[Coral-List] ***SPAM*** Gulf Oil Spill, Eel Spawning Grounds etc

Abigail Moore abigail2105 at yahoo.com
Fri May 14 22:35:34 EDT 2010


Dear fellow listers

I have been following with great sadness - and interest - the postings regarding the Gulf oil spill...

1. It just occurred to me reading the latest postings that maybe the area affected might include the spawning grounds of the European and American eels (Anguilla anguilla and A. rostrata). They are presumed to migrate and spawn at considerable depth (then die), the eggs rise to the surface and the larvae are borne on the surface currents. From the descriptions of what is going on I would think that the effects of the spill could potentially be devastating. A. anguilla is highly endangered and already listed in CITES Appendix II...

If anyone has any information on this I would be grateful. 

2. To all affected, "bon courage"... I totally agree with the postings that support the involvement of the scientific community - and that it is worth taking the risk of being "wrong" in order to do one's best to mitigate this and other "disasters" - based on the best available knowledge we have. Semantics aside, I think no one can rationally disagree that this is a disaster, whatever the scale of damage once all the totals (at least those we know enough about and have the ability to measure) have been added up and filed on record. Nowadays we know that the ecosystems of our world are so integrated that all such disasters are disasters for humanity, not just the people directly affected. I am sure many people around the globe are beside you in spirit as you do your best on the front lines...

3. I am not an expert, but from what I have learned and read I believe the dispersants and possibly other clean-up activities will indeed do even more damage than the spill. Ironically we covered this aspect of oil spills with our first year fisheries students just a few days before this latest (or maybe already not the latest) oil disaster... 

I just had a request to sign an internet petition against offshore drilling prompted by this disaster. Are there any petitions regarding the use of dispersants and other toxic chemicals? If there are please let us know.

Best regards

Abigail

Abigail Moore, M.Sc.
Marine Consultant (volunteer)
LP3L Talinti
Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
abigail2105 at yahoo.com
http://www.lp3ltalinti.com






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