MAIACETUS: Post dedicated to the marine animals of the Gulf of Mexico

It’s been a while since I’ve written any blogposts but recently I felt I should to start again. This period of absence is a result of some personal conflict I’ve had as a result of the Gulf Of Mexico oil disaster and just plain busy-ness in life.

So why would I stop writing a blog because of an oil spill? Does it not seem a little counter-intuitive that somebody concerned with the environment and who has worked near the disaster location would stop writing about it? Well, I must be honest and say that it is because I was trying to get my head around the largest environmental disaster in the US and possibly the world and the fact that I have been working most of the past year as a Marine Mammal Observer (MMO) for seismic exploration in the Oil and Gas industry.

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) on the helideck

Before 2009 most of my work was in whale watching and volunteering in marine mammal research (with the occasional paid job when I was lucky!). Since 1996 I have been involved in marine mammal activities in Canada and around the world as much as I possibly could afford or make time for. When I finally finished my my masters in 2008 and realized that I had been pushing my financial limits for years and I decided it was time I move into a different area of marine mammal work; I began working on seismic survey ships as an MMO and finally I was earning enough money to start paying down debt accumulated for marine mammal studies and years of travel and volunteering to work on various marine mammal projects!

Then on April 20th the Deep Horizon oil rig was destroyed in the Gulf Of Mexico; where I had been working as an MMO since December and where I had really started to appreciate the marine animals of the area. Suddenly I had moral questions about my work and the fact that I was benefiting by working in this industry.

Juvenile Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

I’ve thought long and hard about my role as an MMO, the reasons for this disaster and whether I should feel guilty for working in the industry. I have taken comfort in the fact that, at least, by working as an MMO I am on the environmental side of the business and do the best job I can to aid the industry to use practices to minimise impacts to wildlife and the environment. Unfortunately, I cannot claim to be innocent in this disaster and none of us really can. This disaster is connected to our consumption of fossil fuels and we can help prevent disasters like this one by reducing our dependence on these fuels. Every one of us makes consumer choices everyday and we must remember that these choices, whether it be about how we get from point A to point B or whether our food comes from the other side of the world, give us some say on how our natural world is impacted.

Although the spill was finally capped in July, research in the region has found that the Gulf of Mexico is still being impacted and will be impacted for many years. The following links have some fairly detailed information about these findings:

National Geographic: Gulf Oil Spill News
Seaweb Marine Science Review: Oil and Oil Spills Gulf of Mexico

Although I've let life sweep me months beyond the last time I blogged I have decided I would like to do a little catch-up blogging to summarize the last half of 2010 in my life as an MMO. Following are photos from my last trip working as an MMO in the Gulf of Mexico in May and June. It was an interesting trip for us MMOs with more sightings of marine mammals than my previous two rotations in the Gulf. These photographs show the amazing marine life in the region and the only thing we can hope now is that these animals, and most other marine wildlife, are able to avoid the worst impacts of this disaster and that this is a wake-up call for all of us to think about how our lifestyle choices impact the natural world.