Toxicity of Herders

Scope of Work:

The objective of the proposed project, in line with the RFP (Oil and Herder Toxicity) from OSRI, is to assess changes in acute and sublethal toxicity due to the use of herders as oil spill response tool. We will address three main topics in the project using a laboratory-based approach. Firstly, we will study oil component dissolution from herder-treated oil slicks into the water phase to better understand temporal variation in dissolved and bioavailable oil components during herder application. Secondly, we will provide acute toxicity data on the two NCP-approved herders Thickslick 6535 and Siltech OP-40 on the key ecological cold-water marine species Calanus finmarchicus (copepod) and Northeast Arctic cod (Gadus morhua). Finally, we will prepare burned oil residues from two Alaska North Slope oils with different physicochemical properties with and without the use of herder. These burned residues will be used for testing acute and sublethal toxicity on the above-mentioned species.