Dolphin Deaths In Gulf Region Spike, Probably Because Of That Massive Oil Spill That Happened

Ten months ago, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving behind an "oil volcano" belching millions of gallons of poison into the waters of the Gulf region. The spill was stopped up in mid-September, weeks after most of the media started pretending that the massive quantities of oil had basically disappeared, perhaps eaten by magical microbes!

So, how is the marine life in the Gulf doing these days? Dying off, actually, thanks for asking!

Baby dolphins, some barely three feet in length, are washing up along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines at 10 times the normal rate of stillborn and infant deaths, researchers are finding.

The Sun Herald has learned that 17 young dolphins, either aborted before they reached maturity or dead soon after birth, have been collected along the shorelines.

The director of the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, Moby Solangi (and yes, that's a pretty fantastic name for someone who studies marine mammals), says that these findings are "significant, especially in light of the BP oil spill." Indeed: one would imagine.

Meanwhile, here's your "So Where Did All The Oil Go" update:

Oil from the BP spill remains stuck on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a top scientist's video and slides that she says demonstrate the oil isn't degrading as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor.

That report is at odds with a recent report by the BP spill compensation czar that said nearly all will be well by 2012.

[...]

"Magic microbes consumed maybe 10 percent of the total discharge, the rest of it we don't know," [University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha] Joye said, later adding: "there's a lot of it out there."

As Robert L. Cavnar pointed out earlier this week, this is at odds with a report published by Terry Hazen of Berkeley National Labs, which asserted that "microbes were quickly degrading the oil and that it would soon be gone."

Of Joye's study, Cavnar says:

To my knowledge, this is the first rigorous study done of the sea floor that has been made public. It's not surprising that it directly contradicts the claims made by the US government over the last six months that everything in the Gulf is okey-dokey.

RELATED:
Infant dolphin deaths spiking in Gulf after oil spill [McClatchy Newspapers]
Scientist Finds Bottom Of Gulf Still Oily, Dead [AP]

PREVIOUSLY, on the HUFFINGTON POST
New Study Shows BP Macondo Oil Still "On the Bottom"
Spill Media Response: Where's The Oil?

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Comments

[steelej]

08:04 AM on 03/02/2011

I live in Florida and I can tell you that the dolphins down here are SO rude! You fill up their tank with plenty of sweet, syrupy, light crude and all associated derivatives (and don't even charge them 4.00/gallon), and all they do is complain and complain - the nerve of some marine mammals. I say we cut them off entirely from all petroleum based products and see how they like it.

[realitycheckers]

10:49 PM on 02/28/2011

In this article, the reporter writes a bit like a sarcastic comedian. These are dolphin deaths we're talking about. Stuff that cuts deep. Maybe lay off the SNL tone for such pieces?

[steelej]

08:05 AM on 03/02/2011

Maybe you should....oh forget it. There's no hope for your kind.

[shilow]

04:00 PM on 02/27/2011

http://www.projectgulfimpact.org/
www.floridaoilspilllaw.com

[copelli21]

10:32 AM on 02/25/2011

Ah, the "magical, disappearing oil" has reared it's ugly once again...

[steelej]

08:07 AM on 03/02/2011

The oil has learned to bridge the multiverse and is capable of slipping interdimensionally from one plane of existence to another. Now you see it, now you don't!

[hornagain]

10:59 PM on 02/24/2011

Time for a lot of folks to eat crow on this.

" scientists say they've ruled out possible effects from last summer's enormous oil rig spill off Louisiana."

[janejoy]

08:09 PM on 02/24/2011

This is so heart wrenching....

[Diane KearnsCarlstrom]

11:20 PM on 02/23/2011

I think the real story here is how the media totally dropped the ball and seemingly bought into the propaganda that all is going just great in the Gulf. If Gulf residents had the support of the media that was so badly needed, things would be very different for many of them. One very fit young man was recently put into a medically induced coma as a result of eating gulf seafood and surfing after being told both were safe. Thousands of people are coming down with unexplainable illnesses and have tested positive for thing like Benzene in their blood. The guy in charge of handing out checks to residents and businesses that were devastated by the disaster is also getting money from BP. No conflict of interest there.
Spring break is just around the corner. Is the media going to continue to keep quiet about this as tourists swim in a toxic bath and eat poisoned food? Who will be the guilty party then?

[Max Shelby]

12:50 AM on 02/24/2011

This is especially true in the Alabama press. All is fine and dandy they keep pushing. NOT.

A frightening look into a closed Alabama mind that offered this comment to the story in a local paper:

"I really do not understand this obsession with the chemical dispersant. OMG if it kept us from looking at tide of oil then more power to them I am glad they did it. If they did not use it, we would never get another tourist on the beach again. The only reason I can come up with is that the lefties wanted the worst possible photos in order to advance their environmental wacko agenda and the dispersant ruined their media attack."

Sheer stupidity on parade.

[Diane KearnsCarlstrom]

01:56 AM on 02/24/2011

Wow, Max, that sure was one scary paragraph! I guess if that person can't see it it must mean there is no problem. Whats to happen when the tourists show up and get sick? Then we have tons of stories about that (funny how stories of sick residents are never told) which would probably turn into something other than why the Gulf is such a mess and what real steps are going to be taken to minimise that. I wonder how common the 'closed Alabama mind' is? For the record, it exists in Florida too. Tourists be afraid, be very afraid!

[whitebeach]

04:41 PM on 02/24/2011

Please provide a link to a reliable source on the story about the seafood-eating surfer. As you report it, the story makes no medical sense, as the (unspecified) illness is attributed to both the seafood and the surfing, which is extremely unlikely.

BTW, virtually all people have benzene in their blood. Furthermore, even if someone is in the 95th percentile for blood benzene level, then he or she is in company with about 15 million other Americans, and these people are not dropping like flies, since blood benzene even at that level (which is only a few parts per billion) has no known deleterious effects.

Your post is sadly typical of the ill-informed doomsday-speak that pops up by the carload whenever the oil spill is the topic here.

[Diane KearnsCarlstrom]

01:56 AM on 02/26/2011

Here is one story about sick people there: http://www.pri.org/business/nonprofits/bp-oil-spill-and-ongoing-health-problems2621.html

Are high Hexene levels normal too?

[scorpioman]

08:46 PM on 02/23/2011

it will take a million years for that oil to disappear!

[Howmanyreally]

07:39 PM on 02/23/2011

And yet they are still reporting that gulf seafood is safe to eat.

[sunnybunny]

02:31 PM on 02/24/2011

I don't believe it is.

[fmz]

06:30 PM on 02/23/2011

So as BP and our Government pollute and continue to do so....Where is the accountability? Why is BP still in business and why aren't they bankrupt!

[manonthelam1]

04:29 PM on 02/23/2011

As sad as this is, it's nothing compared to what the Japanese are doing to dolphins. Seen "The Cove" anyone?

[SweetJudith]

04:45 PM on 02/23/2011

I'm an activist on Facebook, we know everything, it's horrific, also friends with many of the people that put the Cove together! It's a real blood bath! But these animals count also. They all count!
But what is happening in Japan is as cruel and criminal as it gets.....The video's of them cutting open the Dolphins as the babies are pulled out is unbelievable...Such cruelty.....

[JennaS]

03:56 PM on 02/23/2011

This is really sad! We all knew this was going to happen, what else is coming down the "pipeline?" I am sure there is collateral damage that is going to be in the wake of this disaster for years to come. I still don't see any sanctions on BP or oil companies in the Gulf. Anyone have any update on how we are going to recoup what has been damaged? Now with the crisis in the Middle East, we will soon see how quickly our government turns a blind eye. It is time for people to start getting on the bandwagon with alternative energy!

[Badfinger1]

03:50 PM on 02/23/2011

...B.P. killed Flipper...now they've gone and done it...

[SweetJudith]

04:06 PM on 02/23/2011

Hey Finger, if you're being facetious, it's not a damn bit funny...

[SkeeBee]

02:40 PM on 02/23/2011

Ummm BP?
Oil Paid For Officials?
uhhhh..
how to put this?

F#%K You.