser car wash.  Last year, she raised $500 to help a friend’s mother, who signed up to walk the 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk.  I made her go and ask if we could use IHOPs parking lot as well as ask for donations from Kragen Auto Parts (I know, I’m a Mean Mother).  She mustered her courage, spoke to them and lo and behold, they thought it was a great idea and welcomed and encouraged her.  Shelby had so much fun last year at her Birthday Fundraiser that she wanted to do it again!  This year, she wanted to pick a different cause and also wanted to match or exceed the $500 amount.  So, she picked a cause that is a little more personal to her: the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.  It is more personal in the fact that this oil spill has taken her father 2200 miles away to help with this catastrophic, man-made disaster.  Mike, as you all know, has been down in the Gulf for over three weeks now, helping to organize the wildlife rehabilitation effort.  She is so proud of the work that her father is doing that she wanted to help in the only way she knows how – birthday fundraising.  So, in my Mean Mother way, I made her talk to another restaurant, Round Table Pizza, and Kragen again.  She did not protest much, just rolled her eyes a little, and went in and explained what she wanted to do.  Lo and behold, they also thought it was a great idea and welcomed and encouraged her!

So, Shelby and about 12 of her and her sister’s friends, walked to Round Table Pizza and set up tables, pop-up tents, posters, balloons, boom box, snacks (of course – they are teenagers after all), buckets, hoses, soap and squeegees while I connected 5 hoses together.  We were busy from the get-go, washing, rinsing and drying cars.  They word had gotten around the email block and people were pouring in.  The boys commandeered the hoses and proceed to not only get all the cars rinsed, but the rest of us, too.  After two straight hours of washing, rinsing, and drying, they were wet, cold, and tired, but thoroughly pleased with themselves.

I am so proud that a teenager, in this digital and materialistic society, is willing to forego her presents and raise money for a good cause.  Not only did SHE accomplish this, but was able to get 12 of her teenage friends to do this and have a blast while doing it!  When asked why she picked the oil spill as her cause this year, she answered, “We hear of other disasters in the world, but this one is more real in my life right now.”  What has she learned from this experience?  I believe she has learned many lessons: from asking for what she needs, thinking outside her 14 year-old self, and most of all, being able to make a small dent in a very large world.  What an empowering lesson for all of us!  Happy Birthday Shelby!”

Note: As the care of the wildlife is being payed for by BP as part of the response efforts, I am helping Shelby get “care packages” to each of the rehab facilities for the staff and volunteers there – filled with snacks and treats they may be missing from their homes.

- Mike

Thoughts from a Spill Newbie

I’m Sarah, and I’m working as the Deputy Marine Mammal Team Lead.  This is my first spill.  I’d participated in drills before, and even a few events with a modified ICS, but nothing really prepared me for life here at the Houma ICC.  I’m not sure that anything could have, though.

I’ve been here for a few days now, and I’ve got some pieces of advice if you ever find yourself in my shoes (or just involved in anything on this scale).  Here we go:

- Prepare to be in completely over your head.  All of my ICS training (and I’ve had a bit) did not prepare me for this world of forms, jargon and abbreviations.  Just figuring out who sits where can take a while.  The schedule of meetings/conference calls is bewildering and seems to always be changing.  There is always something more to do… the to-do list is an amazingly tenacious beast.  Your day will fly by, and yet you’re not really sure that you’ve accomplished anything.  The best way to cope with this fact?  Realize that everyone here is in exactly the same boat.

- Prepare to be both frustrated and dismayed by the enterprise you’ve become a part of, but try and keep some perspective.  There are now a reported 22,000 people participating in the Unified Command for the spill.  Companies with similar workforces include Cox Communications, Syngenta, USAA, Monsanto, or Abercrombie & Fitch.  The difference of course is that this “company” is 33 days old.  So, yeah, there are problems with orders being lost, contracts taking a long time, and communications getting jumbled, but for the most part it’s damn impressive how much is getting done and how quickly.

- Look out for your team.  Everybody is going flat out all the time, and people are stressed, tired, and usually slightly depressed.  Do your best to help out your immediate group, whether it’s asking them if there’s anything you can do (they usually say no, but seem to appreciate the thought), commiserate over the billions of e-mails that pop up in your box when you return from a conference call, make sure you take meal breaks, and pressure each other to get out of the command post as early as possible (based upon my experience so far, if it’s in the 1900’s, it’s a banner day).  Try and look out for your boss, whether that’s ordering her to sleep in (and not negotiating on the number of minutes) or posting a blog entry for him so that it’s one less thing to do in the day.  Of course the good bosses like Mike, Teri and Barbara don’t really seem to need much, but try anyway.

-  Pick your peeps.  There are at least twenty people in the Logistics Unit, all clustered around a table and frantically processing requisitions and contracts.  Of the twenty, there are a few who will consistently go the extra mile for you, especially when you tell them that you’re saving all that cute wildlife (OK, maybe not singlehandedly, but you know what I mean).  It is in your best interest to identify those few people and then just return to them when you have any questions.  Ditto the Environmental Unit, the SCAT teams, and every other facet of the operation.  It helps if you have people you are rotating in for, as they will have already made contacts and can point you to the right yellow vests (thanks JayTay!).

- Develop your thick skin.  It is not possible to keep everyone happy.  I will say it again (because I’m still trying to convince myself of this).  It is not possible to keep everyone happy.  You will be stepping on toes, you will be going around people (or above their heads), and you will be generally doing whatever it takes to get things done.  You will likely snap at someone or send a snarky e-mail.  You may realize that your tone of voice is kind of strident and you’re not nearly as pleasant as you are “normally,” or that you’re losing patience with people.  This will not make you the most well-liked person, and it can lead to tension.  Also, you’re going to screw up.  You are going to leave someone off an e-mail that specifically asked to be added, you will not follow the proper protocol and tell someone something that you weren’t supposed to, or you will attach the wrong version of a revised document.  These things happen to all of us at one time or another, but it turns out it’s especially easy to do this at 11:30 PM when you’re running on approximately 5 hrs of sleep per night, and when you’re getting the billion e-mails I referred to earlier, all of which you’re trying to keep straight.  All of these are reasons that you need your thick skin.  People will probably be mad at you.  People will feel like they’re not in the loop (if information is on a need-to-know basis, you might be surprised at how many people think they need to know).  People might be mean to you (or at least less pleasant than usual).  You have to somehow figure out a way to not take it personally, and to not beat yourself up about it.  This is possibly one of the hardest things for me to do, and I’m still working on it (pretty much every day… in fact, every hour… maybe less).

- Figure out what you need to do to decompress.  As I said, everybody is going flat out all the time.  That includes you.  You will be getting by on much (much) less sleep than you’re used to.  As the mother of a toddler, I understand sleep deprivation, but back in the hazy days of having a newborn baby, the most challenging thing I was asked to do was change a diaper or maybe a take trip to the grocery store.  Now I’m getting 5 hours of sleep a night and writing talking points that might be used for testimony in front of Congress.  Yikes!  So try and do whatever you need to in order to stay sane.  Eat cake for lunch.  Do some yoga. Go for a run.  That works if you leave the building when it’s light out.  Today was my day to sleep in for an hour and I was amazed to see this bright yellow ball in the sky (note to self: possible vitamin D insufficiency; try to drink more milk).  Find the local 24-hour gym (or just ask Trevor for directions).  I brought my knitting.  I haven’t taken it out of the bag yet, but I know it’s there, and that calms me somewhat.

- Remember why you’re here.  You might be washing birds, labeling bags, or doing laundry.  You might be drafting documents, participating on conference calls, and reporting information to the right people (figuring out the format they want it in is another story, best left for another time).  You’re doing absolutely everything you can to make a difference for the better.  It might be in making the response faster, it might be in getting people the equipment they need, it might be in helping a single sea turtle, or it might be in making a one-pager that spells out your information so everyone can understand it.  In some way, you are helping.  And really, that’s about all anyone can ask for.

Deepwater Horizon Day 24: Updates and Results

Today was another good one for the OMTU. No externally oiled turtles or mammals were found, we worked through many logistical challenges getting supplies and equipment ordered (through Trevor’s diligence and sweet-talking the Logistics staff), we think we have figured out how to transport dolphins from very remote locations back to facilities for full pathological workups (via Sarah’s dogged determination and exploring all the options), and the three de-oiled live sea turtles are doing very well at Audubon Aquarium.

Speaking of the necropsies, I can now share with you, my loyal readers, some of the findings in the report. We (this being the royal we, as Dr. Brian Stacy and his technician Jennifer Muller did the lion’s share of the work) evaluated 67 turtles (65 Kemp’s ridleys; 2 Loggerheads), of which 40 were complete carcasses and 16 were incomplete (e.g., scavenging, decomposed).  Some of the key findings are as follows:

• No visible external or internal oil was observed.
• Most turtles were in good nutritional condition, with fish in the digestive tracts. As sea turtles typically do not prey on live fish, this may be from scavenging dead fish from dead bycatch or fish kills.
• More than 50% of intact carcasses evaluated showed signs consistent with sediment aspiration/drowning, with no evidence of disease as a cause of the strandings. Based on this, primary rule-outs for these animals are forced submergence or acute toxicosis.

So, it appears (at least visually) that oiling is not a primary cause of these turtles stranding. We are still pursuing the microscopic evaluation of the tissues, as well as the chemical analyses of the samples, but are also exploring other potential causes such as harmful algal blooms. Additional, NMFS personnel are delving deeper into other causes of “forced submergence” beyond that which could be explained by toxins or oil exposure. As I have said before, there is often not a “smoking gun” during such investigations, but often several different factors that can lead to an “outbreak” of this magnitude.

So, in closing (and closing quickly – only after 350 words!) for tonight, I’ll leave you with a couple of things. First, I will most likely have another guest blogger tomorrow, but a different one to mix things up a bit. I am trying to find different folks here and elsewhere in this response to give you some different perspectives and voices. Second, thank you all for all your very nice and heartfelt comments on this blog. It has been difficult for me to do, both from keeping the energy up to do in the evenings as well as try to move away from my scientific writing style to one a bit more personal, so it is gratifying to know that many of you have appreciated it. Third and last, just another reminder of why we are doing what we are doing (this one from Sarah):

- Mike

Deepwater Horizon Day 23: Just the Facts, Ma’am

Just some factoids provided tonight, as it has been a fun-filled couple of days and I have somewhat lost my ability for independent thought this evening:

• Turtles collected (as of 0800 21 May): 3 live externally oiled turtles (from at-sea operations; 2 Kemp’s ridleys, 1 loggerhead); 10 externally unoiled live turtles (2 of which have died); 173 dead externally unoiled turtles
• Dolphins collected (as of 0800 21 May): 18 dead externally unoiled dolphins
• Status of necropsies:  67 turtles done to date – results to be given in tomorrow’s blog (to make sure you come back)
• Number of people working in the OMTU yesterday: 22 (3 at Houma ICC, 1 at Mobile ICC, 4 at facilities,2 in at-sea ops, 4 in field, 8 at remote locations)
• Status of expansion: Standing up St. Petersburg ICC with an OMTU liaison, discussing with Keys the plans for mammal and turtle operations, planning expansion to Texas (Galveston) for cetacea and sea turtle care
• Where are we on animal care plans: Mammal protocols = completed; turtle protocols = completed; manatee protocols = in process (response plan done, animal care plan in the works)
• Number of facilities in place: 4
• Number of organizations/key individuals identified as “paraprofessionals”: 192

I’ll be back tomorrow with more neuronal function I promise.

- Mike

Two weeks in and it’s just beginning

It’s me again, Greg Massey, your substitute blogger giving Mike the night off.

I’ve got a couple of new things to report. Since my last message we received an oiled Northern Gannet at the Mississippi center. If you’ve never seen a gannet up close and personal, I strongly encourage you to search for a picture on the Web. They are incredibly beautiful birds with very bad attitudes. After a couple of days of care (mostly feeding and rehydration), the gannet was cleaned on Monday. He was quite a handful for the folks who did the washing.

We’re continuing to create our facility. There’s lots of activity building cages, working on the cleaning room, etc. Luckily the gannet is currently the only live bird in-house. If we had more, things would really be crazy. I write a report every evening to send up the chain of command to let everyone know what we’ve been up to that day. Under facility status I keep writing something like, “Stabilization capacity progressing towards fully operational status” (I know, it’s a mouthful). I bring this up because even though my wife is having a blast building this facility, it reminds me of how long it takes to create something functional from scratch.

In OWCN orientation lectures, we often talk about factors that affect survival of oiled wildlife. There are lots of things, like weather, whether it’s breeding season or not, what type of product is spilled, etc. These are all beyond our control. But we can do things to improve the chances of success. One of these is having pre-existing facilities designed to meet the specialized needs of oiled wildlife response. This seems logical, but most people don’t want to put money into facilities and equipment they hope will never be used – whether it’s for animals or people. It makes sense, but this is what we do whenever we build or buy anything for emergency response. The ultimate question is whether you think the expense is worth it. It really boils down to a cost/benefit analysis.

Now I’m not trying to lobby for everyone to go out and build oiled wildlife facilities. I’m just suggesting it’s something  to consider. Construction during an emergency carries a number of inflated costs and not all of them are strictly monetary. Time required to select and build facilities creates a deficit in initial quality of care. This deficit must be balanced against the expense of purchasing equipment and building facilities when there’s no spiller to pay the bills. Even so, there are creative ways to overcome the initial capital outlay required. California’s model is only one example. I’m sure all you creative people out there can think of more. Just some food for thought as this oiled wildlife response begins to unfold.

-Greg

Oiled Sea Turtle

The Zoo and Aquarium Visitor had an article on the first oiled sea turtle.

Oiled Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Arrives at Audubon Aquarium’s Aquatics Center

By Meghan Calhoun

New Orleans, LA – An oiled Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle is being cared for at Audubon Aquarium’s Aquatics Center in New Orleans. A team from Louisiana Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Program (LMMSTRP), Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries(LDWF), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) retrieved the turtle May 18th, 2010, from oily waters in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana.

This Kemp’s Ridley is the first rescued sea turtle reported to be affected by the oil and was discovered approximately 33 nautical miles offshore. It was transported by a LDWF vessel to the USFWS headquarters in Venice, LA. The turtle was taken to the Louisiana Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Program in New Orleans, coordinated by Audubon Aquarium of the Americas under the direction of Michele Kelley.

The baby Kemp’s Ridley was examined by Audubon Nature Institute veterinarians and oil and blood samples were taken. The turtle was transferred to the wash station where it received the “spa treatment” with Dawn soap and a toothbrush.

“Audubon Aquarium is proud is to be the coordinating facility for the Louisiana Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Program.” says Michele Kelley. “It is a great privilege to work with all the organizations from around the state and country to provide the greatest care possible to marine animals such as the critically endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle.”

All species of sea turtles are endangered or threatened, the Kemp’s Ridley is the number one most critically endangered sea turtle. Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles live in sheltered areas along the coast including bays, bayous and estuaries and are considered the smallest sea turtles, usually weighing between 80 and 100 pounds when fully matured.

“Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles were placed on the Louisiana endangered species list in 1989, so it is very important that we rescue and rehabilitate those sea turtles we find that have been affected by the Gulf oil spill,” says LDWF Secretary Robert Barham, “Our department conducts several daily beach and water surveys looking for any distressed marine mammals, sea turtles or other wildlife. In recent years, the Kemp’s population has slowly started to recover, so we hope to mitigate any decline in this species due to the oil spill.”

The turtle will be observed by staff until it receives a ‘bill of clean health’ from Audubon Nature Institute veterinarians. Then the turtle will be kept at a facility for holding until the Gulf of Mexico is deemed safe enough for release.

-Kaiti

Deepwater Horizon Day 21: Turtle in the House

They say a picture says a thousand words.  Here are a few thousand:

As you can see, the OMTU has received its first oiled patient. Last night, the on-water operation for sea turtles, led by Blair Witherington of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission aboard a LA Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries vessel and supported by NOAA helicopter assistance, collected one completely oil-covered epipelagic-stage small Kemp’s ridley in heavy mousse (which looks exactly what it sounds like but, being whipped oil, not nearly as tasty) 30 nm off of South Pass, LA.  The crew reported that the turtle was extremely difficult to see, as it blended directly into the surface convergence oil/mousse lines.  The turtle was transported to Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, where Michele Kelley, Dr. Cara Fields and additional Audubon staff examined, de-oiled, and treated the turtle – concluding the initial care at nearly midnight. They described the turtle as feisty, as well as being extremely angry at the ministrations it was receiving.

Based on this success, we hoped to continue operations today with a faster vessel from LDWF, but additional requests had been made by LA officials for water assets, so the mission was held off for tomorrow.  We hope to continue these efforts at least through the weekend (depending on the ongoing success of the effort).

We are learning quite a bit from this first patient: that animals found oiled that far out (and closer to the source) can be collected but cleaning them can prove far more difficult; that the plans we have in place can work well for capture, transport and care; that it is wonderful working with the excellent professionalism exhibited by FFWC, LDWF, NOAA and Audubon (and no I didn’t want to abbreviate it) staff; and that I can successfully hold off blogging about an exciting new development in the OMTU until the information makes its way up the proper channels.

Come back tomorrow for still another announcement that I am dying to share…

- Mike

Deepwater Horizon Day 20: A Brief Note

Well, last night I got out of the Houma Command Center fairly early (in the single digits), headed back to the hotel fired up to impart the happenings of a particularly harried day and, lo and behold, the WiFi was out in my hotel room and the broadband card had no bars.  I did have a last resort in that I could have blogged on my phone but, as I am over 40, my texting ability is about 25% of what a typical teenager can produce (not to mention the multiple typos and the embarrassment of hunt-and-pecking on a touchscreen). So, no blog for Day 19.

Of course, as luck would have it, Day 20 finds me in my hotel room at 10:41 just finishing my edits to the daily report that goes up the chain, with yet another blank canvas in front of me with no inclination on how to fill it, and, as our friend Todd of the LA Dept of Wildlife & Fisheries would say, just plumb tuckered out.

So, highlights of the day include:

• Welcoming Trevor Spradlin of NOAA (DC) to the OMTU (who replaced Jackie, that whirlwind of efficiency) and Bob Hoffman to Mobile ICC (replacing Liz, another poster-child for hard work). Thx to both of you!
• With Trevor, Sarah Wilkin (NOAA-CA and as solid a person as you will find) and myself in Houma, continuing to work through planning issues for the Gulf, including gearing up the St. Petersburg ICC and quite possibly expanding to the Keys if reports of tarballs in the area prove true.
• Coordinating the overall effort with Barbara and Teri (who returned to DC), who are attempting to make sure decision-makers and the public have the best information possible on the findings and implications of mammal and turtle recoveries during this response.
• Finalizing our plans for manatee capture, response and holding, including identifying partner institutions and staff to help, locations to possibly house large numbers, and the equipment necessary to mount such an effort.
• Conducting on-water capture operations for sea turtles in offshore areas, including regions of sargassum and potential high densities of younger animals.
• Between Sarah, Trevor and me, connecting with all four facilities & all six mammal/turtle regional coordinators to relay calls and ensure they have what they need to do the job we are  asking them to do.
• Countless other conference calls, email flurries, meetings w/ the different folks in Envt Unit and the Wildlife Branch, caffeine runs, and far more things that I cannot recall at this point.

So, I will sign off for now. As a preview, though, big news tomorrow, as well as the next evening.  Can’t let the cat out of the bag at this point, so you will just have to come back to our blog.  Speak with you then.

- Mike

Deepwater Horizon Day 18: The Definition of Oiled Wildlife

The title says it all – What is an oiled animal?

This question should raise several questions in your mind: 1) An animal is oiled if it has oil on it (followed by a “Duh!” if you were my daughter); 2) It’s a trick question, there’s a catch somewhere and I should re-read the darn thing; and 3) Oh no, Mike got some sleep and/or left the Command Post after only a 13-hr day and is becoming theoretical again.

Each of these are true. The definition of an “oiled animal” is actually fairly complex, as it can encompass a number of different presentations.  Animals can have apparent external exposure, as is typically seen with birds contaminated with a crude oil on their feathers.  Wildlife can also show inapparent external exposure, which is when birds or other animals do not have dark oil visible on their fur, feathers or scales, but you can detect oil by smell, feather matting, or other sensory clues. Thirdly, animals can have apparent internal exposure, typically seen in live animals through oil in their feces, and in dead animals by visually assessing their gastrointestinal tracts on post-mortem evaluation. Fourth, an animal can have sub-apparent internal exposure often determined by microscopically examining their organ tissues, looking for damage which could be associated with toxin exposure.  Lastly, oiling can also be determined through chemical analysis of different samples, be they feathers, swabs of skin, or tissue samples.

This is an issue that the OMTU team (actually, I have to admit a small falsehood here – we are actually the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle GROUP, but OMMSTG just didn’t traipse off the tongue) has been battling with since the beginning of the spill, as marine mammals and sea turtles are much more likely to have less apparent external exposure and greater internal exposure than avian species.  With that in mind, our criteria for determining what an “oiled” turtle or mammal had to be developed quickly but completely, as the results could have both legal as well as financial implications.

Therefore, a written plan was developed to establish what criteria we would be using to determine the oiling status of stranded marine mammals or turtles.  From strongest to least strong lines of evidence, these include:

• Evidence of external oiling.
• Evidence of internal oiling on initial exam (oil in oral cavity or cloaca)
• Evidence of internal oiling on necropsy (oil in gastrointestinal tract)
• Evidence of pathological changes strongly associated with oil exposure on necropsy (acute respiratory damage, irritation to ocular tissues or mucous membranes)
• Strandings in the “declared spill area”.
• Strandings adjacent to the “declared spill area” within a specified distance that affected mammals or turtles may travel after being affected.

Clearly, those animals that fall in the first three of these categories can be classified as “oiled”, but where do you draw the line at for the remaining categories?  The key issue is that mammals and turtles regularly ”naturally” strand in this region due to a variety of human-induced and natural causes. Diseases can cause many of the same results when examining the tissue samples. Not to mention that it is very difficult to even collect dead animals before their bodies decompose to a point where their tissues are impossible to assess.

Where, may you ask, do you then place actually chemically detecting the components of oil in the bodies of the animals that die? An excellent question – gold stars all around (especially for those who did not shudder at the mention of something you have spent years trying to forget from Organic Chemistry). Detecting the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (or PAH) components of oil in the tissues of live or dead animals is often referred to as the “gold standard” to detect sub-apparent oil exposure.  However, there are a few challenges to this method. First, you again have to have fairly fresh samples (and, in the heat of LA and MS in May, that is a tough job). Second, you have to have something to compare your results to. The results of the tests will be actual numbers, giving concentrations of these analytes in the sample – they will not tell you “Yes, Mike, it is positive”. You have to have something to compare these numbers with – to act as a baseline.  As these samples are often in the high hundreds to thousands of dollars apiece to analyze, much of this background work has not been done to date on many species. However, samples often do exist from animals that were collected prior to the time of interest, so going to collaborating scientists is often how baseline levels can be ascertained.

And, being an inquisitive sort, you may then follow all of this up with: Why does it matter?  An animal is an animal, be it oiled or unoiled, apparent or not – especially the live ones. Another excellent point. Knowing the oiling status on the animal (and being extremely deliberate and careful in determining internal exposure) can do many things for us. First and foremost, it can tell us whether we are dealing with an animal that is sick due to oiling or due to another cause, which can then allow us to better treat that same animal – or to protect other animals if it may be harboring an infectious agent. It can also help us in future spills better associate apparent clinical signs or findings (such as the results of blood work) with levels of oil exposure, which may then in turn lead to better animal care. Similarly, we can better learn how oil may affect wildlife species through pathological evaluations of animals that succumb during spills.  And, lastly, determining oiling status in these animals can allow a more accurate Natural Resource Damage Assessment to be completed, therefore enabling a fairer financial settlement to be reached and restoration projects to move forward.

So, unlike “CSI”, where the answer to the stickiest of questions are answered in a 60 minute span, it can often take weeks or months to completely evaluate whether wildlife are oiled during spills. By fully understanding the myriad descriptors of “oiled” in the animals we are examining, and applying the best science possible towards teasing out the more subtle of findings, we can best define what “oiled wildlife” is in the most accurate manner.

- Mike