427
impairment, and (3) a substantial fraction of the population is exposed to critical
levels of oil in the environment.
These three conditions were not met in the cases of DWH and Ixtoc 1. Oil distributions in both spills were widespread but patchily distributed (Sun et al. 2015).
Also, oil concentration and toxicity varied owing to dissolution, photodegradation,
evaporation, biodegradation, and dispersion in the marine environment. In this way
the matching of oil spill to main population processes in time and space was not
large enough to have catastrophic impact. This is in contrast to other spills such as
Exxon Valdez, which occurred in a more confined area but which overlapped with
much of the distribution and critical spawning habitats of local fish stocks and other
species that were affected by the spill (Rice et al. 1996).
Life history adaptations of fishery stocks confer them high resiliency to environmental stressors (either due to anthropogenic causes or natural environmental variation) as long as the life history strategy is not overwhelmed. Although the three
species groups illustrated have different life histories—from annual to long lived—
their reproductive strategies result in a high reproductive potential that allows them
to opportunistically take advantage of favorable environmental windows. Sublethal
effects that impair individual survival, growth, and reproduction could only have
long-term impact if they undermine the overall fitness of the population in the evolutionary sense. If stocks are in healthy condition, effects could be mitigated by the
cumulative population’s reproductive potential. In the NGoM, the proportion of
overfished species has reduced from 40% to less than 5% (Karnauskas et al. 2017),
and during the Ixtoc 1 oil spill, most of the fishery stocks in the SGoM were not as
overfished as they are now. Similarly, overfishing has reduced the resiliency potential of many stocks off Cuba (Baisre 2018). Stock resiliency could also be affected
by other factors, but overharvesting is a key factor that affects reproductive potential
and may compromise fishery resource conservation in the case of an eventual oil
spill disaster.
Acknowledgments The synthesis of this research was made possible by grants from the Gulf of
Mexico Research Initiative through the Center for the Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the
Gulf Ecosystem (C-IMAGE).
References
Amezcua-Linares F, Amezcua F, Gil-Manrique B (2015) Effects of the Ixtoc I oil spill on fish
assemblages in the Southern Gulf of Mexico. In: Alford JB, Peterson MS, Green CC (eds)
Impacts of oil spill disasters on marine habitats and fisheries in North America. CRC Press,
Boca Raton, pp 209–236
Arocha F, Lee DW, Marcano LA, Marcano JS (2000) Preliminary studies on the spawning of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, in the western Central Atlantic. Collect Vol Sci Pap ICCAT
52:538–551
Baisre JA (2018) An overview of Cuban commercial marine fisheries: the last 80 years. Bull Mar
Sc. https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2017.1015
25 Impacts of Deep Oil Spills on Fish and Fisheries
impairment, and (3) a substantial fraction of the population is exposed to critical
levels of oil in the environment.
These three conditions were not met in the cases of DWH and Ixtoc 1. Oil distributions in both spills were widespread but patchily distributed (Sun et al. 2015).
Also, oil concentration and toxicity varied owing to dissolution, photodegradation,
evaporation, biodegradation, and dispersion in the marine environment. In this way
the matching of oil spill to main population processes in time and space was not
large enough to have catastrophic impact. This is in contrast to other spills such as
Exxon Valdez, which occurred in a more confined area but which overlapped with
much of the distribution and critical spawning habitats of local fish stocks and other
species that were affected by the spill (Rice et al. 1996).
Life history adaptations of fishery stocks confer them high resiliency to environmental stressors (either due to anthropogenic causes or natural environmental variation) as long as the life history strategy is not overwhelmed. Although the three
species groups illustrated have different life histories—from annual to long lived—
their reproductive strategies result in a high reproductive potential that allows them
to opportunistically take advantage of favorable environmental windows. Sublethal
effects that impair individual survival, growth, and reproduction could only have
long-term impact if they undermine the overall fitness of the population in the evolutionary sense. If stocks are in healthy condition, effects could be mitigated by the
cumulative population’s reproductive potential. In the NGoM, the proportion of
overfished species has reduced from 40% to less than 5% (Karnauskas et al. 2017),
and during the Ixtoc 1 oil spill, most of the fishery stocks in the SGoM were not as
overfished as they are now. Similarly, overfishing has reduced the resiliency potential of many stocks off Cuba (Baisre 2018). Stock resiliency could also be affected
by other factors, but overharvesting is a key factor that affects reproductive potential
and may compromise fishery resource conservation in the case of an eventual oil
spill disaster.
Acknowledgments The synthesis of this research was made possible by grants from the Gulf of
Mexico Research Initiative through the Center for the Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the
Gulf Ecosystem (C-IMAGE).
References
Amezcua-Linares F, Amezcua F, Gil-Manrique B (2015) Effects of the Ixtoc I oil spill on fish
assemblages in the Southern Gulf of Mexico. In: Alford JB, Peterson MS, Green CC (eds)
Impacts of oil spill disasters on marine habitats and fisheries in North America. CRC Press,
Boca Raton, pp 209–236
Arocha F, Lee DW, Marcano LA, Marcano JS (2000) Preliminary studies on the spawning of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, in the western Central Atlantic. Collect Vol Sci Pap ICCAT
52:538–551
Baisre JA (2018) An overview of Cuban commercial marine fisheries: the last 80 years. Bull Mar
Sc. https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2017.1015
25 Impacts of Deep Oil Spills on Fish and Fisheries