Dr. Jeff Short Retires After Thirty-one Years: Former Ditch Digger Finishes Strong as Supervisory Chemist
Jeff Short started his federal career as a ditch digger at a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) field station in Bristol Bay, Alaska, in 1972, transitioning to a job as a laboratory chemist by the end of that summer. Jeff may not have excelled as a ditch digger, but he certainly did as a research chemist, finishing his career with 62 peer-reviewed publications, including several high-impact papers on tributyltin (TBT), coal signatures, and lingering oil.
Jeff's first summer in Bristol Bay settled two things: the need to finish his biochemistry degree at University of California Riverside and then to return to Alaska to live and work. Jeff returned to Alaska with his degree and rejoined an emerging team of biologists and chemists conducting toxicology studies.
Jeff contributed a significant amount of chemical expertise to ongoing toxicology research in the early 1970s and elected to return to school (UC Santa Cruz) to obtain a master’s degree in physical chemistry. (He also obtained his doctorate in fisheries from the University of Alaska in 2003).
Jeff returned to Alaska with significantly enhanced analytical skills and made contributions in TBT toxicology research. TBT was a new and highly effective antifouling biocide used in paint for aquaculture nets and fishing boats. A series of papers, with Jeff leading the chemical studies, led to the ban of TBT in Alaska, California, and Virginia. (Auke Bay Laboratories' research was cited as evidence in state hearings), and ultimately to the national restrictions on use of TBT.
Five days after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred, Jeff was on the water sampling at different depths below the oil slick. With the oil toxicity experience gained in the previous decade, Jeff and other ABL staff were uniquely qualified and nearby to initiate a series of studies that would ultimately last a phenomenal 20 years. Jeff added some top notch young chemists to his staff, a group which grew into the Marine Chemistry Task. Thousands of samples were analyzed over the subsequent 20 years (continuing today) in support of the damage assessment studies of the Exxon spill by investigators throughout the world.
Jeff was responsible for interpreting all the complex hydrocarbon data generated by the studies and led to him having to go toe-to-toe with the chemists and lawyers hired by the oil company. As the primary chemist for the government side, Jeff did battle with an army of Ph.D. chemists who argued that the oil was not toxic or not from the Exxon Valdez. Jeff carried the day, repeatedly.
After the 10-year anniversary of the oil spill, a series of studies led by Jeff demonstrated a new paradigm relative to lingering oil. First, oil was persistent in the intertidal zone, and it was not all in the highest zone but was much lower. The quantities were significant-some 60,000 liters remained since a 2001 study that dug 9,000 pits. The quantity and distribution correlated with lingering effects observed on sea otters and Harlequin ducks. This quantity was later upgraded to 80,000 liters when a 2003 field study found significant amounts of oil lower in the intertidal zone.
These results supported the "reopener clause" which extends litigation with Exxon to this day. Since the 2001 study reported results in early 2002, 42 Freedom of Information Act requests have been received, most identifying Jeff Short by name. Jeff received a 2002 U.S Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award for his work in identifying the role of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in toxicity of oil.
The former ditch digger now moves on to new challenges as the Pacific Science Director for Oceana. His expertise will be sorely missed at Auke Bay Lab, but his accomplishments will not be forgotten, either here or behind the closed doors at Exxon.
