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St. Petersburg, Florida (Feb. 18, 2016) \u2013 \u201cDispatches from the Gulf,\u201d a new episode in the series \u201cJourney to Planet Earth,\u201d (www.dispatchesfromthegulf.com<\/a>) shares the first-hand accounts of scientists studying the recovery of the Gulf of Mexico in the five years since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil platform exploded in the northern Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 oil workers and releasing over 200 million gallons of oil over 87 days. This subsea blowout occurred nearly one mile below the ocean\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n Concerned researchers with the University of South Florida (USF) with support from the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO) took swift action to document the impact of oil and dispersants on marine life and Gulf ecosystems in the months following the spill. Shortly after, an independent research group, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI, www.gulfresearchinitiative.org\/<\/a>) was established to operate a 10-year research plan following the oil spill and provided support for 15 research centers studying different aspects of oil spills. \u2018Dispatches from the Gulf,\u2019 a GoMRI funded documentary, highlights the work of these centers.<\/p>\n One of these centers, C-IMAGE, is hosted at USF\u2019s College of Marine Science (www.marine.usf.edu\/c-image<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr. Steven Murawski, Professor at the USF-College of Marine Science and Director of C-IMAGE is featured throughout the film for his work on fisheries impacted by Deepwater Horizon. \u201cOur major focus is to see if contamination from DWH persists, and how it might have affected species and fish communities,\u201d said Murawski. His work aboard the R\/V Weatherbird II is known as \u2018Mud & Blood\u2019 for the ocean muds and fish tissues collected. \u201cMy students and I were seen sampling the fish community offshore of Louisiana in the general vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We have sampled this region every year since 2011 to look for oil residue in fishes and the abundance of species and communities,\u201d Murawski said.<\/p>\n Amy Wallace is a Ph.D. student at the USF College of Marine Science who uses fish eye lenses and ear bones, or otoliths, to recreate the fish\u2019s life history. Amy is a leading member of the \u2018Blood\u2019 crew and recalls working with the film crew on one hot, summer day. \u201cEveryone was so nice and really focused on telling the full story of the science,\u201d Wallace explains. \u201cIt was really busy when we are processing fish from our long-line catch and I hardly noticed the film crew was even there!\u201d<\/p>\n The fish tell just one half of the story; the sea floor muds and sediments tell the other. Ten percent (20 million gallons) of the oil that spilled was deposited on the sea floor, impacting sea bottom (\u2018benthic\u2019) communities. Dr. Isabel Romero, a researcher on the \u201cMud\u201d crew at the USF-College of Marine Science studies these sediments by using layered mud cores as pages in time. \u201cOur major objective is to see how long contamination persists in the sediments, the main oil-derived compounds that persist, and their potential impact to benthic communities,\u201d said Romero. The areas of the ocean she studies gives insight to the ultimate fate of sub-sea oil that never reaches the surface.<\/p>\n \u2018Dispatches from the Gulf\u2019 covers the work of three of the 12 Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative consortia, C-IMAGE (hosted out of USF), RECOVER (hosted out of the University of Miami), and ECOGIG (hosted out of the University of Georgia). The February 29th premiere is hosted by Florida Institute of Oceanography.<\/p>\n