October 1, 2014 — Twenty-five years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and millions of dollars in research, marine scientists still have no conclusions about the relationship between that environmental disaster and the demise of Pacific herring in Prince William Sound.
What we do know is that the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound shortly after midnight on March 24, 1989, spilling 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of thick, toxic crude oil, creating one of the most devastating human caused environmental disasters on record.
Then in subsequent storms and currents, the oil spread over 1,300 miles, fouling the shoreline, resulting in the deaths of vast numbers of wildlife, including sea otters, herring and birds.
Some of that crude oil is still not cleaned up, and while some species have recovered, herring have not. A once lucrative commercial fishery, the herring, which also provided nutrition for seabirds, salmon and marine mammals ranging from sea otters to whales, is still listed as “not recovering.”
What is not clear is the direct relationship between the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the demise of the herring fishery in Prince William Sound, but marine conservation scientist Rick Steiner of Anchorage says that without doubt the oil spill had a significant effect on the Prince William Sound herring population, and it is almost certainly one of the reasons for the crash in 1993.
Read the full story at Fishermen's News