A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Restoration Recommendations of an Expert Working Group Charles H. Peterson Felicia C. Coleman, Jeremy B.C. Jackson, R. Eugene Turner, Gilbert T. Rowe Richard T. Barber, Karen A. Bjorndal, Robert S. Carney, Robert K. Cowen, Jonathan M. Hoekstra, James T. Hollibaugh, Shirley B. Laska, Richard A. Luettich Jr., Craig W. Osenberg, Stephen E. Roady, Stanley Senner, John M. Teal and Ping Wang Acknowledgments Pete Peterson wishes to thank his co-authors, in particular Gene Turner, Felicia Coleman, Gil Rowe and Jeremy Jackson, for their insights and assistance in producing this report. The authors thank the Pew Environment Group for financial support for this project and the three peer reviewers, whose comments helped to improve the manuscript. We appreciate the many helpful discussions that we each had with interested colleagues. Suggested citation: Peterson, C. H. et al. 2011. A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem: Restoration Recommendations of an Expert Working Group. Pew Environment Group. Washington, DC. 112 pp. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Pew Environment Group, Campaign for Healthy Oceans or The Pew Charitable Trusts. A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Restoration Recommendations of an Expert Working Group Contents 3 Abstract 5 Introduction 9 Precedents and Principles for Restoring the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem 15 Acute and Chronic Stressors on the Gulf of Mexico Before and After the DWH Oil Spill 37 Recommendations for Resilient Restoration of the Gulf of Mexico 91 Conclusion 93 Appendices 100 Endnotes 101 References The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nongovernment organization that works globally to establish pragmatic, science-based policies that protect our oceans, preserve our wildlands and promote clean energy. www.PewEnvironment.org Figure 1 The Gulf of Mexico Region Featured sites mentioned in the report Mobile Pensacola Biloxi Mississippi Baton Rouge F I New Orleans H Houston E B Houma D G Tampa Galveston Site of DWH spill Corpus Christi C Egmont Key National Miami A Wildlife Refuge Padre K Island See map detail Page 28 See map detail Page 31 J GULF OF MEXICO A Padre Island National Seashore, TX E Chandeleur Islands, LA I Big Bend coastal region, FL, includes (Breton National Wildlife Refuge) Apalachicola Bay, St. Joe Bay and the B Galveston, TX Fenholloway, Suwanee and Ochlockonee F Pascagoula River, LA C Flower Garden Banks Rivers National Marine Sanctuary G Green Canyon area J Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (near the DWH spill site) D Grand Isle, LA K Everglades National Park H De Soto Canyon 2 A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Abstract The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) well blow- argue that restoration of the Gulf must go out released more petroleum hydrocarbons beyond the traditional “in-place, in-kind” into the marine environment than any restoration approach that targets specific previous U.S. oil spill (4.9 million barrels), damaged habitats or species. A sustainable fouling marine life, damaging deep sea and restoration of the Gulf of Mexico after shoreline habitats and causing closures of DWH must: economically valuable fisheries in the Gulf 1. Recognize that ecosystem resilience has of Mexico. A suite of pollutants — liquid been compromised by multiple human and gaseous petroleum compounds plus interventions predating the DWH spill; chemical dispersants — poured into eco- systems that had already been stressed by 2. Acknowledge that significant future overfishing, development and global climate environmental change is inevitable and change. Beyond the direct effects that were must be factored into restoration plans captured in dramatic photographs of oiled and actions for them to be durable; birds in the media, it is likely that there are 3. Treat the Gulf as a complex and inter- subtle, delayed, indirect and potentially syn- connected network of ecosystems from ergistic impacts of these widely dispersed, shoreline to deep sea; and highly bioavailable and toxic hydrocarbons and chemical dispersants on marine life 4. Recognize that human and ecosystem from pelicans to salt marsh grasses and to productivity in the Gulf are interdepen- deep-sea animals. dent, and that human needs from and effects on the Gulf must be integral to As tragic as the DWH blowout was, it has restoration planning. stimulated public interest in protecting this economically, socially and environmentally With these principles in mind, we provide critical region. The 2010 Mabus Report, the scientific basis for a sustainable restora- commissioned by President Barack Obama tion program along three themes: and written by the secretary of the Navy, provides a blueprint for restoring the Gulf 1. Assess and repair damage from DWH that is bold, visionary and strategic. It is and other stresses on the Gulf; clear that we need not only to repair the 2. Protect existing habitats and damage left behind by the oil but also to populations; and go well beyond that to restore the anthro- pogenically stressed and declining Gulf 3. Integrate sustainable human use ecosystems to prosperity-sustaining levels with ecological processes in the Gulf of historic productivity. For this report, we of Mexico. assembled a team of leading scientists with Under these themes, 15 historically expertise in coastal and marine ecosystems informed, adaptive, ecosystem-based and with experience in their restoration to restoration actions are presented to recover identify strategies and specific actions that Gulf resources and rebuild the resilience of will revitalize and sustain the Gulf coastal its ecosystem. The vision that guides our economy. recommendations fundamentally imbeds Because the DWH spill intervened in eco- the restoration actions within the context of systems that are intimately interconnected the changing environment so as to achieve and already under stress, and will remain resilience of resources, human communities stressed from global climate change, we and the economy into the indefinite future. A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem 3 Introduction The blowout and spill On April 20, 2010, the eyes of the nation ecosystem include overfishing and overhar- released more oil into U.S. and the world focused on the northern Gulf vesting of marine life; pollution from agri- of Mexico and witnessed the beginning of a cultural runoff and industry; global climate waters than any other oil human and natural disaster. On that day, a change and rising sea level; and alterations spill incident in history. BP oil well blew out on the Macondo of terrain and rivers for oil exploration and This tragedy, however, is Prospect 1,500 m below the ocean’s surface real estate development. Coastal marsh but one of many historic, and began gushing crude oil into the acreage, riparian wetlands, and forests recent and ongoing sea. Eleven men died from the explosions in the drainage basins of the Mississippi accompanying the blowout and subsequent and smaller rivers have declined dramati- stresses degrading the fire on the drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon. cally, reducing fish and wildlife habitat and Gulf environment. The great depth of the well—almost a mile removing natural water-purifying func- beneath the ocean’s surface—complicated tions. These changes, in turn, have reduced efforts to stanch the torrential flow of oil the Gulf ecosystem’s ability to provide the and natural gas. During the next 85 days, services and resources on which coastal an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude oil communities depend. flowed into the sea as BP and the U.S. gov- The success and durability of actions taken ernment tried chemicals, concrete, physical to restore damage caused by the oil release material and other desperate measures will depend upon the way Gulf restoration to plug the wellhead. The environmental addresses the impacts of historical ecosys- tragedy was dramatized in a continuous, tem degradation and anticipates future mesmerizing video stream of the turbulent changes by creating both social and natural flow of oil and gas at the seafloor wellhead resilience. Even narrowly focused restoration and in the satellite and television imagery actions are unlikely to be sustainable if they of oil covering the sea surface, seabirds and fail to consider the complex and intercon- shorelines. This blowout and spill released nected human and natural ecosystem of the more oil into U.S. waters than any other spill Gulf. Restoration plans must also compen- in history. In terms of human welfare, this sate for prior impacts to individual resources single event severely damaged the Gulf’s and to human economic enterprises and natural resources, harming the economy and must consider the full scope of relationships costing lives and jobs in a region dependent to historical baseline conditions. Finally, on fishing, tourism and oil-and-gas extraction. the ability of restoration plans to anticipate This tragedy, however, is but one of many future dynamic change will determine the environmental perturbations that have success of those plans over the long term. degraded or are still degrading the Gulf Some of these environmental changes, such environment. Over the previous five years as sea level rise and severe weather events, Oil burns during a controlled alone, for example, hurricanes Katrina, Rita are occurring faster and having larger fire after the Gulf oil spill. and Ike struck the Louisiana, Mississippi and consequences along the Gulf Coast than Photo: Justin Stumberg/U.S. Texas coasts, causing extensive loss of life anywhere else in the country. Therefore, the Navy/Marine Photobank and property. Chronic stressors on the Gulf Gulf ecosystem could be a model for how A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem 5 to solve multiple social and natural chal- two positive contributions to the region. lenges to achieve sustainability in the face The publicity generated by the oil spill put a of dramatic environmental change.