Page 945 - The Toxicology of Fishes

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Effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill on

Pacific Herring in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Gary D. Marty

CONTENTS
Background ............................................................................................................................................925
Life History and Background................................................................................................................927
Post-Spill Damage Assessment .............................................................................................................927
Measurements of Potential for Exposure ....................................................................................928
Measurements of Actual Exposure ..............................................................................................928
The Effects of Exposure...............................................................................................................928
Summary ................................................................................................................................................930
Acknowledgments..................................................................................................................................931
References..............................................................................................................................................931

Background*
On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in the northeastern part of Prince
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William Sound (PWS), spilling about 40 × 10 L of crude oil. This was the largest crude oil spill in
U.S. waters, and it occurred in what otherwise was a relatively pristine, highly productive, but highly
sensitive ecosystem. After three days of calm weather and smooth seas, strong northeasterly winds arose
and dispersed the oil beyond any hope of containment. The spilled oil, soon in the form of thin sheens
and thick mousse, continued to spread to the southwest (Short and Harris, 1996). Control was difficult
due to variable weather conditions and tide cycles that ranged up to 6 m. The oil came ashore along an
approximately 750-km trajectory from PWS to the southern Kodiak Archipelago and Alaska Peninsula.
The distribution and depth of the oil along the shoreline were discontinuous and variable, both on the
surface and within the beach substrate. Estimates vary, but about 20% of the spilled oil evaporated, 40%
was deposited on beaches within PWS, and about 10% entered the Gulf of Alaska (Spies et al., 1996).
By fall 1992, only about 2% of the spilled oil remained on the beaches (Spies et al., 1996). Field surveys
conducted in the summer of 1989 identified 720 km of oiled shoreline within PWS, over 300 km of
which was classified as heavily oiled.
Work after the spill was divided into three phases: response, damage assessment, and restoration.
Management of response was an effort coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Alaska Department of
Environmental Conservation, and Exxon, but other federal and state agencies and local communities
played key roles. Both damage assessment and restoration activities were managed by the State of Alaska
and three federal agencies acting together as Natural Resource Trustees as provided by the Comprehensive

* Ecosystem-level impacts of the spill are reviewed elsewhere (Peterson et al., 2003). The background information in this
section is adapted with permission (public domain) from the website of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Office
(http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/).

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