From giant tankers to industrial sites to your own backyard, oil spills have an adverse effect on the environment that can be deadly to almost all living things.

Certain types of micro-organisms (essentially various fungi) can safely “digest” the petro-contaminants and for some years microbes have been used to remediate soil, but only on land-based oil spills. The high concentration of salt in a marine environment inhibits the growth and performance of land-based fungi.

Until now soil contaminated by oil washing ashore from ocean spills could only be stored in hazardous materials dumps. But two Grade 12 students from Three Oaks Senior High School in Summerside, PEI, say that dismal picture may be changing for the better.

Samuel Mundy, 18, and Hardy Strom, 17, have identified strains of fungi that may work to “eat” oil-tainted material from marine spills. Working with mentor Dr. David Overy at the University of PEI, they spent as many as 12 hours a week since early January collecting samples of different kinds of fungi from across the province and trying to “grow” them in solutions of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs – toxic elements in petroleum).

Then they extracted the DNA from the survivors so they could be identified through genetics.

After that, they narrowed the fungi down to six that might have possible roles in the bioremediation of soil.

“I can’t even begin to describe the coolest part,” says Samuel Mundy, “Maybe it was injecting a chemical so toxic that it ate through a container we had tried to store it in, or maybe the excitement at seeing the results.”

Dr. Overy is optimistic about the results. “The application of fungi for the potential bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soils has been researched in the past, and several commercial businesses have ‘spun out’ of the discoveries,” he says. Now it seems that bioremediation of oil-contaminated soil in a marine environment is possible too.

The project has had an immediate effect on Samuel. He had applied to study English at University and become a teacher. Now he’s waiting to hear if Dalhousie University will switch him into science. His partner Hardy is still weighing options.