Oceana: Reviewing Oceana’s Gulf Expedition - By Andy Sharpless, CEO of Oceana

This past summer, with the generous support of Nautica, Oceana completed a two-month scientific research expedition in the Gulf of Mexico to assess the impacts of the BP oil spill and document the creatures and habitats at risk.

It was a truly international expedition, including scientists, divers and underwater photographers from Oceana’s U.S., Chile and Spain offices, as well as academic scientists. Thanks to the tireless efforts of this group, we now know more about what lies beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

Here are some of the highlights from the Latitude:

• Measuring the Oil Plume - Dr. Jeff Short, Oceana’s Pacific science director and one of the world’s leading experts on oil spills, designed an experiment to map the oil plume around the Deepwater Horizon. Over the course of 10 days, and amid some fierce storms, Dr. Short and his team dropped buoys with hydrocarbon sensor strips up to 6,000 feet deep around the site of the spill. After the team collected the test strips, they were sent to a lab to be analyzed for toxic hydrocarbons. Dr. Short is still awaiting the full results from the experiment.

• Exploring the Alabama Alps - The Latitude also visited one of the most ecologically rich areas of the Gulf of Mexico, a region known as the Pinnacles, or, more affectionately, the Alabama Alps. Since the area sits close to the site of the Deepwater Horizon, many scientists expressed concerned about the effects of the oil on its sensitive habitats.

The team used a deep-diving underwater robot, or ROV, to explore the underwater mountain range of the Pinnacles. They were pleasantly surprised to see a variety of species including sea whips, zigzag corals, and gorgonians. And thankfully, the team saw no obvious evidence of oil during their dives in the area. We owe a huge thanks to Nautica, whose contribution made this leg of the expedition possible.

• Tagging Sharks – Working with the shark team from the University of Miami’s R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program, led by Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, Oceana tagged and sampled Caribbean reef sharks and nurse sharks near Florida’s Dry Tortugas. The tags collected basic data from each shark and could provide future information on stock identity, movements and migration, among other things. They can also help identify these sharks later as those that were in the general vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, which could help to determine the long-term impacts of the oil spill on shark populations.

And in a huge validation of our efforts in the gulf and elsewhere to stop the expansion of offshore drilling, this month the Obama Administration announced a ban on new offshore drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Oceana has been working for many years to reinstate the ban that protected our coasts from drilling for many years, and this decision is an important step towards protecting our oceans from another disastrous oil spill, and moving towards cleaner and safer alternative sources of energy.

You can learn more about our expedition, read blog dispatches and see photos and videos here.