9 THE 1986 APEX HOUSTON OIL SPILL IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA: SEABIRD INJURY ASSESSMENTS AND LITIGATION PROCESS

• Main Authors: Harry R. Carter, Valerie A. Lee, Gary W. Page, Michael W. Parker, R. Glenn Ford, Gordon Swartzman, Stephen W. Kress, Bernard R. Siskin, Steven W. Singer, D. Michael Fry
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Uria aalge; uria
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.390.3549; http://www.prbo.org/cms/docs/oilspill/Carter2003.pdf

Over a decade of biological and legal efforts to address impacts to seabirds from the 1986 Apex Houston oil spill in central California are summarized. This relatively-small spill (616+ barrels) was conservatively estimated to have killed about 9,900 seabirds, including 6,300 Common Murres Uria aalge, as modified from earlier sources. Direct mortality was modeled using data from beached bird surveys, rehabilitation centers, at-sea surveys, and oil trajectories. Long-term impacts to depleted local populations of Common Murres and Marbled Murrelets Brachyramphus marmoratus were documented and restoration plans were developed. This incident demonstrated that small oil spills can have serious impacts to seabirds and that the amount of injury and costs of restoration must be measured before judging