35 CHRONIC OILING AND SEABIRD MORTALITY FROM THE SUNKEN VESSEL S.S. JACOB LUCKENBACH IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

In 2002, the source of a mystery oil spill that killed large numbers of seabirds, especially Common Murres Uria aalge, in the Gulf of the Farallones, central California, was tracked to the vessel S.S. Jacob Luckenbach which sank after a collision in 1954. Matches of many oil samples have established...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Steve Hampton, R. Glenn Ford, Harry R. Carter, Christine Abraham, Diana Humple
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2003
Subjects:
Key words
oil
tar balls
California
mortality
restoration
Common Murre Uria aalge
Gulf of the Farallones
S.S. Jacob Luckenbach
Common Murre
Uria aalge
uria
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.390.5344
http://www.prbo.org/cms/docs/marine/luckenbach paper hampton et al 2003.pdf
Description
Summary:In 2002, the source of a mystery oil spill that killed large numbers of seabirds, especially Common Murres Uria aalge, in the Gulf of the Farallones, central California, was tracked to the vessel S.S. Jacob Luckenbach which sank after a collision in 1954. Matches of many oil samples have established that oil leaking from this vessel is responsible for the 2001-2002 and many earlier mystery oiling events in the 1990s, especially the 1997-1998 Point Reyes Tarball Incidents. This vessel has been a major source of chronic oil pollution in central California, although illegal offshore dumping of tank washing and bilge dumping also is implicated as a significant source of chronic oiling by non-matches of several oil samples. Recent efforts to investigate the source of oil, remove oil from the sunken vessel, and examine impacts to seabirds are summarized. A natural resource damage claim is being filed and seabird restoration efforts are envisioned.

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