How will dispersants affect whales?

MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) - The oil leak is almost completely capped off, but that hasn't capped questions about what is left in the Gulf, and what effect the dispersants used will have. One crew is setting out to try to find those answers.

The crew of the Odyssey is calling Mobile home, at least until Saturday. They will then head out on a two-week mission to find whales. The goal is to get samples from the whales to test for toxins.

John Wise with the University of Southern Maine said we didn't learn enough with the Exxon-Valdez spill, and he wants to change that.

"I don't think there is any question about it, the dispersants are known to be toxic and they are in the water. The question is, how toxic?" he said.

The tactic the team uses is pretty cool, and all ten crew members play a part. When a whale is spotted, a bow and arrow is used and on the arrow is a special tip.

"We line ourselves up with the whale so that it's next to us, we put one of the tips on here. When it hits the whale it doesn't stick into it but it bounces off and floats in the water. It's like a mosquito bite to the whale," said crew member John Wise Jr..

The arrow is then scooped up with a net. Once the crew has the sample they take to the lab on the boat. The sample is either frozen or put into an incubator to keep the cell alive before it's sent back to the university. Wise said it's going to take more than just this excursion to determine the results.

"If we found nothing it wouldn't mean it was safe, it would just mean it's not there yet," said Wise.

Wise said they will stay on the Gulf Coast through October and plan on returning in the summer months for the next few years.

The group is in collaboration with Ocean Alliance and is a self funding group. Most of their contributions come from the University of Southern Maine.

If you would like to track the crew or read their blogs, click here . You can also check out the group on Facebook .