New Gulf oil spill study finds even deadlier impact on one of Florida's most popular fish

New Gulf oil spill study finds even deadlier impact on one of Florida's most popular fish

Source: wlrn

11/28/2022

Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

More than a decade after BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded into a lethal inferno that killed 11 and spilled more than 3 million barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, researchers piecing together its lasting impacts have found more profound damage than previously known — to one of the Gulf’s most important fish.

Testing wild mahi mahi, the team found for the first time that even low amounts of oil can cut survival rates in half within a week of exposure. The fish also stopped spawning for at least a month.

“Those are massive numbers,” said Martin Grossell, lead principal investigator for one of 12 research groups funded by the BP’s Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative and a professor at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School.

The findings were first published in September in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.