Monthly Archives May 2018

This is the eighth in a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s profile is on Assessment and Restoration Division toxicologist and Alaska Regional Resource Coordinator Sarah Allan.

You could call it a black gold rush. Technological advances like hydraulic fracking have made harvesting oil profitable in the U.S. again and changed the global petroleum market. For decades, the U.S. was dependent on oil imports and banned crude oil exports to protect domestic reserves. This changed in 2015, when the U.S. lifted the 40-year export embargo on crude oil and gave the oil industry access to the global crude oil market.

Having already gotten a slew of sunny days and with more out on the radar to come, boating season has officially arrived in Pacific Northwest towns such as Gig Harbor, Washington. For many, this is a welcome change from the dreary days that now feel well behind us. But more boats in Puget Sound can also have some yucky downsides. It can mean more sewage getting into our beloved waters.

This weekend, NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary System is kicking off the beginning of the national “Get into Your Sanctuary” Initiative. The sanctuary system protects America’s most iconic natural and cultural marine resources — many of which are open to public recreation. This initiative is a system-wide public outreach effort to raise awareness about our nation’s marine sanctuaries through site events and other activities.

On April 22, 2018, a team of people from a diverse suite of organizations from within and outside of NOAA began packing and loading gear, trailering and cleaning boats, and wrapping up preliminary paperwork. Made up of field biologists, toxicologists, injury assessment specialists, data managers, and field technicians, the team had just completed a week in the field as part of a major study to help determine the impacts to Endangered Species Act-listed juvenile Chinook salmon from exposure to contaminants as they out-migrate through the Portland Harbor Superfund site via the Willamette River.

The Sea Grant oil spill outreach team has produced two new publications outlining what scientists know about the fate of that oil in the Gulf of Mexico environment. Those documents, Where did the oil go? A Deepwater Horizon fact sheet and Microbes and oil: What’s the connection? can both be viewed and downloaded at https://gulfseagrant.org/oilspilloutreach/publications/.

Every month our Emergency Response Division provides scientific expertise and services to the U.S. Coast Guard on everything from running oil spill trajectories to model where the spill may spread, to possible effects on wildlife and fisheries, and estimates on how long the oil may stay in the environment.

Here are some of April’s notable incidents ... 

As a scientific support coordinator (SSC) for NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration, one question that I always get from friends and family is: “Is it true that Dawn dishwashing detergent is used to clean oiled wildlife?”

Well, the answer is yes. Many agencies and organizations use Dawn dish detergent in their cleaning efforts, including Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research — one of the premier wildlife response organizations in the U.S. and globally.