Restoration Objective:
The aims of this study were to determine the geographic extent of regions showing slow recovery, determine the factors causing the slow recovery, and determine if cost-effective methods could be developed to restore Fucus to regions where populations are not recovering.
Site Selection Criteria:
The primary restoration site was selected as an area where Fucus populations have been extensively documented since 1991 and have not recovered. The site is a region of steep rocky shore, which can be exposed to intense solar radiation during clear days in the summer months. In addition, the site is in a location protected from wave action so there is no wave spray to moisten and cool the rock surface. The Oil Spill GIS was used to identify unoiled sites with physical characteristics similar to the oiled sites that were not recovering (i.e. southern exposure, protected rocky habitat, and shore steepness).
Cause Of Decline:
The oil spill and subsequent clean-up activities from the Exxon Valdez accident in March 1989 caused considerable injury to the intertidal seaweed community, especially to Fucus gardneri, the dominant species in this region. Studies carried out during the summer of 1990 showed that Fucus populations were injured throughout the intertidal zone. By the summer of 1992, populations in the low and mid-intertidal zones at many locations were showing signs of recovery. Surveys of mid and high intertidal zones with a southern exposure in Herring Bay showed almost no recovery by the third year after the spill. These habitats remained as bare rock with sparse barnacle and littorinid snail populations.
Key Reasons For Decline:
Water Pollution
Scientific Paper
Recolonization and restoration of upper intertidal Fucus gardneri (Fucales, Phaeophyta) following the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Hydrobiologia, Vol. 327.
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00047824
