BP oil still killing dolphins

This video from Wales says about itself:

Sea Watch – Bay of the Bottlenose Dolphin

The Sea Watch Foundation is a marine mammal research charity, working towards the monitoring and conservation of marine mammals in the seas around the UK. They have a project based in New Quay, Ceredigion, primarily aimed at monitoring the Bottlenose Dolphins in Cardigan Bay.

Cardigan Bay is rich in wildlife, from dolphins and seals, to a whole host of birdlife. So much so, an area of it has been designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

Filmed/Produced/Edited/Narrated by Katherine Dixon.

Soundtrack by Ryan Calmus.

With thanks to www.newquayboattrips.co.uk.

From Wildlife Extra:

Oil impact on dolphins

December 2013: In Louisiana‘s Barataria Bay Bottlenose dolphins are five times more likely to suffer from lung damage and adrenal hormone abnormalities than any other dolphin populations as a result of the Deepwater Horizon spill, scientists have discovered.

Twenty-nine of the total 32 dolphins sampled in Barataria Bay received comprehensive physical examinations, including ultrasound examinations to assess lung condition and researchers assigned almost half (48 percent) of the dolphins a guarded or worse prognosis. In fact, they classified 17 percent as being in poor or grave condition, meaning the dolphins were not expected to survive.

The researchers also found that 25 percent of the Barataria Bay dolphins were significantly underweight and the population overall had very low levels of adrenal hormones, which are critical for responding to stress.

These findings are in contrast to dolphins sampled in Sarasota Bay, Florida, an area not oiled by the Deepwater Horizon spill. For Dr. Lori Schwacke, the study’s lead author and veteran of a number of similar dolphin health studies across the southeast, the findings are troubling: “I’ve never seen such a high prevalence of very sick animals — and with unusual conditions such as the adrenal hormone abnormalities.”

The study was conducted in August 2011 as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) by a team of government, academic and non-governmental researchers and results were published December 2013 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

BP loses its latest legal battle against businesses that suffered from the Deepwater Horizon disaster: here.

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• Dolphins still dying 3 years after BP oil spill (abraveheart1.wordpress.com)
• Preliminary report lists spill consequences (dailycomet.com)
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