Climateupdated 1h ago2 min read
Study Finds Deepwater Horizon Spill Left Gulf Of Mexico Deep-Sea Life In Severe Decline
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Deep-sea fish, crustaceans, and squid declined about 60% and show little recovery after 16 years. Study used long-term sampling across Gulf, combining net samples, acoustic surveys, and genetic analyses.
12 outlets told this the same way.
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Deep Gulf still depleted
A new study says deep-water life in the Gulf of Mexico has not recovered more than 16 years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, with marine populations still in severe decline. Tracey Sutton, a biological oceanographer at the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center of NOVA Southeastern University, said, "A lot of things died right off the bat," describing how some species declined by 60 to 85 per cent in the immediate three and a half years after the spill.
Sutton also said the study found "the persistence of some of the worst components in the oil … polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs," and the study detected those oil-derived compounds inside the muscle tissue and eggs of deep-sea fishes and squid. The study’s authors and independent experts said the decline is tied to the spill rather than natural factors, with Fabio De Leo saying, "And so the probable cause here is the 87 days of gushing oil through the Gulf for Mexico."
Declines across the food web
The study reported declines across deep-pelagic ecosystems, including declines of 64 percent in fishes, 62 percent in large crustaceans, and 60 percent in small squid and other cephalopods.
The study also reported that krill declined by nearly 73 percent, lanternfishes by 63 percent, and bristlemouth fishes by 69 percent, while dense patches of prey that were common in 2011 virtually disappeared.
Tracey T. Sutton described the pattern as a big decline and said, "None of those vary with the decline. The event that did was the oil spill. So we think that's the most likely cause."
Rita Colwell said future cleanup efforts should avoid synthetic chemical dispersants, telling researchers to use agents that promote oil-degrading microbes, and she was quoted saying, "future cleanup efforts should avoid synthetic chemical dispersants".
Carbon storage and recovery
The study linked deep-sea losses to the Gulf’s ability to move energy and carbon, describing deep pelagic animals as a "biological pump" for carbon that helps absorb carbon dioxide from the surface. Kelly Robinson said, "And so if we see a decline in that, it's like taking cars away from a train," warning that a decline in the system would reduce how much material is moved into the deep.
The study also said the Gulf may have entered a persistently depleted ecological state with no clear timeline for recovery, and it warned that even species that appear abundant can experience substantial changes that may go unnoticed without monitoring. The research described the Deepwater Horizon disaster as the most plausible explanation for the timing and scale of the decline, and it said the disaster released between 4 million and 4.9 million barrels of oil and approximately 770,000 gallons of chemical dispersant near the wellhead.