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Going Green T ey found 10 percent of tilefi sh and southern hake samples from the oil-aff ected area had skin lesions, com- pared to none of those species gathered off Florida's west- ern coast in an area relatively untainted by oil and used as a control area. T e snapper had a slightly elevated rate of lesions, but not in any signifi - cant numbers. Murawski's team tested the fi sh for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a toxic component of crude oil. T e data are still coming in, but early observations include high levels of PAHs in the fi sh's bile, and low levels in the tissue, says Murawski. T e fi sh, stresses Murawski, are perfectly safe to eat. T e U.S. government has below action taken 8,000 samples of fi sh in that area and PAH amounts have all been well Deepwater mysteries Two years after the BP oil spill, worries loom in the Gulf of Mexico BY LISA DUCHENE I n early 2011, about nine months after BP's Deep- water Horizon disaster, Gulf of Mexico fi shermen reported strange lesions on snapper and other Gulf fi nfi sh. Steve Murawski, the former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- tration chief fi shery scientist, had just assumed his new post as research professor at 30 SeaFood Business July 2012 the University of Southern Florida in Tampa. Murawski had seen pic- tures of fi sh with sores and wondered what was going on. So last July and August, his research team chartered three longline vessels to investigate. T e surveys covered the distribution of red snapper, collecting 4,000 samples of 90 diff erent species from the Dry Tortugas to Louisiana at depths of 60 to 600 feet. levels. Murawski's work is re- lated to fi sh health, he empha- sizes; his research is looking at whether the fi sh have im- paired reproductive potential or changed growth rates. Another huge question is whether any health eff ects are due to the Deepwater Horizon blowout or are a result of something else, per- haps chronic exposure to hy- drocarbons — about 1,000 natural seeps leak 400,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf annually. It's a diffi cult ques- tion to answer, notes Mu- rawski, because there are no similar, baseline sampling surveys that pre-date the well blowout for comparison. T ere have been no mass die-off s of fi sh or shellfi sh and no fi sh populations have crashed. Oysters are strug- gling after an infl ux of fresh- water that was part of the spill response. A SeaFood Business analysis of Louisiana's 2011 seafood landings compared to an av- erage year during the 10-year period (2000-2009) before the "There was kind of a system reboot because of the reduced fishing pressure." — Larry McKinney, executive director, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies tainted seafood from reaching the market held a "conserva- tion benefi t" by removing the stress of fi shing. T e closed area peaked at 88,522 square miles, or 37 percent of Gulf waters on June 2, 2010. "T ere was kind of a sys- tem reboot because of the reduced fi shing pressure," says McKinney. T ere is concern about what fractions of generations of fi sh may be missing after larvae were exposed to toxins, says Murawski. Hopefully some answers will come from $500 million in research funded by BP, and also from the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program that will determine BP's liability. Results of NRDA research are not yet public. Contributing Editor Lisa Duchene lives in Bellefonte, Pa. Visit us online at www.seafoodbusiness.com Researchers have studied Gulf fi sh like yellowedge grouper for signs of distress. spill, according to NMFS data for Louisiana, found brown shrimp landings down 20 percent, white shrimp down down 22 percent, blue crab up 6.4 percent, crawfi sh down 13.5 percent and red snapper down 41 percent. So far, post-spill shrimp harvest numbers seem to be within the normal variation for shrimp, says Larry Mc- Kinney, executive director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. While economically dev- astating for Gulf fi shermen, scientists say the emergency fi shing closures to prevent Photo courtesy of Steve Murawski, University of Southern Florida