Scientists give Gulf of Mexico a C before spill

[August 06, 2010]  (AP) --The Gulf of Mexico was not a pristine place even before the BP oil spill. Scientists asked to grade its health pre-spill gave it a C and graded its fish and wetlands a D.

The Associated Press sought these baseline assessments from 75 scientists as part of a series that will follow the recovery of the Gulf. Scientists only offered grades in their areas of expertise and an average was calculated for each category.

These are the pre-spill baseline averages on a scale of 0 to 100  from dead to pristine. The "overall" category grades are not averages of the subgroups beneath them.

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Overall health: 71

• Wetlands: 65

• Water quality: 69

• Sea floor: 68

• Food web: 70.5

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Marine mammals overall: 72

• Whales: 69

• Dolphins: 75

• Manatees: 54

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Fish overall: 67

• Red snapper: 60

• Menhaden: 67

• King mackerel: 65

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Birds overall: 76

• Brown pelican 77

• Clapper rail 68

• Terns 72

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Crustaceans and mollusks overall: 71

• Shrimp: 72

• Crab: 68

• Oysters: 64

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Beaches overall: 74

• Texas: 70

• Louisiana: 63

• Mississippi: 72

• Alabama: 75

• Florida: 80

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Other Gulf life overall: 72

• Coral: 64

• Sea turtles: 57

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[Associated Press

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