Gulf of Mexico oil slick begins to infiltrate ocean food chain

Despair: beached fishermen wait for handouts from a charity
12 April 2012

Globules of oil from the slick in the Gulf of Mexico have begun falling to the bottom of the sea, threatening virtually every link in the ocean food chain.

"The threat to the deep-sea habitat is already a done deal — it is happening now," said Paul Montagna, a marine scientist at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Lumps of oil will roll around the seabed, while other bits will get trapped hundreds of feet below the surface and move with the current.

Bacteria, plankton and other bottom-feeders will consume the oil and then be eaten by small fish, crabs and shrimp. They, in turn, will be eaten by bigger fish, such as red snapper, and mammals like sea turtles.

"If the oil settles on the bottom, it will kill the smaller organisms like the copepods and small worms. When we lose the forage, then you have an impact on the larger fish," said Mr Montagna.

The oil is also threatening coral reefs on the Gulf's continental shelf, where the damaged well is sited. "In my mind, they are at least as sensitive to contamination to oil as coastal habitat," said James Cowan, an oceanographer at Louisiana State University.

A giant steel funnel, which will be placed over the leak, was taken by boat today to the site 50 miles off the Louisiana coast where a drilling rig exploded and sank last month.

Another boat with a crane will start lowering the box to the seafloor. Engineers hope it will be the best short-term solution to controlling the leak.

Oil has been gushing into the Gulf at a rate of at least 200,000 gallons a day since an offshore drilling rig exploded last month and killed 11 people. Officials hope to lower the concrete and steel box the size of a four-storey building by the week's end.

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