No easy answers in dolphin deaths

[nalnn]

Source: Sun Herald Online

Tissue taken from stillborn and infant dolphins that washed ashore this year is evidence for a lawsuit the federal government plans to file against BP, and on Thursday federal officials explained what that means.

It’s locked up, but that’s what’s necessary if the United States is going to collect damages from the BP oil spill, officials said.

However, if a public health concern is uncovered as the hundreds of samples are tested, NOAA Fisheries said it will alert the states and the public. That leaves out any independent testing and slows the process of finding out what caused the miscarriages.

Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/03/31/2990695/no-easy-answers-in-dolphin-deaths.html

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Here is a link to the research data mentioned above: NRDA Workplans and Data

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[Zoeisright]

2. Oh please, of course there's an easy answer.

It's the BP mess and the attempts to "clean it up".

[Botany]

3. No easy answers in dolphin deaths ... please

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ydly8q1seeo/TWA5-YsM4bI/AAAAAAAAA-w/9yYeZtkxb4U/s1600/BBC+Panorama+BP+In+Deep+Water+%25282010%2529.jpg

[glinda]

4. BP makes me sick to my stomach. I hate what they have done.

[Zorra]

5. Oh, man. When are they gonna learn? Same poisons, different day.

:cry:

[raouldukelives]

6. Since corporations are people

BP shouldn't face any harsher penalty than you or I would for the destruction in the gulf.

[JackRiddler]

8. Penalty? Let's start with real coverage on the damages.

If I could afford it, I would be liable. I can't afford it, but they can.

Furthermore, if I had done it, they wouldn't have let me run the cleanup operation.

[drokhole]

7. Think it's pretty safe to assume Occam's Razor applies here.

[Uncle Joe]

9. There is a ridiculously easy answer, the Gulf Oil Gusher aka GOG.

If the dolphins weren't directly contaminated, their food supply was drastically "disrupted" to put it mildly, expectant mother dolphins would be more prone to have premature births in such an environment as a means of self-survival leading to a higher mortality rate among the baby dolphins.

Thanks for the thread, nalnn.

[nalnn]

10. No problem

I want to keep this story alive for selfish(shellfish?) reasons I'm afraid. This is really close to home for me. I have children. I want them to be able to enjoy the Gulf of Mexico as I once did. What the govt. and BP have done is unconscionable.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Dolphins Dying in Record Numbers in Gulf of Mexico

Dolphins Dying in Record Numbers in Gulf of Mexico
Posted Sat, 09 Apr 2011 15:09:00 GMT by Kirsten E. Silven

According to a report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Fisheries, Office of Protected Resources, an unusually high number of dolphins have been found dead in the Gulf of Mexico since February of 2011, prompting the organization to declare the situation an, ''Unusual Mortality Event,'' or UME, as defined under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.

Since February 1st, the NOAA has confirmed that more than 400 dolphins have been found stranded in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, but this number is most likely just a fraction of the total number of actual deaths, since many dead animals will not actually wash up on the shores. In addition, this unfortunate event is believed to be directly linked to the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill of 2010, and is just one of the many lingering aftereffects of that disaster.

The UME area stretches from the Texas and Louisiana borders, all the way to Franklin County Florida, and combined efforts are currently underway with the NOAA, the US Department of the Interior (DOI), and the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to conduct an accurate assessment of the damage that has been done to the marine mammals and their habitat. To give some perspective to the numbers of dolphins found dead, only five bottlenose dolphins were found stranded in January of 2010, compared to 24 in January of 2011. Even more alarming, February of 2010 saw only 11 recorded strandings, compared to an alarming 62 in February 2011.

According to the report by the NOAA, the main goal of ongoing efforts to collect data about the rise in dolphin deaths is to determine how to restore the habitat to its natural state. The UME investigation is also an important part of ongoing legal action connected to the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill, and all samples are being carefully collected and preserved, in order to serve as evidence regarding the health of marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico after last year's environmental disaster.

http://www.earthtimes.org/nature/dolphins-dying-record-numbers-gulf-mexico/691/