Before and After an Oil Spill: The Arthur KillJoanna Burger In January 1990, the New York Harbor suffered a major oil spill when an underwater pipe at an Exxon refinery leaked into the Arthur Kill, the fifteen-mile strait that runs between New Jersey and Staten Island. The waterway is home to herons and egrets, fiddler crabs and sea turtles, and a favorite place for recreational fishing, bird-watching, hiking, and boating. It is also lined with refineries and a busy corridor for oil tankers. Because this industrial activity posed such an imposing threat to the fragile ecosystem, biologists had been monitoring the region's water, soil, vegetation, and wildlife for some time before the oil spill. Thus, we have before -and-after data about the habitat--the only oil spill anywhere for which this is true. This unique book discusses the human consequences of the oil spill as well as providing detailed studies of its effects on the plants and animals of the Arthur Kill. Biologists, environmentalists, lawyers, and officials worldwide will find this book an essential guide to dealing with--and possibly preventing--future environmental disasters. The contributors areJohn Brzorad, Angela Christini, Keith Cooper, Lynn Frink, Michael Gochfeld, Paul Hauge, Gordon Johnson, Alan D. Maccarone, Katherine Parsons, Carolyn Summers, Robert Tucker. |
Contents
Introduction Joanna Burger | 1 |
Marine Mammals and Sea Turtles | 14 |
Governmental Cooperation | 35 |
Legal Considerations Gordon J Johnson | 44 |
The Role of Conservation Organizations | 64 |
Rehabilitation of Contaminated Wildlife Lynne Frink | 82 |
Bioremediation and the Arthur Kill Joanna Burger | 99 |
Immediate Effects of Oil Spills on Organisms in the Arthur | 115 |
The Effects of Oil Spills on Bivalve Mollusks and Blue Crabs | 142 |
Fiddler Crabs Uca spp as Bioindicators for Oil Spills | 160 |
Gull and Waterfowl Populations in the Arthur Kill | 201 |
Biological Effects in Birds | 215 |
The Arthur Kill People and Oil Spills Joanna Burger | 253 |
Conclusions | 268 |
Conclusions from the Arthur | 283 |
Effects of Oil on Vegetation Joanna Burger | 130 |