During scuba assessments on July 12th 2011, the Florida panhandle shallow seafloor sediment shows signs of widespread presence of dispersed oil. A team of research divers scoured the Florida panhandle looking for signs of BP oil. What they did find was a desolate seafloor, with few signs of life. The sand should be tan or white and look like a desert floor with ripples and ridges of tan sand. Marine life should be attracted to the disturbance of bottom sediments, with small fish darting into the cloud of silt and crabs scurrying away to bury themselves in hiding. Rays and starfish should be abundant. What they filmed was a scene of dark desolate bottom sediment where dark sediment ejected from the animal burrows sat in piles of contrasting colors caused by contamination from the BP oil spill. ireport.cnn.com
“I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest,” claimed BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward following last year’s Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20. But in fact, “The spill here in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst environmental disaster in the history of our continent.” Greenpeace has been working with independent scientists from universities around the country to find out what has really happened to the oil, and what the long term impacts will be on this critical, fragile ecosystem. Stay tuned.
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