CTHOMAS.CASSIN@BIONET-20.BIO.NET (Richard Cassin) (04/08/89)
The following is two reports from Dr. Tom Royer of the University of
Alaska on the Exxon Valdez oil spill. They were posted to the "OCEAN"
bulletin board of SCIENCEnet, the e-mail system used by ocean, air,
earth, and space sciences communities. I will pass Tom's reports on to
BIONET as he posts them.
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Posted: Wed, Apr 5, 1989 12:30 PM EDT Msg: CGIJ-3918-3303
From: T.ROYER
To: OCEAN
Subj: EXXON SPILL - Report #1
The news media are now on to other things but the Exxon Valdez oil is
progressing westward along the coast of Alaska toward Kodiak Island.
Approximately 50% of the released oil is out of Prince Wiliam Sound and in
the Alaska Coastal Current. The leading edge is about 300 km from the wreak
and is not weathering very rapidly. However winds are predicted to increase
today. Unfortunately the slick will be in one of the richest fishing areas
in the world in another day or two and many of the fishes are in their
larval stage. The State of Alaska has already shut down the $15 million
dollar Prince William Sound herring fishery for this year. R/V Alpha Helix
is sailing today to begin the ecological assessment of Prince William Sound
and coastal Alaska. I will try to keep OMNET posted on further developments
as time permits.
Posted: Thu, Apr 6, 1989 9:56 PM EDT Msg: FGIJ-3919-6118
From: T.ROYER
To: OCEAN
Subj: EXXON SPILL REPORT #2
The Gulf of Alaska (Prince William Sound) oil spill is moving along the
coast of the western Gulf of Alaska at about 15 miles per day. This
afternoon it split into two fingers, one about 22 miles south of Nuka Bay
and the other about 40 miles south of Gore Point. It is now becoming patchy
but weathering is less than expected. The water temperature of about 4 C is
working against weathering. The leading edge is near Portlock Bank a king
crab nursery area and will soon enter the eastern Kodiak shelf where it is
expected to remain for days or weeks since the coastal current loses it's
strength there. LAST YEAR, Kodiak was the number one fishing port in the
U.S. with $167 million of landings with most of them being caught locally.
Some of the spill is expected to enter Cook Inlet with extensive crab,
shrimp, salmon and pollock fisheries. More later, unfortunately...
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