Oil pollution toxicity to marine fish increased scientific knowledge on the specific effects of oil pollution toxicity to marine fish. Focused research on oil pollution toxicity to fish began in earnest in 1989, after the "Exxon Valdez" tanker struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska and spilled approximately 11 million gallons of crude oil into the surrounding water. At the time, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was the largest in the history of the United States. There were many adverse ecological impacts of the spill including the loss of the loss of billions of Pacific herring and pink salmon eggs. Pacific herring were just beginning
Odyssey (tanker) "Exxon Valdez". Odyssey, built in 1971, was a 65,000-ton tanker operated by Polembros Shipping Ltd. of London, England, and registered in Liberia. On November 5, 1988, the tanker departed Sullom Voe Terminal in the Shetland Islands off Scotland, fully loaded with North Sea Brent Crude oil which was being transported to the Come By Chance Refinery at Come-by-Chance, Newfoundland and Labrador. When the ship was about 1000 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, a major North Atlantic storm arose, buffetting the ship with waves and 44-mile-per-hour winds. In response, the ship sent out a distress signal and kept heading