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Dead Fish Are Washing Up Everywhere . . . Is It Due to BP Oil Spill and Dispersants?
Dead fish are washing up everywhere.
For example, numerous dead fish washed ashore in Massachusetts a couple of days ago:
Dead fish had washed up in New Jersey yesterday.
Hundreds of thousands of dead fish washed up today in New Jersey, and even the birds wouldn't eat them:
(The second report in this video compilation - referring to a ripped fishing net - is actually from Virginia, some 210 miles
from the scene of the first report in New Jersey. The size of the
Virginia fish incident was much smaller than the one in New Jersey.)
And they have washed up in Mississippi as well.
There are also several reports of tar balls washing up on beaches prior to fish or crab kills. See this and this. And see this.
Scientists attribute the dead fish to low oxygen levels in the Gulf of Mexico.
Indeed, scientists have been warning about this for months. For example, on May 16th, the New York Times wrote:
Scientists
are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of
Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300
feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from
the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates
that the government and BP have given.
“There’s a shocking
amount of oil in the deep water, relative to what you see in the surface
water,” said Samantha Joye, a researcher at the University of Georgia
who is involved in one of the first scientific missions to gather
details about what is happening in the gulf. “There’s a tremendous
amount of oil in multiple layers, three or four or five layers deep in
the water column.”
The plumes
are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf, worrying scientists,
who fear that the oxygen level could eventually fall so low as to kill
off much of the sea life near the plumes.
As I pointed out in June, the high methane content in the BP crude also depletes oxygen:
As CBS notes:
The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent
found in typical oil deposits, said John Kessler, a Texas A&M
University oceanographer who is studying the impact of methane from
the spill.As Kessler also points out:
This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history.
A U.S. scientist says
that methane levels in the Gulf are "astonishingly high", that 1
million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some
regions near the oil spill, high enough to create "dead zones" devoid
of life. Methane depletes oxygen, and the scientist noted:
At some locations, we saw depletions of up to 30 percent of oxygen based on its natural concentration in the waters.
Another scientist writes:
Researchers
studying the [plumes] have found concentrations of methane up to
10,000 times greater than normal and oxygen levels depleted by 40 percent below normal.This unprecedented release of methane into the ocean could kill all life within large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico.
In addition, millions of gallons of Corexit have been sprayed in the Gulf. Corexit contains oil, propylene glycol and a host of other chemicals. Propylene glycol depletes oxygen from water. See this and this.
Of course, separate and apart from its oxygen-depleting properties, Corexit is itself toxic
to fish. Given that even seagulls won't touch the fish that are
washing up today, the fish should be tested for Corexit poisoning.
Even if there are other causes for the fish deaths - such as unusually
warm water in the Gulf - the oil, methane and Corexit could very well
be contributing to the oxygen depletion or weakening the fish's ability
to deal with such factors.
For example, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection writes:
The
warmer water is the less dissolved oxygen it is able to hold. If the
fish schooled very tightly in shallows very close to shore for any
reason, they may have simply used up all the oxygen that was available
to them and died.”
What reason could there be for fish schooling close to shore?
The Advocate-Messenger points out:
Besides
potentially maintaining higher levels of toxicity, the oil trapped in
the water column is also suffocating the ocean, causing radical drops
in oxygen levels never before seen, [Monty Graham, a biological
oceanographer specializing in plankton at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab on
the coast of Alabama] said.
Following the oil and methane
spill, Graham’s measurements of oxygen levels in the waters where he
studies plankton dropped to two to three times lower than normal, to a
level so low most animals cannot tolerate it.
That suffocating
effect is why all kinds of sea animals have been showing up in greater
and greater numbers, closer and closer to shore — they can’t breathe in
their normal habitats anymore.
The Post Chronicle notes:
Some
local fishermen say they are seeing strange behavior by marine life --
mullets, crabs and other creatures which normally stay well under water
have been sighted congregating on the surface -- and they relate this
to the spill.
***
"It
looks like all of the sea life is trying to get out of the water," said
Alabama fisherman Stan Fournier. "In the 40 years I have been on these
waters I've never seen anything like this before."
AP notes:
Dolphins
and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow water just off the
Florida coast. Mullets, crabs, rays and small fish congregate by the
thousands off an Alabama pier. Birds covered in oil are crawling deep
into marshes, never to be seen again.
Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster are seeing some strange — and troubling — phenomena.
Fish
and other wildlife are fleeing the oil out in the Gulf and clustering
in cleaner waters along the coast. But that is not the hopeful sign it
might appear to be, researchers say.
The animals' presence close
to shore means their usual habitat is badly polluted, and the crowding
could result in mass die-offs as fish run out of oxygen. Also, the
animals could easily get devoured by predators.
"A parallel
would be: Why are the wildlife running to the edge of a forest on fire?
There will be a lot of fish, sharks, turtles trying to get out of this
water they detect is not suitable," said Larry Crowder, a Duke
University marine biologist.
Note: If you are confused as to how the oil spill could affect the East Coast, please see this and this.
However, please note that there is no proof as of this writing that
oil, methane or Corexit has made it as far North as New Jersey, let
alone Massachusetts, although - as Dr. Sanjay Gupta points out - their byproducts may spread further. Scientists need to test the fish and ocean water to find out one way or the other.
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Darn, I like fish. Looks like chicken for dinner..
George Washington---- thanks for your posts, keep up the effort.
how dare those people take videos on the public beach!!! why aren't the local po-9 patrolling the beaches to arrest the photographers? hire more cops, this is an outrage.
There was no alternative but to proceed with risky relief well since the static "bottom kill" did not work as originally reported. Didn't President Obama hold a press conference and announce "mission accomplished" and praise everyone involved for a good job? However, BP's Sr. VP Kent admitted recently that the pressure in the blowout well was 4200 psi on the well, above the expected 2200 psi at the seabed. This may mean that hydrocarbons from the reservoir may be in communication with the reservoir due to lack of casing integity. This is a dangerous situation and the relief well is our last hope to contain this blowout. Why doesn't BP release pressure data on the well everyday? Regarding corexit, I am sure the EPA will rule that corexit is benefical to the environment and BP will be given an award for cleaning up the GoM. I am using corexit as detergent and in the daily baths for my children and pets since BP has told us its 100% safe.
tempo - read some of the posts in the most recent G.W. columns. Read the newspaper. BP itself has created the pressure of around 4200 psi. If there was communication with anything outside of the well bore, the pressure would drop, as it would leak out the communications channel. Like filling a tire to 65 psi and then measuring the pressure in an hour. If you still get 65 psi in an hour, you can conclude there is no leak in the tire. The drop from 4200 psi was within what the scientists expected, as some gas is bubbling out the top of the well. But the conclusion from the experiment is that there is no leak - no communication with anything outside of the well bore. That is the significance of the 4200 psi. BP stated that they will be reducing this pressure to some predetermined level over the next several days.
Since there is still oil in the well column, a careless bottom-kill could increase pressure in the column to the point that it damages the cap on the well, or blows it off. Therefore, the scientists are taking their time to figure out the safest and most effective way to do the bottom kill. BP has stated that they are committed to the bottom kill recently. There is a possible storm coming that they are waiting to pass, and then they will resume work.
Tempo, it looks now as if the real bottom kill (relief wells) may be abandoned completely!
I'll find the link to the story and update, but the twists in this tale get weirder by the day.
ORI
Ummm the relief well is the bottom kill.
One-A-Day vitamins, now fortified with Corexit! (as recommended by the FDA)
Obama policy = Nigeria economics
I posted back in May that a BP official told NPR the gas-oil ratio is 3,000:1 -– that is, 3,000 cubic feet of gas per barrel of oil. That’s at sea level. At the seafloor, where the pressure is high, the gas compresses a lot, but the oil doesn’t. So scientists tell NPR, given BP’s ratio, that would mean there’s three times as much gas coming out of the leaking pipe as there is oil.
Now stir in a few million gallons of Corexit and 200 million++ gallons of oil and this is what you would expect, it's called one big endless DEAD ZONE. And with the well still leaking from the subfloor we can only expect the situation to get much worse because the majority of the leaks are spewing gas at the moment and eventually the oil will find the same path. The leaks the government confirmed a few miles away, are a result of the damaged integrity of the wellbore itself. Just follow the oil slick road to the man behind the curtain.The answers have always been there and i'm still convinced there is a bigger leak like the one Matt Simmons described. I was really surprised they decided to continue with the relief well as this could cause more damage to the already compromised wellbore. Like I said a few weeks back, I guess we will just have to wait and see. I think that even if they claim victory on the bottom kill operation we are still sitting on a ticking time bomb.
Honestly though, once WWIII is in full bloom, who's gonna have time to care?
Now that Iran has announced the start-up of Bushehr, surely Zion is gonna strike any weekend now.
But Rush Limbaugh says everything is fine in the Gulf...
the multi-millionaire drug addict has always been a trusted news source
But dispersant is healthy and non-toxic no?
maybe its the dispersant maybe its the lack of oxygen maybe its the gulf stream collapsing maybe bp has something to do with it. msm silent_full court press continues
MSM purpose is to report on Gay Marriage, Racial division, abortion, Lohan; whatever can divide the masses.
LOL, Imagine a civil war over Lindsay Lohan... ugh.. Oh God, it might just work. We can only hope she goes to porn soon.
@Frank Owen
In her next film, she portrays infamous "Deep Throat" porn star Linda Lovelace. Seriously.
I'd watch that.
Well, hopefuly she gives better head than Paris.. :)
I think she prefers the other white meat; the L Word.
FREE LiLo!!!
Possibly from the death of Matt Simmons.
The shills he spawned are still going strong.
So the video explains that the New Jersey fish are the result of a lost catch. And Geo Wash will blame it on BP and the GoM. Standard fare from the echo chamber of BP shorts.
Certainly the death of Matt Simmons has amassed a unified contingent of those in the know to distribute more information and observations that what the MSM is allowing to be broadcast and printed.
LIKE THIS:
WLOX reports after “hundreds of tar balls and patties washed up on the beach near Lakeshore Road” Thursday night, the Hancock County, Mississippi Emergency Operations Center Director said, “If you walk along the pier, you’ll see small dead fish. You’ve got some speckled trout that’s dead through here. All the crabs are crawling up on the bank and I just kind of wonder why.”
or this one:
“City officials said samples collected last week from local waters tested positive for the presence of hydrocarbons, but BP rejected those findings… An invitation to jointly collect samples on Thursday was turned down by a local BP official,” the article reports.
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/08/oil_washes_up_on_baldwin_count.html
George, you're brilliant.
Wow! The pricelessness is just flowing, thick and fast today.
GW, that was a fitting response to a bunch of asses!
I think if you attached a high-pressure suction mechanism to all those nether orifices, you'd get something interesting, some of which is making it's way to these boards too.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Yeah the video claims a fishing net operated by Omega Protein was torn and the fish were released? How come the trail always seem to lead back to the same sources?
Here is a shovel, i'll let you GW critics do the digging....
Omega protein, Zapata Corp, Amata Gas Corporation.
Yeah the video claims a fishing net operated by Omega Protein was torn and the fish were released?
Omega Protein is people! It's people!
Umm... because the world is run by a cartel of Criminally Insane Assassins?
So do I win a prize? I could use a new tinfoil hat.
You win a slightly used hot tub.
Nice collection of family photos you have there Geo Wash.
Find the one of Head in Ass from your later days.
The first video even describes the source of the New Jersey dead fish event as a problem with a fishing trawler. Why would you not note that? See picture of Head in Ass.
(The second report in this video compilation - referring to a ripped fishing net - is actually from Virginia, some 210 miles from the scene of the first report in New Jersey. The size of the Virginia fish incident was much smaller than the one in New Jersey.)
Above:
The asses of the conspiracy freaks who have their heads stuck in the great mass of ignorance.
Have a nice day, cut down a tree, kill an animal- just make sure you eat it.
Anyone want to calculate the statistical odds of all of these freak massive fish kills all happening at the same time?
Thanks GW for the updates. The trolls may whine, but they seem to be fewer in number. Perhaps they have cutback at BP on PR.
Science would be welcome, unfortunately, since scientists now sell their analysis to the highest bidder, it is difficult to know whom to trust.
IMHO, excessive amounts of oil, methane and a biohazard (corexit) would lead me to believe that fish kills would be a logical conclusion. However, if ten years of "scientific" analysis might finally result in the same conclusion while allowing the memory to fade from the rest of the country- sounds good to BP!
Occam anyone?
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem !!
MONSANTO - Roundup! - read the warnings before using your Estate in the Hampton's!
Oxygen deficits and flagellum bacteria outbreaks have been linked to feedlot waste mis-management in rivers and streams from Louisiana to North Carolina that produced the large dead zone in the GOM long before the BP well blow out.
Join Matt Simmons fool!
zero. That is of course if you've been convinced that not only has the GoM been "capped" and "fixed," but that the entire mess has already been cleaned up thanks to them there booms and that there dispersant stuff.
Dead fish everywhere because of the dispersant. BP should be found guilty of their entire racket, and Barry should be impeached for presiding over it. Sorry Barry, but you got to go.
There doesn't seem to be a direct link between this and the gulf, but please keep on posting !
Do you work for BP??
Note: If you are confused as to how the oil spill could affect the East Coast, please see this.
If you follow the trail of dead fish it starts in Louisianna and hits every shoreline up the coast. Were talking EVERY state! Just google dead fish and put in any coastline and you will find many stories! The msm seems to have done a good job of hiding this.
Oh.. I've seen that, but that's circumstantial evidence. Direct would be an autopsy of the fish that shows corexit poisoning or something of that nature, but it certainly is uh.. fishy.
Perhaps independents could be autopsying the fish. Certainly it seems NOAA et al are in on the situation suppression.
George, that's a compendium of months-old computer models that projected oil flow based on variables that have changed. Oil from Macondo doesn't seem to have made it into the Atlantic. But a different question is the extent to which fish swimming through affected areas were impacted and if the fish washing up along the Atlantic coast may be dying from the effects of being in the Gulf. I think it's marine biologists who need to be listened to here, and hopefully some will take a look at it Anyway, here's a link to a current loop current map: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/book_shelf/2405_loopcurrent-2010-08-09.pdf&embedded=true&chrome=true
I don't vouch for the accuracy of this post, but this is an interesting claim:
Days After Tar Balls Hit New York Beach Massive Fish Kills Stretch From New Jersey to MassachusettsSee:
by Thorlyx
on Sat, 08/14/2010 - 13:18
#521777
[Oops, typing too fast today ... duplicate]