In April of 2010 our marine life in the Gulf of Mexico suffered from one of the worst disasters in the history of oil spills. It was called the Deepwater Horizon oil spill or better known as the BP oil spill. Our marine life still suffers today and scientists are trying to fight back. What are they doing? How is it still affecting our wildlife? As I dove into some more information about the disaster I couldn’t of prepared for what actually happened.

Scientists today are still at war with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. For starters over 8,000 different species of aquatic life and birds were either found dead or injured. Long term impacts of the spill range from an unbalanced food web all the way to parks and recreational service that deal with fishing trips to suffering business wise. Scientists are still using different methods to locate where the impact of the spill had the most affect. Also they are finding what is wrong with the dolphins in regards to their health.

Scientists are looking into the effects the spill had different kinds of species of animals. In 2011 researchers visited the Louisiana Bay to study the recently discovered very sick dolphins still suffering from the effects of the bp oil spill. They had to test the blood of these dolphins and their sickness ranged from low blood sugar all the way to elevator lifted enzymes. The dolphins also showed that they were way more likely to develop lung disease. They did this by encircling the dolphins into a net then handlers would try to calm down the dolphins so they could do their study. Scientists are also taking samples from the sea floor to determine how much oil is still in the area and they also note that they don’t believe all the oil has been accounted for. Other scientists are simply looking for life in the sea floor using under water cameras. They discovered that more animals have been roaming through the sea floor at a higher rate. There are plenty of ways we can help scientists out with this issue. Donations to the NWF can help researchers save the environment around the oil spill simply by going to their website at www.nwf.org.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/scenes_from_the_gulf_of_mexico.html

http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Protect-Habitat/Gulf-Restoration/Oil-Spill/Effects-on-

Wildlife.aspx

http://www.npr.org/2013/12/19/255406326/scientists-charge-bp-oil-spill-gravely-injured-dolphins

http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2014/04/bp_oil_spill_scientists_strugg.html

http://www.nwf.org/How-to-Help.aspx