Catch of the Day

This headline caught my attention....

RADM W

Gulf seafood may be the most tested, and safest, fish you can find.

Davies and Starr / Getty Images

When President Obama took his August microvacation along the Gulf of Mexico, he swam in the water, munched on fish tacos, and said, “Let me be clear. Seafood from the gulf is safe to eat.”

More than 90 percent of the shrimp consumed in this country comes from Thailand, China, India, and Ecuador, where the shrimp is raised in ponds so overcrowded, they also serve as breeding grounds for salmonella, bacteria, and parasites, which are combated by adding massive doses of antibiotics and fungicides to the water. Then there’s the taste and texture, which Dave Pasternack, chef at Manhattan’s Italian seafood mecca Esca, calls “disgusting.”

Given the imports’ lovely provenance, it’s ironic that Americans are now squeamish about the catch in the gulf. We spot-test less than 2 percent of the shrimp that comes in, compared with the 20 to 30 percent required by the European Union. Contrast that to what’s going on in the gulf, where waters must be free of oil for a month before fishing is allowed. Samples of all fish and shellfish (directly from the water, as well as from docks and markets) are then aggressively tested for contaminants by both the FDA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which subjects them to microscopic analysis and the “sniff test” (by people trained to detect the presence of oil). To Pasternack, such measures mean that “gulf seafood is the safest seafood in the world right now.”

Oil and gas exploration in America

Captains

Alaska's North Slope, the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea inevitably come to mind as one wonders about the future of oil and gas exploration in the post-Deepwater Horizon years. One thing I learned during my Gulf of Mexico experience is that local leadership matters. The Gulf Coast mayors are dealing with the aftermath of BP's Mississippi Canyon drilling accident. Mayor Itta of the Alaska North Slope is dealing with BP, Shell, and ConocoPhillips before they drill in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

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Alaska politician Edward Itta, an Inupiat Eskimo, stands at the center of our country's struggle to balance environmental and energy demands

by Bob Reiss

published: 07/18/2010

Edward Itta, 65, may be one of America’s most powerful mayors—but you’ve probably never heard of him. He governs the Wyoming-sized North Slope Borough of Alaska, a territory larger than 39 of our 50 states. However, his influence doesn’t come from the size of that area but from what lies beneath the land and its adjacent waters. The North Slope contains the country’s largest oil field, Prudhoe Bay, which is now producing less than one-third of its former peak flow. The next great energy find—up to 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to U.S. government sources—is thought to be under the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, directly offshore from the North Slope.

Beach and Bird oiling

Despite all efforts to contain, burn, disperse, and recover the oil at sea, the Deepwater Horizon accident resulted in oil contaminated shorelines and wildlife in each of the five affected States. Thousands of trained responders worked day and night to quickly remove the gross contamination, but there will be a long term recovery. Just how long, no one knows.

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Offshore Operations to recover oil

Captains,

I took particular pride in my visit to a skimming and lightering operation involving the Coast Guard cutter Cypress and Towing vessel Dirk Danos on June 26th. Every crewmember of both vessels were focused on maximizing oil recovery at sea. Hundreds of millions of gallons of recovered oil is being pumped from oil recovery systems into barges for recycling or disposal.

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GULF OF MEXICO – Rear Adm. James Watson, Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Unified Area Command, boards the Coast Guard Cutter Cypress, June 26, 2010. Watson is touring Coast Guard assets throughout the area assessing the efforts of the ongoing Deepwater Horizon Response. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Colin White.

GULF OF MEXICO – Rear Adm. James Watson, Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Unified Area Command, surveys the barge, containing oil collected by the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Cypress, June 26, 2010. Watson is touring Coast Guard assets throughout the area assessing the efforts of the ongoing BP Deepwater Horizon response. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Colin White.

GULF OF MEXICO – Rear Adm. James Watson, Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Unified Area Command, talks to Ricky Plaisance, captain of the Dirk Danos, a motor vessel attached to a collection barge moored to the Coast Guard Cutter Cypress, June 26, 2010. Watson is touring Coast Guard assets throughout the area assessing the efforts of the ongoing BP Deepwater Horizon response. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Colin White.

Staging for the DWH response ops

Captains,

Critical resources such as boom, skimmers, waste oil containers, sorbents and decon gear is staged as close to the actual on-water operations as possible. The workforce for the spill response is housed in "tent cities", "hotel barges", "beach camps" and trailers.

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Federal On-Scene Coordinator

Captains,

I handed the reins of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response to RADM Paul Zukunft this week, so will try to catch up on the last two months by posting a series of blog entries. It has been an honor to serve Admiral Thad Allen, USCG (ret) during my assignment as the Federal On-Scene Coordinator.

RADM Jim Watson

Admiral Paul Zukunft to Assume Role of Federal On-Scene Coordinator

NEW ORLEANS – National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen today announced that Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft is scheduled to relieve Rear Adm. James Watson as the Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response on Monday.

Watson will return to Portsmouth, Va., where he serves as the Coast Guard Atlantic Area deputy commander, which oversees five Coast Guard Districts, 42 states and more than 4 million square miles of navigable waters.

“In my role as Federal On-Scene Coordinator, I have seen federal, state and local agencies work with industry and non-governmental groups on the largest oil spill response in U.S. history,” said Watson. “As the Atlantic Area deputy commander I am committed to restoring the Gulf, and will continue to support Rear Admiral Zukunft and the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command.”

Deepwater Horizon oil spill shoreline ops

Captains,

Shoreline protection and cleanup is the last defense for oil spill responders. Ideally no oil will come ashore. Unfortunately some already has landed on the barrier islands in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama - mostly in the form of tar balls. Protective booming of sensitive shorelines and beach cleanup of tar balls and emulsified ribbons of oil has already begun.

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Deepwater Horizon oil spill boom ops

Captains,

About 2 million feet of oil spill boom has been ordered and deployed to be used for collecting oil or protecting the shorelines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The logistics, equipment and manpower associated with the Deepwater Horizon response boom operations is unprecedented.

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Deepwater Horizon oil spill tactics

Captains

The offshore oil spill response tactics include using vessels of opportunity for skimming, USAF C-130s for aerial dispursants, and in-situ burn booms to corral high concentrations of oil for burning. These photos illustrate the various ongoing operations to reduce the quantity of oil that has been discharged into the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi Canyon 252 well site.

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Deepwater Horizon oil spill operations

Captains,

Tens of thousands of barrels of crude oil have surfaced from the exposed well head and severed riser that the MODU Deepwater Horizon had been drilling before it burned and sank. The oil spill response during the last three weeks has been one of the largest in history. Offshore operations include skimming, mechanical recovery, burning, and aerial application of dispersants.

Thousands of barrels of the escaping crude has been recovered or burned. Much more has been disbursed either naturally or with the application of oil dispersants. The remaining oil is becoming a reddish emulsification which threatens the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico. Hence the urgency to recover or burn as much as possible at sea.

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Deepwater Horizon accident

Captains,

I was dispatched to the Deepwater Horizon response Unified Area Command post in Robert LA on April 29 and continue to serve there as Deputy Federal On-Scene Coordinator with RADM Mary Landry. Yesterday, we finally received good news that the outflow of crude oil from the severed riser is being diverted into an injection tube an flowing to a surface ship. It had been free flowing for 3 weeks since the MODU Deepwater Horizon sank about 50 miles southeast of the Mississippi Delta in the Gulf of Mexico.

I hope to post a series on the Deepwater Horizon incident and our response and investigation. This incident is likely to have far reaching consequences for maritime professionals working in the offshore, deep water drilling, oil spill response, and Gulf of Mexico fishing industries.

Let us never forget the 11 brave workers on the MODU Deepwater Horizon who lost their lives in the explosion following the uncontrolled blowout on that occurred on 19 April 2010.

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Federal, State, and private responders in Savannah

Captains

Liberty, a 625 foot U.S. flag roll on/roll off vessel, sustained a hull puncture while attempting to depart the Ocean Terminal in Savannah, GA yesterday. Over 5,000 feet of boom was deployed and skimmers are attempting to recover the spilled fuel oil.

The National Contingency Plan requires an "all hands" response, which includes federal, state, and private sector coordination. Looks like the unified command system is up and running for this case.

RDML W

SAVANNAH, Ga. – A unified command has been established and is continuing to respond Monday to approximately 6,500 gallons of diesel fuel released into the Savannah River by the motor vessel Liberty Sunday morning at the Ocean terminal.

The unified command consists of representatives from the Coast Guard, Georgia Port Authority, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, National Park Service, O’Briens Response Management Group, Marine Spill Response Corps, and Crowley Maritime Corporation.

Sabine Neches Waterway closed due to oil spill

Vessel Collision Port Arthur

PORT ARTHUR, Texas - The Coast Guard and agency partners have formed a Unified Command in response to an oil spill in the Port of Port Arthur, Saturday.Vessel Traffic Service Port Arthur received notification at 9:30 a.m. reporting a collision between the towing vessel Dixie Vengeance and the two barges it was pushing, and the 807-foot tank ship Eagle Otome. As a result of the collision, the Eagle Otome sustained damage in the vicinity of the number one starboard tank, which was reported to be loaded with crude oil. The initial estimate of spilled oil is 450,000 gallons.The Sabine Neches Waterway is closed to all vessel traffic along the City of Port Arthur's river front from Intracoastal Waterway mile marker 276 to mile marker 289. The Coast Guard has established a perimeter around the vessels in the vicinity of the reported spill to ensure the safety of the vessels involved as well as the safety of the responders. U.S. Coast Guard photo