Scientists give Gulf of Mexico a ‘C’ before spill; health of fish, wetlands a ‘D’
By APThursday, August 5, 2010
Scientists give Gulf of Mexico a ‘C’ before spill
The Gulf of Mexico was not a pristine place even before the BP oil spill. Scientists asked to grade its health pre-spill gave it a “C” and graded its fish and wetlands a “D.”
The Associated Press sought these baseline assessments from 75 scientists as part of a series that will follow the recovery of the Gulf. Scientists only offered grades in their areas of expertise and an average was calculated for each category.
These are the pre-spill baseline averages on a scale of 0 to 100 — from dead to pristine. The “overall” category grades are not averages of the subgroups beneath them.
Overall health: 71
Wetlands: 65
Water quality: 69
Sea floor: 68
Food Web: 70.5
Marine mammals overall: 72
-Whales: 69
-Dolphins: 75
-Manatees: 54
Fish overall: 67
-Red snapper: 60
-Menhaden: 67
-King mackerel: 65
Birds overall: 76
-Brown pelican 77
-Clapper rail 68
-Terns 72
Crustaceans and mollusks overall: 71
-Shrimp: 72
-Crab: 68
-Oysters: 64
Beaches overall: 74
Texas: 70
Louisiana: 63
Mississippi: 72
Alabama: 75
Florida: 80
Other Gulf life overall: 72
Coral: 64
Sea Turtles: 57
