Effects of acute exposure to dispersed oil and burned oil residue on long-term survival, growth, and reproductive development in polar cod (Boreogadus saida)

Abstract

The present study investigates the potential long-term physiological effects on maturing polar cod (Boreogadus saida), an Arctic key species, after an acute exposure (48 h) to environmentally realistic concentrations of either mechanically dispersed oil (MDO), chemically dispersed oil (CDO) or burned oil residues (BO) (N = 58-60 per treatment). Following exposure, fish were monitored in a common tank supplied with clean water for a seven-month period coinciding with the period of reproductive development. Females exposed to BO residues were more frequently found in an earlier phase of gonadal maturation compared to unexposed females while no effects of different oil spill response (OSR) actions were seen in the reproductive development of males. Mechanically and chemically dispersed oil induced a transient short-term reduction in growth in the first week post-exposure. Overall, no significant long-term effects of exposure were seen in growth or mortality. Ultimately, this study provides information for the assessment of population consequences of different OSR actions as part of a net environmental benefit analysis.

Comparative toxicity assessment of in situ burn residues to initial and dispersed heavy fuel oil using zebrafish embryos as test organisms

“…However, Faksness et al (2012) did not report differences in the chemical oil profile prior and after the burning. Nonetheless, focusing on the water phase under untreated or burned oil slick, the present findings of reduced concentrations of target PAHs in burn residue LEWAF compared with untreated oil LEWAF is in agreement with results from previous studies (Bender et al 2018;Blenkinsopp et al 1996). However, it has to be considered that the decrease of target PAHs was mainly related to the semi-volatile naphthalene.…”

“…The studies mainly have found a low toxic potential (Cohen et al 2005). However, also delayed effects after a recovery phase such as reproductive impact have been observed in fish that have been exposed to burn residues for a short period (Bender et al 2018). Using a comparable experimental setup as in the present study, Blenkinsopp et al (1996) focused on the toxicity of residues from the Newfoundland offshore burn experiment by preparing WAFs from the field residue samples and the (weathered) crude oil under laboratory conditions.…”

“…Compared with detailed discussions on the role of dispersants in petroleum product toxicity (Prince 2015), a limited number of laboratory experiments investigating the toxic effects of burn residues appear to be available as peer-reviewed scientific articles. In fact, most studies so far tested the water phase underlying an ignited oil slick directly after laboratory ISB experiments (Bender et al 2018;Cohen et al 2006;Faksness et al 2012), which limits the comparability to the present approach (due to weathering in the field etc.). Furthermore, some studies do not compare with WAF samples from untreated petroleum products or other oil spill response techniques, which limits the evaluation of the ISB…”

“…However, in general, a low acute toxicity of burn residue WAFs to marine invertebrate species has been observed (Faksness et al 2012). Besides invertebrate species, also different fish species have been exposed to WAFs from ISB experiments (Bender et al 2018;Cohen 2001;Cohen et al 2005). The studies mainly have found a low toxic potential (Cohen et al 2005).…”

Key processes regulating the early life history of Barents Sea polar cod

“…In the wake of the increased attention, climate change has attained in recent years (IPCC 2014(IPCC , 2019, and the increased sea temperatures that have already been observed in the Barents Sea and other arctic areas (Smedsrud et al 2013;ICES 2017ICES , 2018, the fate of polar cod and other true arctic species has become a theme of several research projects and research articles (Christiansen 2017;Kunz et al 2018;Bender et al 2018;Koenker et al 2018;Laurel et al 2018). The motivation for studying polar cod in the climate change context is driven by the fact that this species has a circumpolar distribution and in many of the areas where it occurs, it is the dominant pelagic species (Ajiad et al 2011;Bouchard et al 2017), playing a dominant role in those ecosystems (Lowry and Frost 1981;Bradstreet et al 1986;Orlova et al 2009;Hop and Gjøsaeter 2013;Mueter et al 2016).…”