The Food Chain

“The finding represents one of the first examples of how oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill is moving into the Gulf of Mexico's food chain.”

It has now been confirmed that beneath the minuscule shells of post-larval crabs and fiddler crab larvae are droplets of oil. This, then, is the true image of environmental despair - not the heartbreaking photos of the oil-smeared corpses of sea turtles, pelicans, dolphins and others (although those are enough to make the tears flow and the anger boil over).

These tiny creatures – the ones who go unnoticed by the media and general public – are the food source; the vital first links in a chain that is now irreparably broken by the power of over 2.5 million gallons of oil per day and millions of gallons of toxic dispersants gushing into the Gulf’s waters and flooding the coastline.

For the species that feed on the small and, to most, unknown denizens of the Gulf this is a poisonous buffet. Those species are then consumed by larger species…and so it goes on - like dominoes falling in an endless crash of despair and destruction.

BP can apply dispersants and PR spin in equal measure. Volunteers and workers can tirelessly clean up after each receding wave. International communities can wring their hands in accusation and grief. Nothing will turn back time. We can only chose to navigate our way forward and to ensure that this preventable disaster is not played out again and again.


To any who consider this "the Gulf's problem" - wake up. This is a catastrophe that knows no geographic, economic, environmental or social bounds.

http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2010/06/research_discovers_oil_droplet.html

(My thanks to Don Abrams for this link)