Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Impact: Port Fourchon LA, Hazmat, Seaweeds

This video clip was filmed on May 27, 2010. Suzanne Fredericq, William Schmidt and Shana Callais from the Biology Department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (http://biology.louisiana.edu/ ) were granted clearance to collect nearshore seaweeds from the oil spill-impacted Fourchon Beach in Port Fourchon, Louisiana (Lafourche Parish). It was noted that offshore specimens of the brown seaweed Sargassum found in the drift were extensively coated with oil, and that the nearshore algae (Ulva, Bangia) growing on outcroppings in the sand or on brick walls appeared superficially "normal". This portion of the beach had already been cleaned of most of the oil and tar balls. This was the beach President Obama visited the following day (May 28). Some oil accumulation is shown trapped amongst the bricks and their crevices. Seaweeds were also collected manually among the snare booms and absorbent booms. After our algal collecting, the booties and gloves provided by the extensive Hazmat team were decontaminated.

Part of the marsh flanking the beach is shown, as well as patches of black mangroves (Avicenna germinans) whose vertical breathing tubes (pneumatophores) grow straight up from the mud and are covered by a remarkable association of brackish macroalgae (Caloglossa, Bostrychia).

Many thanks to the Port Fourchon Operations Center, the Louisiana State Police, and the Hazmat clean-up team for granting clearance to access the Fourchon Beach "Hot Zone" in order to collect drift and nearshore seaweeds for biodiversity research on the marine algae from the Gulf of Mexico.

Filming by S. Callais, S. Fredericq and W. Schmidt. Editing by S.F.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Avicenna germinans plants
• phycology
• tropical
• subtropical

[Cryptonemia]

Que bueno saber que pasa con las algas! Sargassum luce mal pero el resto de algas estan bien...por ahora,