Oil from 2007 San Francisco Bay spill devastated herring, scientists report
Thick, tarry fuel oil disgorged into San Francisco Bay from a damaged cargo ship in 2007 was surprisingly toxic to fish embryos, devastating the herring population that feeds seabirds, whales and the bay's last commercial fishery, scientists reported Monday.Although the bay's herring spawning grounds are now free of toxic oil, studies have found that the moderate-size spill of 54,000 gallons had an unexpectedly large and lethal effect.
The culprit, a common type of ship fuel called "bunker fuel," appears to be especially toxic to fish embryos, particularly when exposed to sunlight, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"That's the big lesson," said John Incardona, a toxicologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service. "This bunker oil is literally the dregs of the barrel, and it's much more toxic than crude oil."
The container ship Cosco Busan spilled low-grade bunker fuel after it sideswiped the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on a foggy November morning four years ago. This type of sludge-like fuel is cheap and thus popular among operators of commercial shipping fleets that transport raw materials and goods around the globe.
The other gigantic problem is that the entire culture of the gas and oil industry appears to be geared not toward addressing problems, or even admitting they exist, but rather toward covering up problems and denying responsibility when problems come to
If you've ever said that America's junk food is getting the world fat, please take a moment to reflect on this. Biscoff's version is literally made of cookies, pulverized and emulsified with oil to a smooth, peanut buttery paste. It's dark and glossy,
The food industry found a way around this problem. They could chemically change the vegetable oil into what is called a trans fat by a process called hydrogenation. These trans fats withstand heat and light and do not go rancid.