The week in marine news, April 4

Matagorda Island cleanupTask force members remove oil-contaminated sand from the beach on Matagorda Island, Texas, March 30, 2014. Photo via U.S. Coast Guard

Hundreds of dead, oiled birds continue to be found on the Texas Gulf Coast following an oil spill near Galveston late last month. The Texas Tribune reports that as of yesterday, 329 oiled birds had been found from Galveston Bay to North Padre Island over 200 miles south.

“A lot of these shorebird species are not doing well to begin with, and we keep chipping away at their populations,” said David Newstead, a research scientist at the Corpus Christi-based nonprofit Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program. “At some point, they won’t be able to recover from repeat insult.” [Texas Tribune]

• For the first time in centuries, the endangered Nēnē returns to the Hawaiian island of Oahu. [Atlantic Cities]

• A $21,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals responsible for the shooting of three male otters found dead last fall at Asilomar State Beach in Northern California. [Huffington Post]

• A new study shows that dolphins are in poor health following the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill. [NOAA Response and Restoration Blog]

Migratory birds flying in Japan’s coastal waters are being surveyed for possible contamination resulting from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. [Earthweek]

Tweets of the week:

 

 

 

 

1 thought on “The week in marine news, April 4”

  1. What is the deal with all the dead ‘Black Turnstones (?)’ on Asilomar Beach, CA? Yesterday (Nov 18, 2014) afternoon we found 18 within about an 50 foot stretch through the rocky area where the golf course fence comes closest to the beach. And then 5 more and 3 seagulls, dead, just a little north of that area. I used to live here and never saw anything like it during that time. Does the golf course spray some toxic thing that they are somehow ingesting? Or what. It was very disturbing.

    Thanks for all you do!

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