skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Assessment of injury to harbor seals in Prince William Sound, Alaska and adjacent areas following the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Marine mammal study number 5. (Restoration study number 73). Exxon Valdez oil spill, state/federal natural resource damage assessment final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:377350

In the weeks following the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) harbor seals, Phocavitulina richardsi, swam through oil and inhaled aromatic hydrocarbons as they breathed at the air/water interface. Concentrations of fluorescent aromatic compounds in bile clearly indicated that most seals from oiled areas had been exposed to hydrocarbons. Before the EVOS, harbor seals in Prince William Sound were declining at an average annual rate of 12% in both oiled and unoiled areas. Aerial surveys in 1989 indicated a 43% decline at oiled sites versus an 11% decline at unoiled sites. By 1992, there were still 34% fewer seals at oiled sites than before the spill.

Research Organization:
Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, Fairbanks, AK (United States). Wildlife Conservation Div.
OSTI ID:
377350
Report Number(s):
PB-96-197116/XAB; TRN: 62613383
Resource Relation:
Other Information: DN: Supersedes PB--95-966007; PBD: May 1994
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English