The Gulf of Mexico is a large, ecologically diverse body of water located in the southeastern United States. It contains a high level of biodiversity and supports important fisheries and other industries. However, the Gulf faces threats from pollution, coastal development, and other human activities. The largest threat was the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which released millions of barrels of oil over 87 days. The spill had widespread impacts on wildlife, habitats, and local economies that are still being studied years later. Clean up efforts were extensive but the long term environmental and economic consequences were immense.

1. Gulf of Mexico
HESSED D. TABINAS

2. Introduction
• Gulf of Mexico encompasses over 1.6 million
km2 of coastal and open ocean
• 9th largest body of water in the world
• one of the most ecologically and economically
productive ecosystems in North America.

3. • This ecosystem is under increasing pressure
from anthropogenic activities.
RAPID HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH

4. Location and Size

5. Location and Size
• "Mediterranean of the Americas," is located at
the southeastern corner of North America
• covers approximately 600,000 square miles

7. Biodiversity
• A total of 15,419 marine species was assessed
(Felder and Camp,2009)
• 2579 Crustacea
• 2455 Mollusca
• 1975 Vertebrata
• 951 Foraminifera
• 948 Bacillariophyta
and others.

8. Resources
• Fisheries
In 2010 according to the National Marine Fisheries
Service, the commercial fish and shellfish harvest
from the five U.S.
Gulf states was
estimated to be
1.3 billion pounds
valued at $639 million.

9. Shrimp:
Gulf landings of shrimp led the Nation in 2010 with 177.2
million pounds valued at $340 million dockside, accounting
for about 82% of
U.S. total.

10. • Oysters: The Gulf led in production of oysters in 2010
with 15.7 million pounds of meats valued at $54.5 million
and representing 59% of the national total.
Sorting fresh Louisiana oysters from the Gulf
of Mexico at AmeriPure Oysters, Franklin, La.

11. • Recreational
In 2010, marine recreational participants took
more than 20.7
million trips catching
145.4 million fish from the
Gulf of Mexico and
surrounding waters.

15. • Physical / Mineral
– In 2006, 470 million barrels of oil and about
(2.9)x109 Thousand Cubic Feet of natural gas
– In 2005, more than 466 million barrels of oil and about
(3.19)x109 Thousand Cubic Feet of natural gas was
produced

16. • Habitat
 Encompassing over five million acres (about half
of the U.S. total)
 the Gulf's coastal wetlands serve as an essential
habitat for numerous fish and wildlife species

17. Pollution
• Debris and chemicals from land sources:
– materials from waste disposal facilities
– effluents from waste water treatment plants
– and post-storm runoff derived from urban and
agricultural sites
• Tankers and other large cargo ships
– are thought to contribute significantly to the
problem by adding debris
and chemical pollutants to
the water.

18. • While different types of pollutants affect the biota in
varying fashion such as:
– physical entanglement
– consumption of non-digestible materials
– direct toxicity from chemicals
– indirect effects from excessive nutrient input
The overall effect is a diminution
in the variety and abundance of the
flora and fauna of the region.

19. EXAMPLE OF ANNUAL POLLUTANT AND NUTRIENT LOADING (in tons)
Nitrogen 800,000
Phosphorus 200,000
Dredged Sediments 100,000,000
Toxic Substances from Coastal
Municipal and Industrial Sites
2,000
Pesticides from Agricultural Sites 1,000
Produced Water from Oil and Gas
Platform
6,000

20. Efforts
• To address the beach debris problem, the Gulf of
Mexico has been established as a special area
under the international MARPOL treaty, which
regulates marine pollution around the world.
• Under the treaty, the dumping of solid wastes by
any boat from any nation is prohibited in a special
area.

21. • The North American Commission for Environmental
Cooperation
– is also working with environmental groups and
nonprofit agencies in the region to encourage
industries to report exactly which effluents they
are releasing into the Gulf.

22. • In the United States, the US Geological Survey
(USGS), through the South Florida Information
Access (SOFIA)
– undertakes various research projects and
programs to monitor and restore the South
Florida Ecosystem.

23. • The US Environmental Protection Agency
through the Gulf of Mexico Program
– sponsors the Gulf Guardian Awards each
year to recognize those individuals,
companies, agencies and organizations that
are doing their part to keep the Gulf of
Mexico clean.

24. DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL
OF 2010

25. Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010
• largest marine oil spill in history
• caused by an April 20, 2010, explosion on
the Deepwater Horizon oil rig
• located in the Gulf of Mexico,
approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the
coast of Louisiana—and its subsequent
sinking on April 22.

26. The Explosion!
• The Deepwater Horizon rig was situated in the
Macondo oil prospect in the Mississippi Canyon,
a valley in the continental shelf.
• On the night of April 20 a surge of natural
gas blasted through a concrete core recently
installed by contractor Halliburton in order to
seal the well for later use.

27. Fireboat response crews attempting to extinguish the blaze aboard the
Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, April 21, 2010.

28. Controlled burn of oil spilled in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Gulf of
Mexico, May 6, 2010. The burning oil was contained by a length of boom.

33. • The volume of oil escaping the damaged
well—originally estimated by BP to be
about 1,000 barrels per day
• was thought by U.S. government officials
to have peaked at more than 60,000
barrels per day.

34. Clean Up Efforts
• To clean oil from the open water, 1.8
million gallons of dispersants were
pumped directly into the leak and applied
aerially to the slick

35. • As oil began to
contaminate Louisiana beaches in May, it
was manually removed.

36. The U.S. Coast Guard collecting oil with a skimming boom off the
coast of Mobile, Ala., May 31, 2010.

37. The Aftermath
• In all, an estimated 1,100 miles (1,770 km)
of shoreline were polluted
• nearly three years later, about 340 miles
(550 km) of coast were still in need of
cleanup.

38. • Thousands of birds, mammals, and sea
turtles were plastered with oil.
• There was speculation that a spike in cetacean
strandings and deaths that was recorded by
NOAA beginning in February 2010 was further
exacerbated by the spill.

51. A dead bird covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf
of Mexico, East Grand Terre Island, La.,

52. • By late 2012 some 1,700 sea turtles had been
found dead.
• A long-term satellite tracking study released in
May 2013 showed that the endangered Kemp’s
ridley sea turtle was likely severely affected

53. • morbillivirus and toxins from red tides ruled out
• an unusual incidence of Brucella infection in
stranded dolphins, leading researchers to
suspect that contaminants from the spill had
made cetaceans more vulnerable to other
environmental dangers.

55. • The impacts on smaller species were
more difficult to determine.
• A 2014 study showed that the larvae of
commercially important fish species,
including tuna, likely developed heart
defects after exposure to polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
from the oil.

56. • Areas of the seabed that had been coated
by by-products of bacteria were essentially
dead zones
• many sedentary organisms had suffocated
or been sickened by the material, and
most mobile organisms had fled

57. On July 12, 2010, nearly
three months after the
explosion and sinking of
energy giant BP’s Deepwater
Horizon offshore oil rig in the
Gulf of Mexico, this
containment cap was
lowered to the seabed and
installed on the gushing
wellhead to finally end the
massive crude oil leak.

58. • The company had lost almost a quarter of
its market value and had hemorrhaged
over $40 billion in costs associated with
cleanup and recovery.

59. “The greatest threat to our planet is the
belief that someone else will save it.”
-Robert Swan

62. References
• http://www.noaa.gov/iea/Assets/iea/gulf/GoM_EcoStatus
Report_NMFS-SEFSC-653.pdf
• http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/about/facts.html
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1698988/De
epwater-Horizon-oil-spill-of-2010/311800/Settlements-
and-convictions#toc294128
• http://www.gulfbase.org/issue/view.php?iid=pollution
• http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/
energy/dirty_energy_development/oil_and_gas/gulf_oil_
spill/a_deadly_toll.html
• http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/09/bp_
deepwater_horizon_oil_spill.html