Project Information

Title: Lingering Oil and Sea Otters: Pathways of Exposure and Recovery Status 040620-2

Project Year and Number: 2004: 040620-2

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2004: 040775

Principal Investigator (PI): Jim Bodkin (DOI )

Managing Agency: USGS

Assisting Personnel: None

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: Research

Injured Resources Addressed: Sea Otters

Abstract: Some of the strongest evidence of continuing effects of lingering oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill comes from long term monitoring of sea otter populations and their exposure to hydrocarbons. Population recovery remained incomplete as of 2002, and individual sea otters continue to exhibit elevated levels of the Cytochrome P450 1A biomarker in areas where lingering oil deposits are most prominent. Work in progress is quantifying home ranges of sea otters at northern Knight Island relative to known intertidal lingering oil deposits, but relocation sampling limits our ability to link foraging behaviors to oiled shorelines. To address the question of where individuals are foraging relative to lingering oil requires data on foraging depths. In 2003 USGS will be instrumenting 20 of the radio-instrumented sea otters at Knight Island with time-depth-recorders. These instruments will provide accurate information on the proportion of each individuals foraging that occurs in intertidal habitats, the area where known oil deposits remain, for one full year. Surveys of population size and individual P450 measures will provide continuing information on population trend and individual exposure to lingering oil.


Proposal: View (223 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report FY04: View (27 KB)
Annual Report FY05: View (35 KB)
Final Report: See Project 040775

Publications from this Project: None Available