Sponsor: Texas General Land Office Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program
Principal Investigator: Dr. Loretta Battaglia
Collaborators: Robert Duke, Center for Coastal Studies TAMUCC; Ed Owens, Owens Coastal Consultants; Dr. Nathan Hall, Texas Tech University Canine Olfaction Lab; Paul Bunker, Chiron K9; Dr. Keith Muhlestein, National Oil Spill Control School TAMU-CC.
Project Description: The proposed project has two linked objectives: (1) to determine if an Oil Detection Canine (ODC) can be trained to identify one specific oil and ignore all other oils present in the search area; and (2) conduct a 12-month field survey using Oil-Specific Detection Canines (OSDCs) to determine the distribution and character of tar deposits on a non-manicured section(s) of the Texas Gulf Coast Gulf beaches of North Padre or Mustang Islands. The proposed project would greatly benefit oil spill planning and response activities. It is believed that canines can identify and distinguish background oiling conditions from fresh or newly deposited oils. By training, testing, and demonstrating the efficacy of this approach canines could be used during a new spill to distinguish between background and incident-specific fresh oiling. The baseline background oiling knowledge is particularly important in discussions with spill response strategists and government agencies.
