Twelve Years After the Gulf Spill, Dolphins Still Hurting
By Vivian Guido
Vivian Guido is an intern working this semester with the International Marine Mammal Project and Shark Stewards of Earth Island Institute. Vivian is a Master’s student at Toronto’s York University in the faculty of Environmental Studies.
Human behavior has always had a large part to play in climate change events and their related consequences, not only on humankind, but to vital plants and animals as well. Economic activities specifically have led to the overconsumption of planetary resources and, in relation to the ocean, are linked to the pollution and destruction of essential marine ecosystems.
Oil extraction is among the most invasive and harmful industries affecting ocean health and marine life with it. Cetaceans are among the most affected by this industry, not only from habitat loss and damage to fisheries, but physical impacts on cetaceans as well.
On April 20, 2010, the oil platform Deepwater Horizon, drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and began pouring oil into Gulf waters. 18 people died in the explosion and fire. More than 1,400 marine mammals were seen trapped in the surface slick and 21 species of cetaceans in the Gulf were exposed to the oil and other hazardous chemicals.
More than 205 million gallons of oil contaminated the Gulf and over 225,000 metric tonnes of methane, a very dangerous greenhouse gas, were released. Additionally, only about 25 percent of the oil was recovered, leaving more than 154 million gallons at sea that still to this day have had detrimental effects on the ecosystem. The wellhead was eventually capped on July 15th, 2010, eighty-seven days after the accident.
More than 10 years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the region's ecosystems and biodiversity have still not fully recovered from the impacts. Essential marine species, such as dolphins and whales, have been found to suffer from respiratory, reproductive, neurological and digestive complications due to the ingestion and prolonged exposure to oil and other toxic chemicals from the spill. These beautiful animals that keep the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico in balance are still struggling to recover from this traumatic event.
In Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, from 2010 to 2014, 70 percent of dolphin mortality was related to the oil spill. Bottlenose dolphins’ exposure to petroleum-based compounds, consistent with other marine mammals in the gulf, were most frequently dying from adrenal damage, lung disease, organ failure and other infectious diseases due to depressed immune systems.
The gravity of this situation is high considering that certain cetaceans are essential apex predators in the Gulf waters. They contribute by maintaining ecosystem balance and by boosting tourism. It is estimated that whale tourism in the USA generates more than $2 billion annually. After the oil spill, significant population declines in many cetacean species, especially dolphins and whales, have been recorded.
Various health assessments on cetaceans have shown that in Barataria Bay alone, in the northern Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans in Louisiana, bottlenose dolphin populations have declined by more than 51 percent. Recent studies have shown that ingestion of oil by cetaceans may also modify activity and behaviors, causing changes in foraging, feeding, mating and reproducing. Since the Deepwater Horizon spill, the population impacts on dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico have not been transitory, but continue to cause population disruptions and health problems for the dolphins.
As you read this, members of Congress are debating whether to weaken environmental laws to push for more offshore oil drilling. Photo credit: Mark J. Palmer
A previous IMMP blog post states that at least 22 stocks (representing at least 15 species) of dolphins and whales overlap with the oil spill footprint and that the years to recovery without active restoration ranged from 10-105 years.
Millions of acres of offshore waters have been leased to the oil industry for exploration and drilling. Exploration for oil drilling includes the use of loud seismic airguns that sweep the ocean bottom, blasting sounds repeatedly to determine oil potential from the returning echoes. Such intense noise disrupts and damages biological functions and behaviors in marine mammals. Oil drilling itself increases the risk of oil spills both large and small. Drilling muds, used to lubricate the drills, include an array of toxic chemicals and are simply dumped over the side once used. The engines turning the drills give off air pollution. And once the oil is burned, in car engines and power plants, pollution, including gasses that contribute to global warming, taint our skies.
The impact of offshore oil drilling on endangered species, especially, has reached an all-time high. The remainder of these species, paired with their low reproductive rates, cannot keep up with the rapid pollution of water from oil spills along with the increased effects of climate change on their habitats. The quantifiable injuries and lingering physical and psychological effects on these animals are still present 12 years and counting after the oil spill, further underlining the urgency for offshore oil and gas drilling bans. The ongoing effects of the Deepwater Horizon are no longer present in the media even though threats to dolphins and whales are still very prevalent.
The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute is seeking an end to offshore oil leasing and drilling. Society must transition to green alternative sources of energy that do not contribute to global warming and ocean oil spills.
Recently, the weakening of protections for marine mammals and the awarding of permits for oil drilling in public waters has increased the impacts on marine life and their habitats.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), who owns a coal company and receives millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the oil industry, has been pushing a package of amendments to speed up environmental review of oil and gas leases and to complete the West Virginia Mountain Oil pipeline, which will deliver crude oil to the coast. By using short deadlines as a ruse to bypass the National Environmental Policy Act and more easily and quickly distribute oil drilling permits, Manchin’s proposals would seriously weaken efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
IMMP has been active in opposing offshore oil drilling leasing and stopping Senator Manchin’s harmful amendments. As Congress moves towards adjournment for this session, his amendments have been defeated by a large grassroots campaign against him and a lack of support from Republicans in Congress, who apparently believe they can get even weaker provisions to promote oil drilling on public lands and waters in the future.
Green energy is the way forward.
What You Can Do:
Contact your House Representative and two Senators. Urge them to oppose any efforts to “streamline” oil and gas permitting, as proposed by Senator Manchin and other Congress members. Tell them that the legislation would harm wildlife, especially marine mammals, our oceans, and continue to feed the dangerous warming of our Earth. Oil and gas should stay in the ground, not be burned to contribute to more global warming. Urge your Representative and two Senators to oppose new offshore oil leasing to protect our oceans.
For information on contacting your two Senators in Washington DC, go here.
For information on contacting your member of the House of Representatives, go here.
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Your donations to the International Marine Mammal Project can help address the threat of oil leasing and drilling in our oceans and other dangers facing whales and dolphins. Please help us reduce the burning of fossil fuels and promote the development of green energy alternatives, many of which are already cheaper than fossil fuels. Thank you for your generous support!
