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By Trina Wood
| Krista Hanni raises her head from the large telescope perched next to the faded blue Dodge truck to peer out into kelp beds just north of Lover's Point in Monterey Bay. Two small brown shapes resurface from a brief dive into the ocean, almost blending with the dark green kelp.
"There," she says, pointing to the figures bobbing along with the swell of the tide. "They've just brought up something else to eat." A southern sea otter and her pup lie floating on their backs among the kelp, munching on what appears to be some kind of shellfish. A bright red plastic tag on one of the pup's rear flippers indicates that she is one of the otters in Hanni's research study. As a biologist studying sea otters for her dissertation in epidemiology, Hanni hopes to establish baseline data or normal parameters on the health, behavior and survival of free-ranging sea otter pups. The findings will be compared to data on pups that have been raised in captivity and released, giving researchers and rehabilitators a better idea of the benefits and risks of rehabilitating these threatened animals. Each pup is implanted with a small radio transmitter so Hanni can recognize individuals in the study and track their movements. A tall antenna, held together at its center by duct tape and an old plastic oil funnel, is positioned on top of the van to receive the signals. They tell Hanni how long the pups are diving beneath the water for food, how far they travel during the day and when they are at rest. Hanni's black dog, Sully, lies patiently by the telescope, waiting for the next move to a better viewing spot. He doesn't have to wait long. Perhaps seeking out a different locale for their next meal, the pup and its mother have swum around a rock outcropping next to Hopkin's Marine Lab where the jutting rocks prevent the clear transmission of signals. It's just as well. Storm clouds sitting out along the horizon where dark blue water meets the sky are letting loose with sheets of rain. As Hanni estimates how many minutes will pass before the downpour reaches them, she spots three gray whales rising to the surface for another breath on their migration from Alaska to Baja California. Small drops of rain begin to fall, and Hanni packs the telescope and its tripod before the equipment gets too wet. *
Although a major oil spill hasn't occurred in the southern sea otters' habitat, an estimated 3,500 to 5,500 Alaskan sea otters died in the aftermath of the infamous Exxon Valdez spill 10 years ago this March. That incident left an unforgettable mark on California's environmental consciousness. Newspaper photos and television reports showed thousands of black oiled birds stranded along shorelines, gooey dark oil amassed on rocks and sand, and scores of volunteers in hip waders and hazardous-material suits clearing carnage off the beaches. To help prevent such an accident off our coast and to be prepared in case it should happen, the California Legislature passed the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Act in 1990. The law requires tankers and barges carrying large amounts of oil to have contingency plans and up to $750 million in insurance should they cause a spill. It also mandates that any wildlife oiled as a result of an accident be treated. To carry out the provisions of this act, the state Legislature created the Office of Spill Prevention and Response in 1991. A year later the office began organizing the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, a consortium of veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitators and biologists who respond to spills and care for oiled marine birds and mammals. The network is administered through the Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis' School of Veterinary Medicine and supported by the California Department of Fish and Game's Office of Spill Prevention and Response. "The Department of Fish and Game has always worked closely with the university on wildlife research projects in the past," says Jonna Mazet, director of the care network and assistant professor of clinical wildlife health at UC Davis' School of Veterinary Medicine. "But this is the first such collaboration that assigns program management to UC Davis." * The Oiled Wildlife Care Network has two main missions: research support and spill response. Each year, the care network funds research projects that will add to our understanding of species affected by oil in the environment and potentially benefit rehabilitation efforts. Funded projects, like Hanni's sea otter study, receive $5,000–$40,000 per year for up to three years. "Post-release survival and baseline studies help us determine what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong," says Kirsten Gilardi, a recently hired wildlife veterinarian at the network. Gilardi has her hands full managing the construction of new facilities and directing the research and technology development program. She is currently compiling an extensive review of the scientific literature on oiled wildlife response techniques and the effects of oil on wildlife; her review will be made available on the network's Web site this spring. In addition to the grant program, the network has established facilities and care teams up and down the coast to respond to spills. When the network was first envisioned six years ago, David Jessup, a senior wildlife veterinarian with Fish and Game, hired Mazet to develop and run the network. Nearly single-handedly, she began by soliciting participation from small and large groups in strategic areas along the coast--the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Berkeley, Monterey Bay Aquarium and UC Santa Cruz, among others. While facilities for marine mammal rehabilitation were already established by the California Marine Mammal Stranding Network, most of the bird facilities had to be built from scratch; Humboldt State University's Marine Wildlife Care Center was the first completed. Twenty-one organizations are affiliated with the network and new facilities are being established in San Luis Obispo, Cordelia, Los Angeles and San Diego. In exchange for their participation, the rehabilitation groups receive training, equipment and supplies. "It's like having regional wildlife emergency rooms on the coast," Mazet says. *
Even when the network responds immediately following a spill, Mazet emphasizes there is no way to predict how many animals will be affected, how many will be cared for and released, and how many will ultimately survive. "Weather, time of the year, location, type of oil and species affected are all huge factors in response efforts," she says. In harsh weather, birds are more likely to become hypothermic. "It's counter-intuitive, but that can also be a blessing," Mazet says. The bad weather may force birds from offshore to the beaches to huddle down for warmth, where they can be captured before the toxins have much time to affect their systems. Different petroleum products affect animals in different ways. For example, jet fuels are extremely toxic, causing severe problems moments after they are contacted by animals. "The fumes and volatile hydrocarbons in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel burn the skin, eyes and lungs, sometimes irreparably, so the animals can't breathe," Mazet says. On the other hand, those fuels evaporate quickly, leaving only a sheen on the water, which may cause less trouble in the long run than crude or bunker oil, which can stay in the environment for a long time. According to the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, there were 5,189 reported spills of hazardous materials or oil throughout California in 1998--about 1,000 of those occurred in marine environments. Documented spills range in size from sheens to larger volumes that seep into soil, rivers and streams, and result from train derailments, tanker truck accidents and leaking vessels at sea. Perhaps an overlooked source of oil spills is old pipelines in various states of disrepair and in unknown locations. A very small percentage of spills actually come from ships at sea. In February 1997 near Donner Lake in the Sierra Nevada, 1,700 gallons of diesel fuel spilled while being transferred from a rail car to a storage tank. The pipeline transferring the oil was under the snow and the oil seeped to the lake before anyone was aware of what was happening. "In this case, there was no hulking tanker off the coast to identify the bad guy," Jessup says. * |
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, California's southern sea otter population is hovering at about 2,000 individuals, a 12 percent decrease since the fall of 1997. Should their numbers fall below 1,850 over a period of 18 months, the sea otter status would be moved from threatened to endangered on the Endangered Species List. Any major catastrophe, epidemic or oil spill could decimate their numbers.
An emergency response is exactly what's needed to improve the survival rates of animals impacted by a spill. The sooner animals are taken into care, the less exposure they have to the toxic oil. For birds, the oil delivers a "double whammy," as Mazet explains--damaging their layer of insulating feathers and poisoning them.