Alan J. Mearns

Effects of pollution on marine organisms.

This review covers selected 2014 articles on the biological effects of pollutants and human physical disturbances on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems and habitats. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field and laboratory measurement activities (bioaccumulation of contaminants, field assessment surveys, toxicity testing and biomarkers) as well as pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, emerging contaminants, wastewater discharges, dredging and disposal, etc. Special emphasis is placed on effects of oil spills and marine debris due in part to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Several topical areas reviewed in the past (ballast water and ocean acidification) were dropped this year. The focus of this review is on effects, not pollutant fate and transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g.some bioaccumulation papers may be cited in other topical categories). Please use keyword searching of the text to locate related but distributed papers. Use this review only as a guide and please consult the original papers before citing them.

Cleaning oiled shores: Putting bioremediation to the test

Abstract Bioremediation, through nutrient treatment, shows promise as a long-term in situ clean-up method for lightly and moderately oiled, sheltered (low-energy) shorelines that might be damaged by more intrusive measures, such as pressure washing. However, shoreline bioremediation has several misunderstood limits. Field research indicates that hydrocarbon-degrading microbes occur in all aquatic environments and that they reproduce greatly in the presence of oil: it is useless to add more. Wind, waves, currents, existing oil-degrading bacteria, nutrients, and oxygen are generally sufficient to promote maximum rates of degradation of oil. Under some circumstances, continuous or periodic application of nutrients (fertilizers) over a period of at least several weeks can accelerate oil degradation by factors of 1.5- to perhaps 5-fold. All future work should be done using statistically-robust sampling designs. In Japan, as elsewhere, there is great need for well-controlled, well-replicated, full-scale field tests to find out which, if any, bioremediation methods would be most useful for various oils, fuels and shoreline types. Intentional shoreline oiling and large-scale mesocosms facilities, coupled with well-tested treatment and monitoring protocols, are the best way to conduct these tests.

Improving environmental assessments by integrating Species Sensitivity Distributions into environmental modeling: Examples with two hypothetical oil spills

A three dimensional (3D) trajectory model was used to simulate oil mass balance and environmental concentrations of two 795,000 L hypothetical oil spills modeled under physical and chemical dispersion scenarios. Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSD) for Total Hydrocarbon Concentrations (THCs) were developed, and Hazard Concentrations (HC) used as levels of concern. Potential consequences to entrained water column organisms were characterized by comparing model outputs with SSDs, and obtaining the proportion of species affected (PSA) and areas with oil concentrations exceeding HC5s (Area ⩾ HC5). Under the physically-dispersed oil scenario ⩽ 77% of the oil remains on the water surface and strands on shorelines, while with the chemically-dispersed oil scenario ⩽ 67% of the oil is entrained in the water column. For every 10% increase in chemical dispersion effectiveness, the average PSA and Area ⩾ HC5 increases (range: 0.01-0.06 and 0.50-2.9 km(2), respectively), while shoreline oiling decreases (⩽ 2919 L/km). Integrating SSDs into modeling may improve understanding of scales of potential impacts to water column organisms, while providing net environmental benefit comparison of oil spill response options.

Trends in PCBS and Chlorinated Pesticides in U.S. Fish and Shellfish

Historical data on concentrations of PCBs and chlorinated pesticides in U.S. marine and estuarine fish and invertebrates have been collected, archived and analyzed to determine long-term and large-scale geographic trends and to provide a basis for improving monitoring strategies. Data have been acquired from about 20,000 samples of nearly 500 marine species surveyed over the past three decades. The approach developing this data base is described.

Longer-term Weathering – Research Needs in Perspective

Abstract The multiple agencies who sponsored The Long-Term Fate Workshop provided an opportunity to identify and prioritize research opportunities as they relate to the long-term weathering of oil. Workshop participants identified 15 areas needing research and ranked these areas by priority and level of effort. A short description of the research needs is presented here in the context of the “life history” of an oil spill.

Ballast water treatment during emergency response: the case of the M/T Igloo Moon

This paper describes an emergency ballast-water response incident aboard a liquid petroleum gas tanker stranded on a coral reef near Miami, Florida in November 1996. Ballast water from the stricken tanker had to be offloaded in order to move the ship off the reef. Because of the origins of the ballast water and the vessels proximity to the sensitive environment of Biscayne Bay National Park, concerns were raised over the potential risk of introducing non-indigenous biota via the ballast water that could harm the reefs natural biota. Twelve days after the stranding, 1.1 million gals. (4.3 million L) of water in the ballast tanks were treated with a biocide, calcium hypochlorite, Ca(OCl)/sub 2/, at dosages of 50 or 100 ppm chlorine. The treated ballast water was then discharged overboard, after which assisting vessels safely towed the stricken freighter off the reef without incident or spillage (other than the discharge of the chlorinated ballast water). The primary considerations that led to the decision to treat the ballast water were confounded by many explicit and implicit uncertainties about the actual presence or absence of non-indigenous species, the holding times and sources of water in each tank, and minimum effective treatment levels. Had there been more accurate shipboard records of the vessels ballast-water exchanges throughout its voyage, these response actions may not have been necessary. Thus, to expedite emergency ballast-water responses in the future, vessel owners need to maintain and provide accurate ballast-water records. Other lessons learned from this experience include the need for trustee-acceptable sampling and monitoring strategies before and during treatment, accurate data on biocide effectiveness (including required concentrations and contact times), and the recommendation that ships avoid taking on ballast water over foreign reefs.

Founding Editorial Board Member: ALAN J. MEARNS

Alan Mearns is a Marine Biologist/Ecologist and Senior Staff Scientist for the Hazardous Materials Response Division of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA/HAZMAT) in Seattle, Washington. He received his Ph.D. in Fisheries from the University of Washington in 1971, and his MA and B.Sc. degrees in biology at California State University at Long Beach in 1967 and 1965, respectively. He and his team support NOAA s regional Scientific Support Coordinators (SSC s) and US Coast Guard Marine Safety Offices during spills of oil and hazardous materials. Dr. Mearns expertise includes fisheries, marine ecology, and aquatic toxicology and chemistry. In 1965–66 Dr. Mearns served as a biologist on US Ice Island T-3 in the Arctic Ocean for the Allan Hancock Foundation, University of Southern California. During the 1970s he was Leader of the Biology Division at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) where his team pioneered studies on the ecology of the Southern California Bight and on effects of ocean sewage outfalls on marine life. During the 1980s he served as NOAA Ecologist for the first assessment of water quality in Puget Sound and also helped develop the NOAA National Status and Trends Program. At NOAA HAZMAT (1990 to present) he directs efforts to document the benefits and impacts of oil and hazardous material cleanup and treatment activities (washing, bioremediation, and dispersant-use), is helping conduct dispersant use risk assessment for spill response planning around the entire US coastline and conducts training programs across the US. In addition, his team monitors the

Resolving Alaska and West Coast oil dispersant issues

Agencies and spill responders are currently deliberating about the efficacy of pre-approving the use of dispersants to treat oil slicks in nearshore and shallow waters of the U.S. West Coast and Alaska. The decisions rest on understanding the effectiveness of dispersant operations, the long-term fate and effects of dispersed oil, and the effects of oil slicks and shoreline oiling on critical fisheries and marine species. Processes and knowledge leading to this critical decision point are briefly reviewed.