http://www.citypages.com/news/is-the-bp-oil-spill-still-wreaking-havoc-on-minnesotas-loons/433149943
Is the BP oil spill still wreaking havoc on Minnesota's loons?
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 by Cory Zurowski in News
The small talk on the gas dock at Green Lake isn't about the weather.
It's a boater asking the proprietor about loons. The man wants to know
if there are fewer of the birds on the lake near Spicer, or if he's just
imagining things.
The dock owner doesn't know. The answer probably lays at the bottom of
the Gulf of Mexico, the site of 2010's Deepwater Horizon environmental
disaster.
The BP oil spill, the largest in U.S. history, spewed five million
gallons into the waters off Louisiana. Despite the clean up, some
settled at the bottom of the Gulf. Eight years later, it's still there.
That doesn't bode well for the birds that make up Minnesota's
12,000-strong loon population. It's the second highest of any after Alaska.
Minnesota DNR researchers strapped silver geolocator leg bands placed on
some loons' legs starting in 2013. The idea was to see if the birds that
migrate south from Minnesota during the winter were still feeling the
effects of the BP oil.
The devices not only tracked the birds' locations, but also how deep
they were diving. When the loons returned to Minnesota after their
winter migration, officials took fat, feathers, and blood samples. Tests
were conducted for contaminants, either oil itself or the chemical that
had been used to disperse the petroleum during the clean up.
Only the loons that wintered in Gulf tested positive, leading DNR
researchers to conclude they were coming into contact with contaminants
while diving in the Gulf.
It's too early to know if the contaminants are hindering loons'
reproductive abilities or will shorten the life span of subsequent
generations.
Since researchers do know their bodies are carrying contaiminants all
the way back to Minnesota, they're asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for help.
They want $6 million from the BP settlement to go Minnesota's state bird.
Some of the money would be applied to shoreline restoration on lakes
where loons nest. Some would be used on a campaign to asking Minnesota
anglers to use tackle that doesn't contain lead. One of the biggest
causes of loon deaths in the state is lead poisoning.
DNR officials are awaiting word back any day now.
