"What makes this oil spill unique – in addition to its unprecedented size and scope – is probably the number of types of ecosystems that have been affected. And to our knowledge, the actual impact of the spill is not yet complete. " Ten years after the worst oil spill in the history of the United States, this is how Tracey Sutton, ocean ecology researcher and director of the Deepend Consortium, which studies the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, assesses the consequences . He is one of several experts interviewed by Oceana, one of the main organizations fighting to protect the oceans, to take stock of this event.
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon platform operated by the oil group BP exploded, killing eleven employees. More than 750 million liters of oil were spilled in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2019, the Gulf region produced a record number of nearly 2 million barrels per day, out of a total production of 13 million barrels per day in the United States.
Beyond the economic and public health consequences, Diane Hoskins, the author of the report published by Oceana on the occasion of this tenth anniversary, reviews the long-term consequences for the environment and the current risks.
What do we know today about the magnitude of the impacts on biodiversity?
This disaster had devastating consequences for the environment. To give a few examples, for five years, 75% of pregnancies in dolphins have failed, that is, they have miscarried or the babies are stillborn. The population of Bryde's whales, one of the most endangered whale species, has decreased by 22%. Up to 170,000 sea turtles died, hundreds of thousands of birds – some estimates speak of 800,000 birds killed -, 8.3 million oysters … Certain populations of fish, shrimp or squid have decreased by 50% to 85%.
The animals that live on the surface were not the only ones to have been affected.
Indeed, deep areas have also been affected by the oil spill and by operations to remove oil. Scientists have described large swathes of the ocean floor as "Toxic waste landfills", where elements of marine life that we usually find have completely disappeared. The abundance and diversity of deep sea animals has been reduced in an area three times larger than Manhattan! These regions are places where there is generally a high biodiversity and these degradations have an impact on the whole food chain.
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