While scientists continue to monitor fish taken from the Gulf of Mexico for raised levels of chemicals and oil, researchers around the globe are using specific sea species to suck up polluted waters—with a purpose.
Scallops and oysters are being used like proverbial “canaries in coal mines” to warn of the increasing presence of toxins in the ocean and to help clean out the poisons.
In Russia, The Moscow Times reports organic chemists have set up a giant sea scallop garden in Kozmino Bay on the Sea of Japan—seven time zones east of Moscow—near a new, very busy Siberian oil terminal. The sea scallops are being monitored to measure water pollution. Oil discovered in remote Siberia is being delivered to the port by pipeline. Business at the terminal is expected to double this year to 200 million barrels. Nearby in the bay, abandoned Soviet-era ships, pipelines, and old navy infrastructure rot in the saltwater.
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