BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the petroleum industry’s largest accidental marine oil spill. An estimated 9 million barrels of oil, at a rate of about 53,000 barrels per day, escaped into the surrounding ocean before the oil well was capped. The escaped oil caused irrefutable damage to surrounding marine habitats. One species of animal clearly effected was the bottlenose dolphin. Not only were dolphin populations affected during and directly after the spill, but they continue to suffer to this day.
Sixty-seven bottlenose dolphins washed up on Gulf of Mexico beaches directly following the BP oil spill. Over half of those animals were babies. In an average year, normally only one or two baby dolphins wash up in this area.
Unfortunately, the damage doesn’t end there. Scientists reported that even a year after the conclusion of the BP spill, oil found on stranded dolphins was linked to the BP Gulf of Mexico spill. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), since February of 2010 675 dolphins have been stranded. The average number of stranded dolphins per year is only 74. Dolphins are washing up with medical problems such as low weight, anemia, low blood sugar, and cancers of the liver and lungs.
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