How the oil spill in the Gulf affects our work

Margaret O’Gorman, Executive Director

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should cause concern to us all. But for those of us engaged in stopping species loss on a global or national scale, it should cause mild panic and dread as we think about the oil slick fast approaching the coasts of Louisiana and Florida.

As the oil floats with malign intent towards to the Breton National Wildlife Refuge and other areas of coastal habitat, a dark cloud hovers over the piping plovers, least terns and other beach and shore birds in New Jersey.  Their winter home is being attacked and the habitat they need to survive is being destroyed.

Piping plovers in New Jersey belong to what is known as the Atlantic Coast population. This population breeds along the Atlantic Coast from Nova Scotia to North Carolina. It winters along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from North Carolina to Mexico, with significant numbers found on the Louisiana and Florida coasts in the Gulf of Mexico.

Piping plover numbers initially crashed in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries because of hunting. Since the Migratory Bird Treaty Act outlawed such practices in 1918, habitat loss and degradation has caused the continued downward population trend of these birds, leading the federal government to list the Atlantic Coast population as threatened in 1986.

Efforts to restore the population to a sustainable size have been ongoing since then with states along the Atlantic Coast developing and implementing management and recovery plans. In New Jersey, management and recovery plans for the piping plover are overseen by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and implemented by Conserve Wildlife Foundation and the state’s Endangered Species Program. The work which is described in detail on our website includes managing the population on a nest-by-nest basis, minimizing disturbance and predation and maximizing nest success.

In New Jersey, 120 pairs of piping plover are managed intensively as part of a national effort to protect this bird from extinction. The oil slick currently moving through the Gulf of Mexico just made this job a lot harder.

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, oil can become a long-term contaminant in an ecosystem. Different types of oil weather out of an ecosystem over different time periods but oil can “cause harm to wildlife through physical contact, ingestion, inhalation and absorption. Floating oil can contaminate plankton, which includes algae, fish eggs, and the larvae of various invertebrates.” Oil can remain in the habitat for up to 30 years causing contamination to food chains and leading to irreversible damage to ecosystems. It can cause an ecosystem to loose or substantially decrease its carrying capacity for wildlife.

While the piping plovers in New Jersey and along the Atlantic Coast strive to successfully breed against the threats of spring storms, human and animal disturbance and, predators, their wintering grounds are threatened with a danger that has serious and long-term consequences.

So, as the crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico breaches the booms set out to contain it, we shiver for the piping plovers, least terns and other species whose winter just got a whole lot tougher.

Sources: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/pipingplover/pdf/I.pdf

http://alaska.fws.gov/media/unalaska/Oil%20Spill%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf