Gulf of Mexico -- 2010 November

In November, we flew by commercial airlines to the Gulf and brought with us two of our best volunteers from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.  Using the Sea Shepherd RV, boats and trucks donated by local Gulf citizens, and a very high-quality UV lamp (365-nm) suited for identifying the signature of crude oil and dispersant chemicals, we took over 50 unique samples of beach sand, coastal marsh sediment, water, and fresh-caught marine life (pogey, croaker, squid, shrimp, crab, and oyster).  Following very rigorous protocol for collecting, packaging, recording (Chain of Custody forms), and shipping, we sent these samples to very reputable laboratories on the East Coast and in Canada for analysis.  We'll share the results (some of which are ongoing) of these laboratory analyses here.
 

(We have not yet written up this work in article format.  Here are the notes we wrote up during this week of sampling.)

GULF Sampling work 2010 Nov 13-21
Bonny Schumaker, Rex Levi, Brock Cahill, Jerry Moran
Contact for Info:   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 626-383-1412

Beach Sand
--Four-digit numbers (e.g., '8058') in parentheses refer to waypoint ID numbers in Bonny's Garmin GPS 296.

-- Here, all lat/long are given in decimal degrees (not degrees and decimal minutes; not degrees, minutes, and seconds).

-- Times are given in Zulu (UTC), which is CST+0600.

* items are locations where we took sand samples in (amber) jars.

** are locations where two jars of sand samples were taken (for redundancy)

*W are water samples (small-necked amber jars)

*O are oil absorbent pads dragged along the bottom

Sand jars and water jars go to:

Boston Chemical Data Corp.
2 Summer Street, #14
Natick, MA 01760
Attn:  Marco Kaltofen

Biological samples

*B* items are biological samples wrapped in foil and stuffed into jars.  These have been on ice and are packed in ice for shipping to Brent at ALS in Alberta.

Biological samples to:

Brent Finnestead
ALS Canada Ltd.
5424 97th Street
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6E5C1
780-391-2300

Monday Nov 15:

1. (8058) 2153Z 30. 26068 N -089. 40488 W

*2. (8059) 2218Z .26386 39299

*3. (8060) 2240Z 26960 38204

4. (8061) 2301Z 27757 37331

5. (8062) 2315Z 28691 36310

6. (8063) 2334Z 28918 35902

*7. (8064) 2348Z 29251 34810

8. (8065) 0005Z (Nov 16) 30128 33311

Tuesday 20101116:

9. (8066) 1754Z 39244 -088. 80191

10. (8067) 1816Z 36117 76414

*11. (----) 1900Z 36262 76628

12. (8068) 2002Z 34347 72455 Bellefontaine Beach

13. (8069) 2024Z 35505 68190

(Hancock County again:)

*14. (---) 2345Z 25930 -089. 40883

*15. (8070) 0012Z 26301 39594

*16. (8071) 0035Z 26602 38811

-------------------------------------

Wednesday Nov 17:
From Ocean Springs harbor, in Twin Vee

*B17.  ~1330Z 38269 (approx)-088. 81187 (approx)- Davis Bayou

10 shrimp, 6 croakers, 1 pogie (sp?), ~10 squid.  Retrieved through John from OSprings harbor).

*18. (8083) 2055Z 38289 -088. 80605

(SE from Davis Bayou on sand; one root with luminescent orange.)

*W19. (8085) 2107Z 36926 79933

20. (8086) 2205Z 36239 82161   Deer Island

*O21. (8087) 2243Z 41224 86698

Oil absorbent pad dragged across the bottom, just left of center of back bay of Biloxi.

*22. (8088) 2258Z 41536 87198   Big Island in back bay of Biloxi.  FIRST USE OF POWERFUL NEW UV LAMP.  Showed reddish orange all over, just below the surface.  (Plus luminescent orange specks, which we suspect are not hydrocarbons, but from plants, per phone conversation with Rip.)

ALL SAND SAMPLES BELOW USE THE POWERFUL UV LAMP, AND ALL ARE TAKEN IN DUPLICATE.

Thursday Nov 18  
(very early morning) Harrison County beaches (by truck)

**23. (8089) 0728Z 31748 -089. 23572

**24. (----) 0752Z 32417 21787

**25.  (8091) 0800Z 32899 19901

**26. (8093) 0845Z 35297 12920

*W27. 1757Z 3839 -088. 8114

*B28. 1802 3828 8103  Crab

*B29. 1810 3828 8097 Crab

*B30. 1813 3820 8086 Crab

*B31. 1815 3828 8114 Crab

*32. (8094) 2338Z 36249 8220 Deer Island

Useful contacts:

Hancock County: Jesse Fineran, 228-342-0498;

GCRL:  Ed Cake:  228-324-9292;  Terese Collins:  228-860-5895

Ocean Springs Harbor, local fishermen:

1) John Higgins

2) Jarrett Baker 228-861-2325  (fishing around Chandeleurs weekend Nov19-21)

Friday 20101119  (early morning)  Harrison County beaches (by truck)

*33. (8095) 1133Z 30. 39310 -088. 93811

*34. (8096) 1204 36601 -089. 08555

*35. (8097) 1221 37496 05638

*36. (8098) 1239 38312 02302

*37. (8099) 1250 38852 -088. 99357

*38. (8100) 1305 39183 -088. 96041

Friday Afternoon Nov 19:
From Pascagoula to Singing River and Round Islands

**W39.(8102) 1753Z 30. 33146 -088. 58268

(2 sand, 1 water; Singing River island)

*40. (8103) 1845 29279 58686 Round Island (S side)

*41. (8103') 1855 2929 58603  Round Island (E side)

*42. (8104) 2020 34377 54523 Beach front, S. of Pascagoula

*43. (-----) 2114 37167 62011 W side Singing River

Friday evening Nov 19: 
with Jesse Fineran in his flat-bottom boat, Bayou Caddy & Herring Bay

**W44.(----) 0027Z(Nov20) 30. 23226 41990 2 sand, 1 W

*45. (----) 0050Z 23111 42079  2 sand

**WO46.(----) 0115Z 23251 41982  1 sand, 1 W

*O47. (----) 0115Z 23251 41982 Sorbent cloth (for oil)

*B48. (----) 0145Z 21189 44286 1 crab from crab trap

Saturday 20101120 (midday) Grand Isle beaches (by truck)

*49. (----) 2012Z 29. 21742 -090. 01865  2 sand

50. (----) 2034Z 22636 00268  2 sand