The Sammarco et al. (2013) manuscript received a number of reviews, both internal and external. It is the result of much field and laboratory work and has been revised in accordance with comments received from those experts in the field, and the paper has received positive external reviews sufficient for publication. As is pointed out in the paper, this study was not the result of an a priori design. It represents individual, independent efforts of a number of investigators, who pooled their data a posteriori in order to obtain some understanding of the larger picture of the distribution and concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons over the northern Gulf of Mexico during and after the BP/DHW spill. Sampling was designed by the individual investigator for the media which he or she was investigating at the time. In the case of water samples in Terrebonne Bay (PWS), sampling was random - with one set of samples being taken at the southern end of the bay, and another at the northern end. RAW and JB's samples were both random and targeted. Subra's samples were targeted.
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