An Overview Of The Exxon Valdez Oil — страница 3

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blood cells to “wrinkle” which causes anemia. More than seven thousand sea otters were killed also. This is a significant proportion of the total sea otter population. The sea otters were killed by a variety of conditions including hypothermia. Many otters were killed as a result of oil getting into the blood stream. When the oil gets into the blood, it could cause a variety of things to happen. It could cause nose bleeds due to blood thinning, which then lead to infection. It could cause liver and kidney damage, because these are the organs which attempt to clean the oil out of the system. Damage to these organs would lead to death. It could also lead to emphysema which compromises the diving ability of the otters and eventually leads to death. Another cause of death is

blindness. If oil were to get into an otter s eye it could cause blindness which would then cause starvation. Fish were also effected by the oil spill, however, the extent of the casualties is unknown. Fishing is a huge industry in Alaska, so there has been much concern over the welfare of the fish. Many natives also live by subsistence fishing. Pink salmon and herring were the two species that people were most concerned about. Pink salmon is the biggest commercial fish in Alaskan waters, many people were afraid that the salmon population would need years to recover, however, studies have shown that the effect of the oil on spawning, eggs, and fry was negligible. Chromatography tests have also shown that there are no hydrocarbons in the flesh of most of the fish. Those that do

have hydrocarbons in their flesh have a level that is so low as to be measured in the parts per billion range. Herring is also a huge commercial fish in Alaska. The 1988 catch yielded twelve point three million dollars. In 1989, after the spill, herring was declared “off limits” to fishermen. However, this was compensated by a salmon catch that was six times as big as it had been in 1988. In 1990, when herring fishing resumed, it returned to normal levels. The damage to the fishing industry was not nearly as bad as had been anticipated. Usha Varanasi, director of the NOAA s Environmental Conservation Division in S