BP Oil Spills: Article Analysis

The BP oil spill of 2010 was the worst in United States history and not the last. It is estimated that over 140 million gallons of crude oil was leaked into the gulf. The damage caused by the oil was immense, and it affected shorebirds, migratory colonial birds, fish, aquatic mammals and aquatic plants were all affected by the oil. Experts across the board agree that oil pollution adversely affects all aquatic life, however their opinions differ when it comes to the severity of the damage caused.
Bird experts Michael Weston and Voiter all come to the same consensus that oil spills do negatively affect seabirds, even if it is not in a extremely severe way. Both authors can attest to the fact that oil spills affect the seabirds food

While westons suggests that climate change has a far larger impact than oil spills because the bird’s movement is totally dependant on if they are a breeder and the age of the bird.

The author of “Short-term Effects of an oil spill on marsh-edge fishes and decapod crustaceans” Agatha- Marie F. Roth and Robert W. Dicky author of “FDA risk assesment of seafood contamination after BP oil spill” both agree on the fact that oil spills harm marine ecosystems. In Roth's article she explains that the interaction of oil, decapods, and crustaceans in spatial and temporal ecosystems is damaging not only to the environment but also to the organisms that live there (565 Roth). This example from Roth’s article conveys the fact that there is an effect to marine ecosystems. The unknown however is the severity of the damage caused by oil spills, which both Roth and Dicky agree upon. Unlike Roth, Dicky is more focused on the risk this poses to human health rather than the ecosystem. Dicky explains that there is a health risk posed to humans that consume fish that have been in contact with oil and have retained hydrocarbons from the oil. He discusses a research case by the FDA where they did an

Carlton the author of “The Impact of Maritime Commerce on Marine Biodiversity” expresses in his article that maritime commerce does impact the marine environment. “Shipbuilding to ship destruction, and all that lies between the birth and death of a vessel, alters the marine environment” (carlton 131) in this quotation it is conveyed that Professor Carlton's research has concluded that from the birth of a ship to its death it impacts the marine ecosystem. It is not only the ships and what they leak that has a negative impact on marine ecosystems “ Specifically the building of harbors and canals-has led, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, to a profound alteration of the world's marine biodiversity” (Carlton 131). Ships don't only leave oil and gasoline behind, they also take unwanted passengers to other parts of the world. “The potential for ballast water, instead of hull fouling or ballast rocks, to facilitate the transport and release of exotic species much more effectively was this huge, and foreshadowed a potentially dramatic rise in invasions of exotic species.(Carlton 134). The clean water act of 1972 was put into place to prevent harbor pollution as well as prevent invasive species. When these oil tankers or cargo ships fill there ballasts in the harbors it is full of pollutants and organisms that will be foreign in the ship's next port. So essentially the clean water act of 1972 helps regulate ship pollution whether it is oil and gas pollution