What Are The Effects Of Chemical Dispersants On Marine Life And The Environment?

The effect of using chemical dispersants on the surface is well understood. By eliminating oil from the water surface, birds, marine mammals, turtles, and coasts are protected. But the case is different when its effects get much deeper underwater.

Dispersants are chemicals that help in breaking down oil slicks into smaller droplets. They have surface-active agents called surfactants. Similar to the effect of soap on greasy dishes, chemical dispersants are used to remove oil from water surfaces and into the water columns by improving the natural chemical and physical breakdown of oil. This prevents the slicks from reaching the shore or coating surface animals. When the dispersants are in the water column, oil is diluted and the toxicity level is reduced. These oil droplets become food sources for bacteria in the ocean.

Chemical dispersants are less toxic and more volatile than the oil, but their effects on the environment in unprecedented volumes remains unknown. They may be an essential tool in preventing an oil spill from spreading much further and reaching to coastal areas. But its possible negative effects pose a large threat on marine life and health effects on humans.

The main purpose of chemical dispersants is to prevent the oil slicks from reaching into the near shore marine environment. As chemical dispersants are used for correcting an oil spill, it decreases exposure to oil for organisms that dwell on the surface. But the effect doesn’t turn out to be good for organisms living underwater. Dispersants increase the exposure for the water column’s communities of fish, eggs, larvae, as well as shrimps, corals, oysters, and other aquatic creatures. When trying to minimize the damage coming to the shore, it can be more seriously damaging the marine ecosystem.

Chemical dispersants can concentrate the leftover oil toxins in the water. They are carcinogenic, mutagenic, and highly toxic. The use of chemical dispersants has been raising some troubling questions about threats of cascading up the food web. Plankton and fish larvae will be poisoned before making their way into the animals higher up the food chain. Humans and surface animals may not get much affected by the slick but they can be affected by consuming these aquatic organisms that are poisoned.

Clean-up workers for oil spills are also caught by the impact of chemical dispersants. Corexit 9500, the newest prevalent dispersant originally developed by Exxon, is associated with headaches, vomiting, and reproductive problems as side effects at high exposure to clean-up workers.

As much as marine creatures get toxic environment caused by the using chemical dispersants for correcting an oil spill, washing an oil slick up on the shore is prevented which would have a much greater impact for surface creatures that include humans. The effects of chemical dispersants can be good or bad thing. It all depends on whether you are a fish or a seabird. It may look favorable to surface creatures like us, however, the damaging effect of chemical dispersants to marine life cannot just be ignored when you think of catching a poisoned fish for a meal.

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