Bottlenose dolphins

in Barataria Bay, LA, a site which received significant and prolonged oiling following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, are showing signs of ill health. The dolphins were evaluated as part of a collaborative study involving NOAA and the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS).

Preliminary results based on comprehensive physicals of 32 dolphins found that Barataria Bay dolphins are underweight, anemic, and many have symptoms of liver and lung disease. Nearly half of the dolphins sampled had abnormally low levels of hormones that help with stress response, metabolism and immune function. Many of the dolphins were in such poor health that they likely will not survive.

Y12,

one of the sampled dolphins, was found dead in January 2012.

NOAA, with CZS and local, state and federal partners, in cooperation with BP, initiated the Barataria Bay dolphin study in 2011 as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), the process for studying the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Source: Nick ‘N’ Notches newsletter, January 2013.