Fewer sea turtles from the gulf are showing signs of heavy oil coverage, researchers report. In previous months since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April, nearly all those found were at least partly covered in crude, with many of them moving slowly through the oil itself.
"We're seeing very few, if any, moderately or heavily oiled turtles," said Blair Witherington, a research biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
Brian Stacy, a veterinarian with the National Marine Fisheries Service, told the newspaper that less than 1 percent of the turtles rescued from the gulf died in rehabilitation, and most recover fairly rapidly.
Janet McConnaughey, AP
The turtle population in the Gulf of Mexico seems to be recovering after the oil spill, and only 1 percent of those rescued from the gulf died in rehabilitation. This June 10 photo shows a Kemp's ridley sea turtle being treated at the Audubon Nature Institute's Aquatic Center in New Orleans.
Still, it's hard to say what the long-term impact of the oil spill, America's worst-ever environmental disaster, will be on the turtle population. Nobody has ever studied turtles in the wake of such a disaster.
BP's ruptured Macondo oil well gushed more than 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico, fouling waters and washing up tar balls on beaches all along the Gulf Coast. The well was capped in mid-July, and much of the oil has since vanished from the surface of the waters.
Other positive news for the gulf emerged this week as federal regulators lifted a fishing ban on more than 5,000 square miles of water off the coast of Florida. Jane Lubchenco, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's administrator, flew to Panama City beach to pronounce the area's seafood safe for eating. No oil has been detected in tests or aerial surveys for more than 30 days now.
"Oil is not present and not expected to be present,'' Lubchenco said, according to The Miami Herald.
The seafood may be safe, but few fishermen are able to take advantage. A tropical storm warning currently covers much of the Gulf Coast as a tropical depression about 150 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River heads northwest.
The poor weather has halted work on BP's planned relief well, which the company intends to use to kill its ruptured Macondo oil well with mud and cement.
Workers remain on site, but drilling on the relief well has stopped just 30 to 50 feet from the Macondo well.
"There is going to be a delay of two, three days as we wait for the weather system to pass over, in an overabundance of caution, to make sure we don't cause any further problems down there," retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's oil spill point man, said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
For the Gulf Coast fauna, at least, things are looking up. The seaweed where turtles normally spend most of their early lives is showing much less sign of oil from the spill, where previously the oil was "thick enough to wrinkle," according to Witherington. Small crabs and birds have also returned to the habitat.
The turtles themselves seem to have survived relatively unscathed. Researchers had feared that the crude would cause them skin problems and organ toxicity. Since that doesn't seem to have happened, researchers are no longer capturing turtles that actively seek to avoid them.
"We're confident these animals are doing fine on their own," Stacy of the fisheries service said.
