oil spill u n Galveston.

If you guys haven't heard there was an oil spill in the houston ship channel, this saddens me so much. Oil spills into Houston ship channel after barge and tanker collide | abc13.com

 

Hopefully the Deep Water Horizon incident provided a learning experience for remediation parties.

On that same note, nature will take care of our mess. There is many times more oil entering the oceans annually than there was from the Deep Water Horizon spill. Granted, the time scale is considerably different, but there are microbes which have adapted within the marine ecosystem that digests these hydrocarbons and converts them to carbon dioxide.

I had a professor who is arguably the leading source on oil seeps within the Gulf; very bright individual. He was actually the first person to refute BPs claims on the amount of oil that discharged based on aerial sat. Imagery and sheen. He was able to decipher the thickness of the layers based on sheen and from there, calculating the area, was able to produce a discharge volume.
There is a location off of California that releases an estimated 2,000-3,000 gallon a day just a few miles from the beach.

 

OK,

I know that whole area better than the back of my hand!

I've been sailing that bay area, and the entire area surrounding Galveston Island for about 20 years. I've also fished extensively in those waters, windsurfed, swam, etc.

It's a huge bay with the deep ship channel running thru it. IMHO, the barge/tug driver was at fault, they have to give ROW (Right of Way) to the larger, even less manueaverable vessel.
I even have the unofficial Catamaran sailboat surfing the tanker wake in the bay of galveston, for miles on a single wave. It's also where the official surfer record is for the longest wave, right there off the TX City Dike.

Wow, I'm going to hear alot about this from those I still know who still live, sail and fish in the area.

and btw- it's nothing like the dwa incident. There's no pipeline spewing crude for weeks here.

 

Keep us updated with what you hear.

I wasn't comparing it to the Deep Water Horizon incident. I was given daily updates through the university while that was ongoing. The university was given $100 million in research grants from BP. I was simply stating that I hope timely and effective remediation practices were learned through the incident.

 

There is a huge difference between oil seeping naturally and oil that's been "dispersed".They were more interested in keeping the slicks out of the public eye then doing what is best for the environment unfortunately.R.I.P Gulf Of Mexico.

Dispersant Makes Oil 52 Times More Toxic | Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill | LiveScience

 

FWIW, Ian MacDonald was a professor of mine in several courses that I took and it's who I was referring to earlier.

Yes, I indicated that in my post. However, a lot of the information out there is sensationalized and off base. My knowledge comes directly from university research and directly from those considered among the leading authorities on the subject.

Here's an article from today with quotes from the director of the department that I graduated (OCE FSU) from:

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201403240200/NEWS01/303240014

 

And the NOAA is trying to ban my local club from selling aquacultured frags, I think when this happens the ship should be sandblasted and coated with around 1000 mils of reef safe epoxy, sunk and left for the reef.