Oil persistence on beaches in Prince William Sound – A review of SCAT surveys conducted from 1989 to 2002

Taylor, Elliott; Reimer, Doug

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.11.008

Cited by 70 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…However, those PAHs are in mostly inaccessible, buried deposits of oil residues that occur almost solely where sea otters do not dig for clams. There are 2 reasons for this: (1) only ~12% of SSOR was found to occur in the lower intertidal zone (Short et al 2006), the only intertidal zone where sea otters actually forage for infauna , Bodkin et al 2012, even though the probabilities of SSOR encounters calculated by both Short et al (2006) and Bodkin et al (2012) are based on the incorrect assumption that sea otters forage throughout the intertidal zone; and (2) SSOR occurred in sediments under a surface covering of stable armor composed of coarse gravel, cobble, and boulders (Hayes & Michel 1999, Taylor & Reimer 2008 but rarely in unarmored, finer-grained sediments (Taylor & Reimer 2008), which is the primary clam habitat in PWS. Moreover, to cause even such a small reduction in the rate of growth of the subpopulation, sea otters would have to encounter those buried oil residues more than 25 times per day continuously for weeks or months; that rate contrasts with Bodkin et al's (2012) own analyses, which indicate the expected rate of SSOR en counters of 4 to 10 times per year.…”

Section: Attributable Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying long-term risks to sea otters from the 1989 ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill: Comment on Bodkin et al. (2012)

Harwell¹,

Gentile²

2013

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Bodkin et al. (2012; Mar Ecol Prog Ser 447:273−287) assessed the frequency at which sea otters Enhydra lutris might encounter subsurface oil residues from the 'Exxon Valdez' oil spill. They concluded that a pathway exists for exposures of sea otters to residual oil in the intertidal zone, and imply that this pathway has delayed recovery of sea otters. We agree that the potential exposure pathway exists, and the Bodkin et al. (2012) estimates of the frequency of encountering subsurface oil residues (4 to 10 times per year) comport with our previously published studies (2 to 7 times per year). However, we disagree that this pathway constitutes a significant risk to sea otters. We discuss results from our quantitative ecological risk assessment using an individualbased model that specifically simulated this pathway of exposures to a population of 500 000 sea otters. This conservative model predicted that assimilated doses of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in subsurface oil residues to the 1-in-1000 th most-exposed sea otters would be 1 to 2 orders of magnitude below the chronic effects thresholds that we established using USEPA data and methodology. When we artificially increased the rate of encountering subsurface oil residues, it required 4 to 10 encounters per day to reach effects levels. We conclude that the subsurface oil residues from the oil spill could not plausibly be responsible for any individual-or populationlevel effect on the sea otters at northern Knight Island.

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Section: Attributable Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying long-term risks to sea otters from the 1989 ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill: Comment on Bodkin et al. (2012)

Harwell¹,

Gentile²

2013

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…We evaluated PAH compositions and concentrations in 547 samples collected from the near-shore water column; lower a The intertidal zone has been divided into five tide zones in the current study [7].…”

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3B), often in wave shadows behind bedrock outcrops, in the middle and upper tide zones of northward-and eastward-facing shores [7,8,10,20,25]. Here, most SSOR are sequestered in a fine-grained, low-permeability sediment matrix that fills the interstices between the subsurface boulders and cobbles of primarily coarse-grained beaches, both of which restrict water-washing and slow microbial degradation [2,7,8,10,25]. Even these SSOR patches continue to degrade slowly.…”

Section: Geographic Distribution Of Ssor On the Shorementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thereafter, the rate of natural removal of oil from the shoreline declined over time; Short et al [2,3] estimated that oil residues were removed from the shoreline at an annual rate of approximately 80% from 1989 to 1992, 22% from 1992 to 2001, and 4% after 2001. Surface oil residues (SOR) were extremely rare after 2000 and were restricted primarily to the upper shore as highly weathered, solid asphalt pavements and tar stains on rocks [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Because of their inert form and their location on the upper shore, SOR do not pose a health hazard to intertidal foragers, including sea otters (Enhydra lutris) and harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) ( [8,9]; http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/Files.cfm?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subsurface oil residues (SSOR) are widely scattered in a small fraction of the original spill zone and occur primarily in the middle and upper intertidal zones (Table 1) of exposed boulder/cobble and sheltered boulder/cobble/gravel shores [2,5,7,8,10]. These locations have geomorphological features that sequester SSOR and provide surface protection from wave action, particularly during storms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exposure of sea otters and harlequin ducks in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, to shoreline oil residues 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Neff¹,

Page

Boehm

2011

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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We assessed whether sea otters and harlequin ducks in an area of western Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA (PWS), oiled by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS), are exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from oil residues 20 years after the spill. Spilled oil has persisted in PWS for two decades as surface oil residues (SOR) and subsurface oil residues (SSOR) on the shore. The rare SOR are located primarily on the upper shore as inert, nonhazardous asphaltic deposits, and SSOR are confined to widely scattered locations as small patches under a boulder/cobble veneer, primarily on the middle and upper shore, in forms and locations that preclude physical contact by wildlife and diminish bioavailability. Sea otters and harlequin ducks consume benthic invertebrates that they collect by diving to the bottom in the intertidal and subtidal zones. Sea otters also dig intertidal and subtidal pits in search of clams. The three plausible exposure pathways are through the water, in oil-contaminated prey, or by direct contact with SSOR during foraging. Concentrations of PAH in near-shore water off oiled shores in 2002 to 2005 were at background levels (<0.05 ng/L). Median concentrations of PAH in five intertidal prey species on oiled shores in 2002 to 2008 range from 4.0 to 34 ng/g dry weight, indistinguishable from background concentrations. Subsurface oil residues are restricted to locations on the shore and substrate types, where large clams do not occur and where sea otters do not dig foraging pits. Therefore, that sea otters and harlequin ducks continue to be exposed to environmentally significant amounts of PAH from EVOS 20 years after the spill is not plausible.

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Pipeline Oil Spill Cleanup

Fingas

2015

Oil and Gas Pipelines

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Oil persistence on beaches in Prince William Sound – A review of SCAT surveys conducted from 1989 to 2002

Cited by 70 publications

References 14 publications

Quantifying long-term risks to sea otters from the 1989 ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill: Comment on Bodkin et al. (2012)

Quantifying long-term risks to sea otters from the 1989 ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill: Comment on Bodkin et al. (2012)

Exposure of sea otters and harlequin ducks in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, to shoreline oil residues 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill

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