INE Work with Oil Dispersants CROSERF and Beyond NewFields Beaufort Sea Workshop 26, 27 March 2008

Robert A. Perkins Civil and Environmental Engineering Institute of Northern Engineering University of Alaska Fairbanks Photo: Marinco Bioassay Laboratory

CROSERF Chemical Response to Oil Spills: Ecological Effects Research Forum

Sponsors of Research Texas General Land Office (TGLO); Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FL DEP); California Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response (CA OSPR); Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC); Exxon Corporation; American Petroleum Institute (API), and Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC).

Plus Minerals Management Service (MMS); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Chevron Corporation

Universities and Sponsors University of California, Santa Cruz (later UC Davis) - CA OSPR University of South Florida - FL DEP Texas A&M University - TGLO University of Alaska Fairbanks - ADEC

CROSERF Testing Standard species and standard oil –Calibrate labs Standard species and local oil –Is our oil different? Local species and local oil –Are our local species different?

Test Chambers

Test Regimes Species –Mysid –Fish larvae –Tanner crab larvae –Microtox Oils –PBCO –ANS, Fresh –ANS, Weathered 200 deg. C.

Treatment –WAF –CE-WAF Exposure, 96-hr –Chambers –Static with Renewal

Almost forgot VOA –C6-C9 BTEX TPH –C10-C36 THC, and Loading

Whoops Warm 25 °C Cold 4 to 7 °C

Quick Summary

VOA/BTEX in WAF

Fresh WAF toxicity SpeciesTempLC 50, mg/L LL 50 mg/L VOALoading C. bairdi7 °C M. bahia25 °C Toxicity proportional to VOA Little TPH

CE-WAF Fresh ANS data LC 50LoadingTPHTHCVOA Speciesmg/L C. Bairdi 7 °C M. Bahia 25 °C

Weathered, WAF

Weathered CE-WAF

Fresh CE-WAF

Some thoughts Always measure VOA! For WAF, VOA may be much more significant than TPH Both fresh and weathered

Why are we testing? Is Corexit 9500, less or more toxic to species X than Corexit 9527 or other dispersant? Are the results for Brand X likely to be the same at 7 °C than 25 °C? Need standardized tests.

Fig Concentrations of oil in the water column following dispersal of a 0.1 mm thick slick of fresh oil treated with a chemical dispersant (after Lewis and Aurand, 1997)

Question? How does the concentration of toxic components vary with time and depth beneath a spill if we don’t disperse? Same if we disperse Toxicity should probably be gauged with respect to weathered oil

Research question Where does the VOA from fresh oil go? If acute toxicity is mostly from VOA, If it has left the slick and is in the water, then Dispersing might not affect acute toxicity

A Tail of Two Tests Mysidopsis bahia Photo: Marinco Bioassay Laboratory

Mysids at UAF Lab in Fairbanks Set up lab, one month Two grad students, one month Two sets of tests, continuous and flow- through Mysids delivered for $75/ box One shipment with excessive deaths –Order another, 5 days Florida bioassay lab: $500, continuous 96-hr

Tanner Crab Larvae at UAF, Seward Marine Center Chionoecetes bairdi Collect Dec. Birth ? –Late Feb. –Early April

Cold-water species resources One student and 1.5 technicians 600 km from campus Three and half months Plus care and feeding of gravid crabs –December to April

Cold Water Standard Test Species Can we find a cold-water test species that is as convenient and practical as equivalent warm-water species, such a M. bahia? Lose a week with a mishap Not a year

Criteria Laboratory viability and practicality –CROSERF chambers, 96-hour acute –Available year around Susceptibility to known or potential stressors –Immature or larval Socially recognized Relevance to oil spills and dispersants The criteria of comparability –ASTM, USEPA

Method Ask the experts Compare lists and compendiums –EPA, ASTM Phylogenetic relations via taxonomy tables

Crustaceans (small: mysids and copepods) Phylum: Arthropoda (arthropods) Class Crustaceans OrderFamilyGenusSpeciesAK?Ref. Subclass Copepoda (copepods) Calanoida Acartiaclausi 2 Acartiatonsa (several)AK Harpacticoida Tigriopusbrevicornis 2 (several)AK MYSIDS Malacostraca subclass Peracarida Mysidacae Suborder Mysina MysidaeMysidopsisbigelowi 2 MysidaeHolmesimysiscostata 16 MysidaeArchaeomysisgrebnitzkiiAK4,5 Mysidopsisalmyra 2 Mysidopsisbahia 8 ?AcanthomysispseudomacropsisAK25

No species met all the criteria very well Subjective evaluation Came up with six likely

Likely species Mysids and copepods Pink salmon fry Tidepool sculpin Topsmelt (Atherinops affinis) Urchins: –Purple (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) –Green ( S. droebachiensis) –Red ( S. franciscanus) Shellfish –Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas )

Today Herring eggs and larvae –Spawning season south to north

Acknowledgements Sara Rhoton, Ingegerd Ask of UAF Brad Hahn and Leslie Pearson of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Spill Prevention and Response A.J.Paul, Judy McDonald, and staff of the Seward Marine Center John Agosti of the Qutekcak Shellfish Hatchery Howard Feder, Ted Cooney, Ray Highsmith of the Institute of Marine Science of UAF Ron Smith of the Department of Biology of UAF Peter Armato of the U.S. Park Service Doug Woodby of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Tom Dean of Coastal Resources Associates. Others who took the time to discuss this: Scott Kellman of Aquatic Biosystems, Bill Putnam of Sticklebacks Unlimited, Marylin Schwartz of Ogden Environmental, Gary Buhler of Northwest Aquatic Science, John Hunt of the Marine Pollution Studies Lab of UCSC.