In fact, as Klein found, the most damaging consequences of the spill may be still to come. “For the scientists aboard the WeatherBird II,” Klein writes,“the recasting of the Deepwater Horizon spill as a good-news story about a disaster averted has not been easy to watch."
Over the past seven months, they have seen things that they describe as unprecedented. "Among their most striking findings are graveyards of recently deceased coral, oiled crab larvae, evidence of bizarre sickness in the phytoplankton and bacterial communities, and a mysterious brown liquid coating large swaths of the ocean floor, snuffing out life underneath. All are worrying signs that the toxins that invaded these waters are not finished wreaking havoc and could, in the months and years to come, lead to consequences as severe as commercial fishery collapses and even species extinction.”
Credit: Jacqueline Soohen and Big Noise Films
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