Whale and dolphin deaths 50 times worse than admitted after Deepwater BP oil spill

Whale and dolphin deaths 50 times worse than admitted after Deepwater oil spill

'Whale and dolphin death toll during Deepwater disaster may have been greatly underestimated'

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 devastated the Gulf of Mexico ecologically and economically. However, a new study published in Conservation Letters reveals that the true impact of the disaster on wildlife may have been gravely underestimated. The study argues that fatality figures based on the number of recovered animal carcasses will not give a true death toll, which may be 50 times higher than believed.

We all knew this tragedy was being downplayed from the start. From lying about the amount of crude oil spewing into the ocean for months on end to lying about the effect it was having on the environment. To top it off they were using Corexit, an extremely harmful chemical agent to clean up the oil..

It should not be a surprise to any of us that the death toll is actually much higher than we were lead to believe. That being said, this is still absolutely atrocious.. The effect this has had on wildlife and people in surrounding coastal areas is disgusting.

Largest oil spill in US history
"The Deepwater oil spill was the largest in US history, however, the recorded impact on wildlife was relatively low, leading to suggestions that the environmental damage of the disaster was actually modest," said lead author Dr Rob Williams from the University of British Columbia. "This is because reports have implied that the number of carcasses recovered, 101, equals the number of animals killed by the spill."

The team focused their research on 14 species of cetacean, an order of mammals including whales and dolphins. While the number of recovered carcasses has been assumed to equal the number of deaths, the team argues that marine conditions and the fact that many deaths will have occurred far from shore mean recovered carcasses will only account for a small proportion of deaths.

Only 2% of deaths recorded every year
To illustrate their point, the team multiplied recent species abundance estimates by the species mortality rate. An annual carcass recovery rate was then estimated by dividing the mean number of observed strandings each year by the estimate of annual mortality.

The team's analysis suggests that only 2% of cetacean carcasses were ever historically recovered after their deaths in this region, meaning that the true death toll from the Deepwater Horizon disaster could be 50 times higher than the number of deaths currently estimated.

The data has obviously been mishandled and misconstrued intentionally to mislead people! It is so obvious and I can't say I didn't expect this, any mega corporate entity like BP would act in the same kind of way. Devious, manipulative and deceitful in order to minimize public chastising and hate.

Carcass count highly misleading
"This figure illustrates that carcass counts are hugely misleading, if used to measure the disaster's death toll," said co-author Scott Kraus of the New England Aquarium "No study on carcass recovery from strandings has ever recovered anything close to 100% of the deaths occurring in any cetacean population. The highest rate we found was only 6.2%, which implied 16 deaths for every carcass recovered."

Now obviously we cannot expect them to be able to recover all the carcases.. but that is not the point. The fact of the matter is, they knew the amount of carcases they recovered was nowhere near the real number.. and yet they parade the data as if it is the full extent of their damage. It is truly disgusting and it angers me a lot.

Wildlife Extra

"Oiled" a few palms and a shift in a decimal place does not seem like such a big deal.

I agree completely that the extent of this ecological disaster has been severely under estimated and all for the benefit of big business.

If corporations kill and pollute lands inhabited by human beings, I can only imagine their concerns for the natural world would be one of their lower priorities.

Big business will maintain this illusion as they need to maintain some level of public relations to keep the oil flowing.

So many species are facing extinction and we are just further assisting in this process when the truth about the actual impact our industrial activities have on the natural world are intentionally skewed.

Regardless, just another example of how we exploit our planet with little to no concern for its inhabits, included ourselves.

It all lead back to my largest rant, "Corporations should be held accountable for their actions". This was a crime against nature at its worst, scientists and others were paid off to keep their traps shut and data manipulated. This was another example of how the elites have gotten away with crimes that others would have been put to death for.

I would expect to see more mass global disasters in the future where the public is lied to and those who are in control are let off. Fukushima is another example. We are years away from finding out the true horrors of what these accident have done to our marine biosphere an also the global biosphere. The earth heals yes, but with wave after wave causing devastation we will hit a tipping point where she says it time for us to go.

Karma comes to all, both good and bad. There will be many innocents who also will succumb to the bad karma that our global elitests have headed their way.

A part of me hopes I'm around for it and another wishes to not be.

I'm no doomsayers per say, but I am an observer and from my observations I see a future that is hell on earth, unless the people of today stand up and do something about it.

I don't even have to read the thread to believe it. There is no way that our government is going to admit it's lack of oversight and proper response was bad so they will help suppress the evidence or make it unavailable to the public. The released oil was not as bad as the measures to hide the amount being released. Why did our government and the businesses not have emergency preparedness for the conditions they were working on. Next question. Have they learned from their mistake and have other oil companies learned from BP's mistake. I think all oil companies should be held completely liable if they don't have some sort of system in place. They can conglomerate their money to get this going, they don't need to have it separate. Don't have the government make regulations that aren't needed either. make sure things are done right and as little damage to the environment as possible needs to be the basis of this.

We can't do anything about the past except learn from it and make sure history doesn't repeat itself.

reply to post by rickymouse


Not likely they will learn from their mistakes because this was not the first time this has happened to BP. The year before the exact same thing happened in the Caspian Sea and was totally covered up.

Greg Palast investigated it.

reply to post by CthulhuMythos


Sadly you are right.. A mistake isn't a mistake if you learn from it, it's a learning experience. We never seem to learn until it is too late.

Well something is going on.

Been hearing rumors of shrimp without eyes and blue crabs without claws.

Certainly there must be a reason that a local seafood seller in Panacea is running over to Fernandina Beach once or twice a week to pick up shrimp to sell here locally. My guess is that they just aren't catching shrimp locally any longer. At least not in any appreciable quantities.

I've been to St. George Island a few times, and haven't personally noted anything looking out of the ordinary on the beach. Well, except that I don't see the schools of small fish that should be common this time of year.

Man, I hate the thought that these people have likely turned the Gulf of Mexico into a cesspool and ruined the quality of life for quite a lot of people who live near it. Even worse, those people responsible will likely never be called to answer for it, nor pay reparations to those REALLY affected. Seriously, how many people are there that will never swim in the Gulf again, nor eat anything coming out of it? Do you think BP is going to compensate those people for their losses?