Sanibel Sea School to monitor oil presence
In response to the BP oil spill, Sanibel Sea School, a marine education
nonprofit located on Sanibel Island, has acquired a Turner Designs fluorometer with oil monitoring capabilities. The organization’s staff will begin monitoring for the presence of oil in Lee County waters next week.
Sanibel Sea School’s fluorometer can detect oil quantities as low as one part per million in seawater. It is more compact and highly mobile than comparable equipment in Lee County, so it provides the advantage of monitoring oil
from aboard boats as well as from shore. The fluorometer can also be used to map phytoplankton blooms, which will allow scientists at partner institutions to assess the correlation between oil contamination and phytoplankton blooms.
Bruce Neill, Ph.D., founder and executive director of Sanibel Sea School, explains, “We are interested in two components of oil monitoring – we want to help understand the impacts of oil contamination in our marine environments, and we want to keep Lee County residents safe.”
Sanibel Sea School will ensure the safety of their summer camp participants by sampling local waters regularly.
“We will be able to determine with fine precision whether the water we are engaging in has oil contamination. This instrument will allow us to ensure that our clients are not exposed to oil,” says Neill. The oil contamination data will
also be made available to the general public through Sanibel Sea School’s website.
Sanibel Sea School is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the mission of marine conservation through experiential learning, communication, and research. For more information, call 472-8585 or visit their website at