| Summary: | Study History: Comprehensive assessment of coastal habitat was initiated as Coastal Habitat Study No. 1 in 1989. Phase I was conducted in summer 1989/spring 1990 and involved site selection/ground truthing. Phase II involved intensive evaluation of study sites to determine extent of injury to natural resources in supratidal, intertidal and subtidal areas. Phase II commenced in the fall of 1989 and continued through the summer of 1991. The supratidal component was completed in 1991 and a final report was submitted separately. The subtidal portion was integrated into a suite of other subtidal studies and findings were also reported separately. Draft preliminary status reports were issued for the intertidal componenet in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 by Highsmith et al. as Coastal Habitat Study No. 1: Phase II in 1990 and 1991 and No. 1A in 1992 and 1993. Abstract: The Coastal Habitat Injury Assessment Study was initiated to assess injury to intertidal habitats impacted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The study, conducted from 1989-1991, encompassed three major geographical areas impacted by the spill: Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet-Kenia Peninsula and Kodiak-Alaska Peninsula. Oiled sites were selected randomly and matched with non-oiled sites and classified into sheltered rocky, exposed rocky, coarse textured or estuarine habitat. Statistically significant differences between oiled and non-oiled sites were interpreted as impact due to the spill and/or clean-up activities. Most observed differences varied across regions, habitats and tidal heights. Algae, especially the perennial Fucus, was generally negatively impacted on oiled sites. Conversely, an increase in annual and ephemeral species in the lower intertidal occurred. Limpets, mussels, littorines, and the high cockscomb prickleback were injured by the spill, while oligochaetes and a single barnacle species were enhanced at most tidal heights following the spill. Although intertidal communities showed widespread impact from oiling/clean-up activities for algal, invertebrate and fish components, data revealed most habitats were recovering but had fully recovered by 1991. Publications: Highsmith, R.C., M.S. Stekoll, W.E. Barber, L. McDonald, D. Strickland and W.P. Erickson. 1994. Comprehensive assessment of coastal habitat, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill State/Federal Natural Resource Damage Assessment Final Report (Coastal Habitat Study Number 1A). School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska.
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