Status of Injured Resources & Services
In November 1994, the Trustee Council adopted an official list of resources and services injured by the spill as part of its Restoration Plan. When the Restoration Plan was first drafted, the distinction between the effects of the spill and the effects of other natural or human-caused stressors on injured natural resources or services was not clearly delineated. The spill was recent, the impact to the spill-area ecosystem was profound, and adverse effects of the oil on biological resources were readily apparent. As time passes, however, the ability to distinguish the effects of the oil from other factors affecting fish and wildlife populations
becomes more difficult.
Through hundreds of studies conducted over the past 20 years, we have come to understand that the Prince William Sound ecosystem is incredibly complex and the interactions between a changing environment and the injured resources and services are only beginning to be understood. For example, seabirds will have difficulty recovering without the recovery of herring, which is a vital food source; species in the intertidal zone will continue to be compromised until we can determine the amount and distribution of lingering oil; and human services cannot be recovered until rockfish, herring, and cutthroat trout are recovered. These complexities, and the difficulties in measuring continuing impacts from the spill, mean that determinations about the status of a resource or
service contain some inherent uncertainty.
Now, 20 years after the spill, there are two species that continue to be listed as “not recovered,” ten species and four services listed as “recovering” (including Barrow’s goldeneyes, added to the list in 2008 based on their continuing exposure to oil), five listed as “unknown,” and ten listed as “recovered.” (See table below).
Previous Years Status of Injured Resources & Services
Now, 20 years after the spill, there are two species that continue to be listed as “not recovered,” ten species and four services listed as “recovering” (including Barrow’s goldeneyes, added to the list in 2008 based on their continuing exposure to oil), five listed as “unknown,” and ten listed as “recovered.” (See table below).