A team of scientists from the University of South Florida College of Marine Science embarked on the first research cruise in Tampa Bay dedicated to studying the environmental impacts of the recent breach at a retired fertilizer processing plant at Piney Point in Manatee County, Florida.
They were aboard the R/V Weatherbird II, a research vessel that was also used in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response effort led by USF.The research team — led by USF chemical oceanographer Kristen Buck and biological oceanographer Steve Murawski — collected water samples, surface sediments and fish from Tampa Bay and Port Manatee. They
