Woods Hole says oil trapped deep, degrading very slowly

[Fishing Report]

http://www.boston.com/news/science/a...wly/?page=full

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers have mapped a snaking, 22-mile-long underwater oil plume from the BP PLC well in the Gulf of Mexico, work they say provides strong evidence that oil from the disaster could remain trapped deep in the ocean for a prolonged period.

By the Woods Hole researchers’ calculations, the plume probably still exists today, but government officials said their more recent observations indicate the oil is quickly being degraded by microbes.

The Woods Hole researchers tracked a 1.2-mile-wide cloud of diluted oil and gas, more than 3,000 feet under the surface and starting about 3 miles from the wellhead. They reported in the journal Science that the plume was degrading very slowly in the cold, dark depths, worrying researchers that the pollutants could spell harm for marine life.

The oil “is persisting for longer periods than we would have expected,’’ said Richard Camilli, chief scientist on the two-week expedition, which measured the plume using a chemical-sniffing spectrometer that can identify microscopic oil components. “Many people speculated that subsurface oil droplets were being easily biodegraded. We found it was still there.’’

[obxfish]

Sounds like a lot of conflicting opinions. Maybe we need to stay away from that gulf seafood after all?