Impact of BP Oil Spill on Corals

This report focuses on the impact of the BP oil spill on the coral reef of the Gulf of Mexico and the nearby environment. It discusses the economic, environmental, and ecological effects of the spill on corals and other marine life.

Running head: IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS
Impact of BP Oil Spill on Corals
Name
Institution
Date

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 2
Abstract
The occurrence of the explosion had different impacts to the people and the environment.
This report focuses on the impact it had on the coral reef of the gulf and the nearby environment.
The paper gives a slight overview on the impacts it had on the economy, fisheries, wildlife and
the coastal activities. However, more evaluation is aimed at the environmental effects
specifically on the corals. Not much is well known concerning the deep sea ecosystem as such
environments are difficult to reach. As a result, there is little understanding of the life history of
such organisms and their nature of interaction with each other. As a result, it is difficult to
exactly ascertain how the influx of dispersant and oil affected these organisms. In other words, it
is complicated to effectively ascertain the impact the spillage had on the deep sea organisms and
how the ecosystem was affected by the disaster. However, there is much knowledge on corals, an
aspect that makes it a unique organism within the deep sea ecosystem. The reason is because a
lot have been studied about it by aquatic scientists and biologists, an aspect that makes it easy to
denote any form of change from other external forces such as pollution from the oil spillage.
Introduction
Just like humid forests, coral reefs’ unmatched biodiversity is of pronounced ecological
and economic importance. Amongst diverging Elkhorn coral and brightly shaded sponges is an
ecological unit of micro and macro entities re-cycling nutrients, guarding seashores, and making
natural products used in drugs. Reefs are essential elements of the economy; according to Saha,
Webb, and Zhao (2016), reef tourism and leisure sums $10.1 billion dollars in the world.
However, this profits are only perceived if reefs are well. Unluckily, marine researchers are
observing an intense loss of coral reefs. According to Farrington (2014), three-quarters of the

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 3
globe’s coral reefs are at danger from domestic and international pressures. 12% of the aggregate
coral reefs have by now been destroyed beyond overhaul, and if human beings persist with
present running does, Prior and Walsh (2018) project that 89% of coral reefs will be at risk by
2040, and all of them by 2060. An oil spill occurs when any kind of petroleum or oil is emitted
into the surrounding, whether in a marine or land environment.
The BP oil spill begun in 20th April 2010 as a result of the explosion of the Deep water
Horizon rig that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, an explosion that killed 11 people out of the
126 workers that were at the site. In the first month of occurrence, Zhao (2019) denote that BP
spilled over 30 million gallons of oil into the gulf, a volume that was estimated to be three times
the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Three months from its occurrence, it was recorded to have created the
biggest oil disaster in the United States. Satellite images showed the oil slick had covered up to
25,000 square miles and impacted all the shoreline activities from the Gulfport, Pensacola, Flora,
and Mississippi. At the same time, a forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration indicated that there was a 60% chance that the spillage would reach the Florida
Keys. The oil spill drew public attention for the public health and environmental effects of this
crisis, besides long- and short-term economic penalties for the Gulf Coast area. Of specific
concern to a majority of people was the steadiness of the area’s tourism industry, which relies
considerably on its emerald water and white beaches.
Major Impacts
The reasons human beings negatively impact coral reef wellbeing vary from the direct
physical damaging from tourism and hunting to the less unstated outcomes of heating oceans and
ocean acidification up-shooting from artificial climate alteration (Gillespie, 2016). Somewhere

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 4
on the range are the effects of hushed oil spills. Yearly, 600 million loads of used petroleum
greasing oil gets into the world’s oceans through repetitive ship repairs and inappropriate
dumping of used oil. Buskey, White, and Esbaugh (2016) approximate that sewage treatment
plants release double the amount of oil into shoreline waters as do transporter mishaps. Besides
hydrocarbons, greasing oils and sewage have organic additives, dense metal, and nutrients that
contaminate seashores and interrupt the usual working of entities and ecological units.
When an oil spill happens, besides the tourist destinations being directly impacted, the
tourism industry similarly experiences severe reputational effects. Public insight greatly affects
individuals’ decisions whether to visit and spend time in a certain community. In the Gulf of
Mexico, segments of coastline that never perceived oil wash up on shore were nevertheless
influenced by public insights of the Gulf States as polluted. The spill had a negative effect on
individuals’ intentions to visit Louisiana; 29% of individuals who had formerly intended to visit
the state had cancelled or postponed their visits.
A research conducted on the spill’s effects across Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and
Mississippi showed that hotels faced a temporary upsurge in reservation from oil cleanup teams.
It was discovered that more than 43% of hotels started to face problems reserving future
occasions. Generally lodging revenue together with unoccupied meeting space and empty
eateries, implied lesser revenue compared to if the rooms had been reserved by characteristic
visitors.
The Nature of Risk and Crisis

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 5
The economic impact of the BP oil spill was both positive and negative. According to
Zhao (2019), tourism and fishing at the Gulf produces $3.8 billion to $ 4.8 billion on an annual
basis. However, BP had to spend over $ 4 billion to clean up or contain the mess while another
$4-5 billion was spent on penalties and fines. However, this does not include the amount spent
for the long-term costs and other aspect that were never counted for in the GDP such as the value
of animal and human life that was lost in the process. On the other hand, Zhao (2019) denote that
the oil clean-up effort boosted the local economy in 2012. For instance, BP spent over $6 billion
in hiring 4,000 workers for the cleanup exercise in 2010. The amount contributed to a loss of
over $700 million in the tourism and fishing revenues. The survey conducted in one site of the
well within the Gulf of Mexico uncovered clear and compelling evidences of coral damage due
to pollution. More than 1220 meters covered by different coral communities below the surface of
the ocean appeared discolored and stressed. Lab tests and results showed that the oil spillage
from the explosion site bore fingerprints of chemicals from the Deepwater Horizons.
BP voluntarily enacted improved standards on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and other
drilling activities. These improved standards comprise escalated needs for blowout preventers
(BOP); third part confirmation for BOP trials and maintenance; improved analysis standards for
cementing courses and materials; and improved offshore spill reaction capacities. These
voluntary standards of drilling go beyond present control necessities of the U.S. government,
proposing a kind of “bureaucratic legitimacy”. BP is gaining “bureaucratic legitimacy” through
encompassing socially acceptable procedures and techniques; ones whose advantages might not
be immediately perceived, but are definitely an indicator of noble faith by the company.

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 6
Coral reefs are produced from calcium carbonate discharged by corals, which are
populations of small living organism with fewer nutrients (Jacobson, 2017). They may be found
beside continents and comprise of equally algae and matters of animal growth. Fragile coral reefs
have been hurt by the crude oil being blown-out owing to the strong Gulf tides. Coral is very
plentiful on the floor of the seas and waters of the Gulf ant it requires oxygen for survival.
Unluckily, there have been trails of oil discovered at the location of the spills in the deeper areas
of the Gulf which gets taken up by microbes, which eliminates the oxygen required by the coral
and because Gulf water mix little by little, it would take a lengthier period to awash the region
(Radtke Russell, 2015).
For years, marine biologists have observed that slight oil spills into seashore waters
stance a bigger threat to coral ecological units than occasional big transporter spills. Outcomes of
persistent oil contamination comprise a total deprivation of settlement by coral reef-constructing
corals in regions persistently contaminated by oil; reduction in settlement sustainability;
destruction to the reproductive structures of corals; reduced life probability of coral larvae,
referred to as planulae, and unusual behavioral reactions of planulae and corals. Many
investigations have indicated contact to persistent low degrees of regular marine engine oils and
cause deprivation of zooxanthellae, the mutual algae living within coral that offer a coral’s
metabolic condition by means of photosynthesis, resulting in coral mortality (Saha, Webb, and
Zhao, 2016). When coral face biochemical or physical pressure, the zooxanthellae emit
themselves from the coral, leaving the coral minus the essential nutrients needed for survival.
Coral reef similarly experience danger from oil contamination indirectly also. When used
oil is put together, approximately 75% is burned as business fuel, emitting above 37 million

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 7
metric loads of carbon (IV) oxide equals into the air yearly (Bluemle, Sabel, & Karlen, 2017).
Carbon (IV) oxide and its equals trap temperature in earth’s air, resulting in rises in ocean heats
around the world. According to Buskey, White, and Esbaugh (2016), sea level heats have risen
all through the 20th century and still rise. In the previous century, heats have increased an average
of 0.20 degrees Fahrenheit each decade.
Even the slightest variation in water heats may have dangerous impacts on coral reefs.
When water heats increase even by solely one degree Celsius, coral emit their interdependent
algae and may no longer cater for their nutritional requirements. Presently, the Great Barrier
Reef is experiencing one of the utmost costly bleaching occurrences in account; only 8% of the
reef stays unaffected (Kurtz, 2018). Increasing ocean heats off the seashore of Florida have been
linked with a rise of white-band illness in Elkhorn and staghorn coral. Moreover, increasing
oceans temperatures may interrupt reproductive phases for each reef occupants. Farrington
(2014) noted that warmer waters in the Great Barriers Reef intensified the rate of coral
reproducing happenings. Numerous species of fish depend on long-instituted coral reproducing
phases for their individual reproduction and an interruption in the phase may lead to a loss in
yield in the whole coral ecological unit.
Oil spills similarly reduces the population of the coral reefs in the ocean. Oil spills kill
coral reef species in large numbers, especially the ones present on the surface of the sea or the
coastlines since oil stays on top of water. When an oil spill occurred, the population of the corals
in the region also reduce by over 30% (Saha, Webb, and Zhao, 2016). Additionally, oil spills
affect the food web and food chain in the coral reefs’ ecological unit by killing the organisms
that form the food chain. This, in turn, disarticulates the food chain organization as it might

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 8
cause an under-population of the organisms that die and an over-population of the remaining
organisms.
Trends in Risk and Crisis Management
It is worth noting that oil spills in the waters not only affect coral reefs but other marine
life as well. Other organisms affected by oil spills include manatees, dolphins, sharks, and
whooping cranes (Farrington, 2014). In a systematic review, Saha, Webb, and Zhao (2016)
denote that a team of scientists have documented evidence officially tracing great and
irreplaceable damage the exploration had on coral reefs at the Gulf of Mexico. From the
evidence, researchers are describing the site as a graveyard of corals that currently resemble bare
skeleton covered by loose tissue, heavy mucous and brown fluffy material. A clear
understanding of the impact can be depicted by the effect BP disaster had on marine life as a tip
of the iceberg of the damage caused. Farrington (2014) asserts that the coral ecosystem is vital in
refreshing the health of the marine ecosystem, an aspect indicating that the damage led to tangled
web of impacts. The report denote that on the deep sea flow of the Gulf of Mexico, there is a rich
ecosystem made of corals, sea star, anemones, fish, and other deep sea invertebrates. Because the
sun rays does not reach the depth of the sea, the available coral communities only rely on the
nutrients that seeps from the surface of the water and drops down the water in the form of marine
snow. However, the BP deep water horizon spill changed the environment of the deep sea as the
gas, oil, and dissolved gases spilled out from the leakage site. The resulting impact was cloud-
like plumes of dissolved gas and oil formed at different depths and a mixture of micros, mucus,
dispersant, and oil mixture.

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 9
Corals are naturally productive and diverse organisms. However, they are fragile
ecosystem that has been existing for several decades hence considered as the tropical rainforests
marine equivalence. In his study, Farrington (2014) denotes that the deep sea coral environment
is a home of more than 25% of all marine species despite the fact that they only cover 2% of the
ocean bottom. It is a unique ecosystem that allows people to safely stay along the shorelines well
protected from strong waves and ocean current. It houses diverse aquatic organisms including
fish that are harvested for food and other valuable products. They are the unseen backbone of the
earth’s ecosystem making its health and safety to be a key robust in the scientific world.
Despite the different benefits corals to both human and aquatic environment, the
unique underwater ecosystem is being destroyed. In the human perspectives, Farrington (2014)
denote anthropogenic activities like destructive and uncontrolled fishing methods, aquatic
acidification and pollution, oil spills and anchor damage are common challenges causing harm to
the ecosystem. Disposal of untreated sewage materials and land runoffs are reported to be serious
threats affecting corals. Careless tourism by snorkelers, divers, and other sea lovers inadvertently
damage the reef. Carelessly dropped anchors or oil from the fishing or transport vessels also have
drastic negative effects on coral.
According to Saha, Webb, and Zhao (2016), the footprint of the effects and impacts of
the BP oil spill on the coral community is both wider and deeper than the pre-recorded data.
Further studies continue to show that multiple coral communities to a level of 22 kilometers are
the site of spillage and to a depth of 1800m were greatly impacted. The disaster at the Gulf of
Mexico led to a large dissipation of oil, an aspect that calls for the use of other clues to identify
the marine species of the corals that have been impacted by the spill. Farrington (2014) point out

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 10
that unlike other species that were affected by the spill but their remains have quickly
disappeared, corals are different as they form mineralized skeletons that last for several years
even after the death of the organism. As a result, the coral retains the evidence of the impacts
long after the oil causing the damage is gone.
Scientific perspectives have also proven that corals are also very sensitive to change in
the nutrient level of the water. The oil spillage added nutrients in water, an aspect that led to the
accelerated growth of sea weeds reducing the corals successful competition for light and space,
leading to their death. White (2012) also denotes that there was a significant temperature
increase due to the spillage hence resulted into a stressful living condition for the corals leading
to coral. The resulting impact was coral bleaching due to the ejection of the photosynthetic
Zooxanthele. The oil spillage also led to heavy erosion at the banks of the gulf hence the source
of heavy silt deposited within the ecosystem. These clouded the water hence counting down
amount of light reaching the corals. Lack of light interferes with the Zooxanthele to
photosynthesize and pampers the proper gaseous exchange and feeding patterns of organisms.
Trends in Risks and Crises Management in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry
Tourism as one of the utmost economically significant industries is similarly of the most
exposed to disasters and crisis. At a destination context, there were notable increases in travel by
Americans to Hawaii as an alternative for abroad travel. However, it was also noted that the
U.S’. Government policy necessitating Americans to exhibit passports when coming back from
Mexico, Canada, and numerous destinations in the Caribbean could similarly be accountable for
a rise in local travel to Hawaii. The spillover effects might taint destinations situated closely to
political instability, while tourists selected safer places.

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 11
Esbaugh (2016) denote that after 11th September, 2011, hotels situated in five U.S. states
improved their yearly performance in the last quarter of the year, in contrary to the countrywide
trend. These states had a lower population, had a lesser dependence on air travel, and a greater
dependence on local travel by car, and, therefore, were not impacted from lessening air travel. In
other situations, tourism companies might benefit from servicing individuals involved in the
reconstruction and recovery efforts and might salvage themselves faster than other sectors. This
could be through the provision of accommodation or catering facilities, with hotels as a clear
example. If hotels cope with the crisis effects, their occupancy rates might escalate. Insurance
modifiers, the media, victims, disaster works, and even investigators converged to the location,
assisting to speed up resolution and recovery.
Recommendations
The current world calls for the need of environmental responsibility with the aim of
enabling a stable and sustainable natural environment for the benefit of the current and future
generation. To be able to live sustainably, Esbaugh (2016) denotes that we need to be
knowledgeable on how to live and flourish within the environment in a manner that utilizes the
natural finite resources with discretions that are ecologically informed. As a result, many policy
makers are concerned with different policy adoptions on strategies that can be adopted to
maintain the natural environment. BP oil spill was a good example of disasters that completely
changes the environment affecting the biodiversity of such place. Therefore, education is
perfectly in a position to create the conditions for imaginative and innovative solutions. It should
also provide formulae to ensure that every person becomes naturally smart. Therefore, to achieve
this, we need to recognize that education without a solid ground in a full understanding of how

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 12
we relate to the natural environment is not effective. The BP oil spillage and the impact it had on
the corals and the general environment is a lesson to scientists and the general public on the need
to preserve the environment and prevent such occurrences in every way possible This is to mean
that total awakening of everyone who uses the environment is needed to equip them with the
mind of environmental stewardship.
There are substitutes to petroleum-based greasing oils that indicate assurance for the
prospect of corals and other water entities. Industries are generating plant-based greasing oils
that cover or surpass the performance scales of petroleum-based oils. Researchers have exposed
grownup coral and coral gametes to several absorptions of vegetable-based grease and matching
mineral-based oils (Saha, Webb, and Zhao, 2016). They analyzed the deprivation of
interdependent algae a sign of poisonousness and perceived VDLs were considerably less
poisonous to grownup coral compared to petroleum-based equivalents. Besides being less
poisonous, a life cycle evaluation of plant-based greases showed that GHG discharges are 68.6-
78.2% lower than those from likened mineral-based oils. A joint move to plant-based greases
could lessen the yearly increase in air greenhouse fumes and related rises in world heats.
Booms have to be deployed to redirect the oil away from the reef. Collection boom if
used, should be placed so as not to absorb the oil in the region of the coral reef. Sorbent booms
may be used in oil collection, but will necessitate to be changed on a regular basis. Care should
be taken in fixing booms in order not to destroy the coral reefs. Boom must never be let to come
into contact with the coral reefs or the bottom (Farrington, 2014).
Instructions made by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) suggest
dispersants ought to be regarded for use in the area of coral reefs to stop floating oil from getting

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 13
any growing segments of the coral reefs. The application of dispersants must be analyzed in
waters above 10 meters, to lessen the danger to delicate habitats on the shorelines. Examinations
carried out by Radtke Russell (2015) using oil and dispersed oil in a sea-grass, mangrove, coral
reef setting showed that use of dispersants in waters that are very deep would lower the contact
to shorelines inhabitants minus poisonous concentrations influencing the coral reefs.
If oils gets in contact with the coral reef, it might be naturally eliminated on the
subsequent rising current. Once the oil is already on the coral reefs, there is no operational means
to do away with this oil minus causing destruction to the coral reefs. Natural salvage may be the
best reaction method in such circumstances.
Coral reefs are biological riches. They have more biodiversity compared to any other
ecological unit on earth. They should therefore be protected just like any other living and non-
living organisms. However, human actions impend to cause permanent damage, producing
subaquatic cemeteries only implying at once-active societies full of amazing entities. Changing
to bio-based oils, reusing and appropriately dumping of used oils, and preserving cars and water
vessels are moves we may make to stop this destruction and sustain coral reefs. In case of
accidental oil spills measures such as booming, natural dispersants, and natural recovery should
be employed to mitigate the effects of the oil spillage.
Conclusion
Determining the impact of any oil spillage within the sea bottom can be difficult as oil
seeps naturally through the cracks into the sea floor. At the same time, there is a sparse
population of corals in the Gulf of Mexico. However, they act as indicator species for tracking

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 14
different environmental impacts of disasters such as Deepwater Horizon blowout. Therefore, the
effort to find them often plays a vital role for scientists and provides useful scientific data and
evidence for research. In other words, the study of the impact of BP oil spillage has not only
benefited policy makers to adopt effective strategies but have also provided scientists with
information that can be used as reference points for further studies. The process has as well
enabled scientists to have some discoveries such as coral ecosystems that are entangled by
commercial fishing lines. Such additional evidences indicate that the Gulf of Mexico is also
being affected by other human activities this calling for urgent action by the relevant
stakeholders in the attempt to manage such damages to prevent further destruction.

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 15
References
Bluemle, J. P., Sabel, J. M., & Karlen, W. (2017). Rate and Magnitude of Past Global Climate
Changes. Environmental Geosciences, 6(2), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1526-
0984.1999.08036.x
Buskey, E. J., White, H. K., & Esbaugh, A. J. (2016). Impact of Oil Spills on Marine Life in the
Gulf of Mexico. Oceanography, 29(3), 174–181.
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.81
Esbaugh, A. J. (2016). Impact of Oil Spills on Marine Life in the Gulf of
Mexico. Oceanography, 29(3), 174–181. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.81
Farrington, J. W. (2014). Oil Pollution in the Marine Environment II: Fates and Effects of Oil
Spills. Environment, 56(4), 16–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2014.922382
Gillespie, A. (2016). Vulnerability and Response to the Risk of International Shipping: The Case
of the Salish Sea. Review of European Comparative & International Environmental
Law, 25(3), 317–332. https://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12174
Jacobson, M. (2017). Big Oil Comes Back to Baku. Natural History, 108(2), 54. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1587440&site=ehost-
live
Kurtz, R. S. (2018). Coastal Oil Spill Preparedness and Response: The Morris J. Berman
Incident. Review of Policy Research, 25(5), 473–486. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-
1338.2008.00347.x

IMPACT OF BP OIL SPILL ON CORALS 16
Prior, S., & Walsh, D. (2018). A Vision for a Heavy Fuel Oil-Free Arctic. Environment, 60(6),
4–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2018.1517515
Radtke Russell, P. (2015). Spill’s Effects Could Last For Decades. CQ Weekly, 73(4), 30–31.
Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=buh&AN=100997039&site=ehost-live
Saha, N., Webb, G. E., & Zhao, J.-X. (2016). Coral skeletal geochemistry as a monitor of inshore
water quality. Science of the Total Environment, 566, 652–684.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.066
Texas City Suffers Fuel Oil Mishap. (2011). Oil Spill Intelligence Report, 34(36), 1. Retrieved
from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=70139557&site=ehost-live
Zhao, P. (2018). Coral skeletal geochemistry as a monitor of inshore water quality. Science of the
Total Environment, 566, 652–684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.066