In a deep, dark part of the Gulf of Mexico, the number of marine animals plummeted by about 60% in the years following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, a new study found.

In a crucial part of the Gulf between the light surface and the darkest depths, where the BP-operated well failed and dumped 134 million gallons of oil, the number of fish found dropped by 63.5% from the year after the spill to 2015. Crustaceans, including shrimp and krill, a key food for whales, went down 62%, and larger animals like squid and octopuses fell 59.7%, according to a study published Monday in the journal PNAS.

And those populations haven’t come close to recovering, the study found.

  • Serinus@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    I bought some BP stock at that low. I knew. I fucking knew there would be no real consequences.

    I would have been ecstatic to lose every single dime I put into that. That was built into the plan. I could lose that money and be ecstatic , or I could be dejected, but at least dejected with a little bit of money to show for it.

    I bet on my skepticism of having a healthy, functioning government. If investors had lost everything, other investors would have begun to value safety and regulatory compliance a little more.

    As it is, even if it’s the company itself that blows up instead of the common good, they can just expect a bailout.

    • dgdft@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Oil is a good start, but you need to potentiate the toxic properties of the oil and spread it throughout the water column with Corexit to ecocide like the best of ‘em.

  • einlander@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    This means if they want to drill more in the future the probably won’t be as much “pesky” life forms they need to keep safe.

  • FancyLad @lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    I did a research paper on notable ocean oil spills, and let me tell you, there were many. Deepwater horizon was where my research started