GULF OIL SPILL EFFECTS MAY BE SEEN IN DISEASED FISH

Gulf oil spill effects may be seen in diseased fish

By Kate Spinner

Published: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:16 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:16 p.m.

EAST ORLANDO - Some of the first potentially chronic effects from last year's BP oil disaster — including diseased fish — may be starting to unfold as scientists review their first year of research.

Studies analyzing reef fish, such as snapper and grouper, off the Florida Panhandle indicate that some fish now have grayish-brown lesions, strange parasitic boils and fin rot. Some fish documented on reefs a year before the oil disaster have disappeared.

It is too early to say that oil is the cause or that the number of diseased fish in the northern Gulf of Mexico is higher this year compared with the past. But the problems, noticed months ago by fishermen, prompted state scientists to investigate.

Florida scientists, funded by the Florida Institute of Oceanography last year through a $10 million BP grant, met at the University of Central Florida Wednesday for the first of a two-day session to discuss their studies so far. Scientists from across the state, including Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, are involved in the research to learn how the spill changed the Gulf and strategies for preventing future problems.

Fishermen have reported snapper lesions for months. Will Patterson, an associate professor of biology at the University of West Florida, is among the first scientists to document and report the problem. His research team also has documented diseased fish with remote underwater cameras.

Most fish are healthy. Less than 2 percent of fish surveyed contain lesions, Patterson said. The problem appears to be more noticeable farther west on the shelf. Fish livers and bile will be examined, which may help pinpoint whether diseased fish were exposed to oil.

Fish diseases are relatively common. To grasp just how common, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will soon begin working with long-line fishermen to document reef fish illnesses throughout the Gulf of Mexico, from the Dry Tortugas to Texas.

In a normal year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission gets roughly two calls a week from someone reporting a fish with lesions or similar ailment, said Gil McRae, who heads its research institute. The research, he said, aims to figure out whether the frequency now is above usual.

"The biggest need we have scientifically right now is to establish a background," McRae said.

Scientists working under the Florida Institute of Oceanography on the oil impacts are also studying several other species of plants and animals from corals to sharks. Also scientists are working to document where oil went, both on the surface and below the surface.

Among the interesting findings so far, the chemical BP used to disperse the 186 million to 227 million gallons of crude that gushed into the Gulf may not be biodegrading as expected. Wilson Mendoza, a doctoral candidate at the University of Miami, traced what may be Corexit in samples that were stored for a year. BP doused the oil with nearly 2 million gallons of the toxic chemical.

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