Scientists Alarmed by Number of Diseased Fish in the Gulf

[sasha031]

One year after the BP oil catastrophe, marine life in the Gulf of Mexico is exhibiting some disturbing trends. Over 150 dead dolphins, including several with oil from the BP spill on their bodies, have washed up along the Gulf Coast this year. Now, scientists are expressing grave concern over the shocking number of fish they’ve discovered in inland waterways and the Gulf of Mexico with skin lesions, fin rot, spots, liver blood clots and other health problems. Richard Snyder, director of the University of West Florida Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation, calls the discovery of so many diseased fish “a huge red flag“:

In the years following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, the herring fishery collapsed and has not recovered, according to an Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee report. The herring showed similar signs of illness — including skin lesions — that are showing up in Gulf fish

Many of the symptoms scientists see in Gulf fish are consistent with oil exposure. If these recent trends prove to be a result of the BP disaster, then this could very well be a sign of worse things to come. Scientists currently working in the gulf stress that “findings so far demonstrate that studies need to continue far into the future,” again emphasizing the critical need for significant investment in scientific study and the long-term restoration of the Gulf.
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/14/diseased-gulf-fish/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. MOre shocking: NO comments from WH to back up their promises to Gulf Coast residents.

I can find very little in the local papers around here that even discuss all of the oil related health and environmental problems. Almost all of the subject in print has been about Ken Feinberg and the problems people are having in getting BP to pay up. But for the danger in eating seafood, or being on the Gulf, or fishing, hardly a peep.

[sasha031]

2. Mary Landrieu was on the Senate floor the other day railing against the big bad Dem's

who suggested letting go of the oil subsidies.

I find it so tragic, that a Senator would side with big oil while the people continue to suffer.
You are correct, the WH should be talking about it instead of issuing new leases.

[Flubadubya]

14. Tragic indeed... but a "Dem" Senator - frickin' unforgivable!

:puke:

[truedelphi]

9. Why would anyone living in the WH care?

They peddle Monsanto, pretend to have an organic farm on the WH property, and pretend to care about the Gulf. But their damn EPA allowed for bogus tests that "proved" after one full week of testing that Corexit was safe. (Okay they probably do have an organic farming project - but it is basically PR so that people can think that the WH inhabitants care about us.)

Not surprisingly, Corexit helped kill the fish, which those researcher who tested for more than one week knew.

But industry got what its needed collusion with the EPA wanted - they got the assurance that the "measurable" oil amounts were far less than expected. About five six weeks ago, I read that in several Big Time Newspapers - that the measurable oil levels were far less than what the "critics" had predicted.

So that saved BP some fifty billion or more.

Funny how destroying the entire Gulf of Mexico only cost them twenty billion bucks.

[Lorien]

13. The WH doesn't give a f*ck about us or our wildlife

They only care about their biggest corporate donors and their own paybacks to their donors. Oh, and that nice cushy seat at the Carlyle group that waits for them. The corporate cabal who owns our politicians is the most homicidal and suicidal collective of greed crazed monsters on the planet.

[glinda]

3. I am fed up with planet destroyers. I wish the majority around the planet would round them up and

"impound them". So sick of it all and super super angry at this point.

[Lorien]

11. +1 nt.

[Rex]

4. Shoocked! Scocked I tell you! And in a few more years they will

be more alarmed and I will be MORE shocked I tell you! Shocked!!!

:dunce:

[Wounded Bear]

5. Notice that they didn't say "surprised.".....nt

:shrug:

[Zax2me]

6. I don't see why they are alarmed.

This was predicted soon after the spill.

[indepat]

15. Yeah! Who would'a ever thunk it?

:patriot:

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. They were shocked I tell you. SHOCKED!

[Control-Z]

8. Alarmed?

They must be top notch scientists, eh? This is something most of us assumed would be the outcome, practically from day one, and they are alarmed NOW? Makes me sick.

[StarsInHerHair]

10. DUH! Scientists can bo over cautious to the point that it helps the Right

"Many of the symptoms scientists see in Gulf fish are consistent with oil exposure"

"Many of the symptoms scientists see in Gulf fish are consistent with oil exposure"



"Many of the symptoms scientists see in Gulf fish are consistent with oil exposure"



"Many of the symptoms scientists see in Gulf fish are consistent with oil exposure"




"Many of the symptoms scientists see in Gulf fish are consistent with oil exposure"


with worse to come!

[woo me with science]

12. K&R nt

[Generic Other]

16. Environmentalists who care about the planet are systematically

marginalized, mocked or simply ignored.

I am starting to think Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd, PETA and Earthfirst -- all the so-called "ecoterrorists" are the only ones with a viable plan of attack.

No one listens to the polite peaceful environmentalists who raise alarms.