From Emerald Coastkeepers: Through funding from Gulf Coast Fund and our members, Emerald Coastkeeper has initiated a long-term oyster sampling project. Every six months we are collecting oysters inland of Perdido, Pensacola and Destin Passes in order to monitor whether these stationary species are accumulating the most harmful components of dispersed oil, PAHs, along with dispersant compounds. The goal of this study is to have a long-term data set to determine whether these species are accumulating toxins associated with hydrocarbon contamination and not to determine whether these species are safe to eat.
We found an increase in PAH concentrations from our fall 2010 sampling event to our spring 2011 sampling event inside Perdido, Pensacola and Destin passes. We found no dispersant compounds during the fall; however, we found 1 compound of the dispersant used in all samples during the spring sampling event.
Our report can be found here: http://emeralcoastkeeper.posterous.com/nwfl-oyster-sampling-results#
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