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| This is a picture of them skimming the water. |
| NOAA's Hazardous Materials Response Division has monitored Exxon Valdez spill impacts and recovery processes on intertidal shorelines in Prince William Sound since 1990. It is a project that will allow people to research effects of oiling and clean-up, so that we can improve for future spills. They are funded independently and will go through til 2005, also the project does not hurt mammals, fish, or birds. |
| We continue to grapple with the concept of ecological recovery: how to define and measure it. A commonly used definition, the "return to conditions as they were before the spill" is neither practical nor ecologically realistic for changeable intertidal systems. Specific measurable components that denote recovery of particular aspects of the ecosystem are discussed below. |
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