Deepwater Horizon: A Moment in Time, Decades of Restoration

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America’s Largest Marine Oil Spill

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, tragically killing 11 workers and injuring 17 others before eventually sinking. The resulting catastrophic leak from the wellhead on the ocean floor released approximately 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. The well discharged oil and natural gas continuously and uncontrollably for 87 days before it could be capped, resulting in the largest offshore oil spills in U.S. history. 

Cumulatively, over the course of the spill, oil was detected on more than 43,300 square miles of the ocean, an area about the size of the state of Virginia. Currents, winds, and tides carried these surface oil slicks to the Gulf states, damaging more than 1,300 miles of shoreline, including beaches, bays, estuaries, and marshes from eastern Texas to the Florida Panhandle. In addition, some lighter oil compounds evaporated from the slicks, exposing air-breathing organisms like marine mammals and sea turtles to noxious fumes at the sea surface.  

NOAA’s Role in the Response and Assessment

NOAA has years of experience responding to pollution incidents across the country through our Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program. During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, NOAA’s experts were on the scene within hours—drawing on decades of expertise to help guide the emergency response and assess the impact of the oil spill on natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico. For the 6 years to follow, NOAA and a network of governmental partners, industry, and academia assessed the damages, quantified the injury, and determined the cost and types of restoration necessary to compensate the public for the incident. 

The work resulted in the 2016 Deepwater Horizon Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PDARP), which detailed the natural resource injuries from the oil spill and selected a comprehensive, integrated ecosystem approach to best restore those resources.

NOAA along with state and federal partners (known as trustees) are the entities authorized under the Oil Pollution Act to seek compensation for lost or injured natural resources and to protect and restore coastal and marine habitats and species damaged by oil spills. 

On April 4, 2016, a Federal District judge approved the largest environmental damage assessment settlement in United States history—$20.8 billion—to resolve claims for civil and criminal penalties related to the Deepwater Horizon spill. The settlement, which included up to $8.8 billion for restoration to address natural resources injuries and lost recreational uses.

Healing the Gulf of Mexico

The scope of the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon spill was, and still is, difficult to comprehend. So many natural resources, species, habitats, communities, and environments were affected that the spill resulted in an ecosystem-level injury. Consequently, the restoration effort requires an ecosystem-level restoration approach. 

NOAA and our co-trustee partners use the PDARP to guide our restoration efforts. This plan encompasses an array of restoration types and approaches to address the diverse range of resources that were injured by the spill.

The Long Arc of Restoration

NOAA continues to work with our partners to plan, implement, and monitor projects to restore natural resources injured as a result of the spill. This work is driving hundreds of restoration projects across the five Gulf states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) and in the waters of the Gulf and in other locations used by animals that spend part of their lives in the Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA’s involvement in Deepwater Horizon restoration work is focused on fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, Gulf sturgeon, marine and coastal habitats, and deep-Gulf ecosystems, with an overarching goal to restore what the public lost from the spill. Deepwater Horizon restoration is anchored in supporting healthy coasts, flourishing natural resources, and vibrant, resilient communities where people can live, play, and work. We expect this restoration to continue well into the future. 

Explore NOAA’s Restoration Work in the Gulf

By restoring natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico, NOAA is helping protect the economic, social, and cultural benefits that communities receive from those resources: tourism, fishing and boating, jobs, flood protection, property values, quality of life, and more.

Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats

Habitats located near coasts and shorelines are some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth. Wetlands and other nearshore habitats provide tremendous benefits for ecosystems and communities, including water filtration, flood and storm protection, and nursery habitat for many marine species. Restoration of these habitats can provide benefits across the northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystem that suffered injuries from the Deepwater Horizon spill. 

Project Information and News

• Upper Barataria Marsh Creation Project
• One Year In, Upper Barataria Marsh Creation Project is On Track for 2023 Completion
• Three Living Shorelines Creating Habitat, Protecting the Gulf Coast   

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Fish and Water Column Invertebrates

A wide variety of organisms inhabit the water column (water between the surface and the seafloor), including numerous fish species and invertebrates (such as shrimp, crabs, and squid). Many of these species spend their entire life in the water column, while others may only use the water column for a certain life stage. These organisms play important ecological roles by cycling and transporting nutrients and energy between nearshore and offshore areas and between the surface and the deep sea. They also form a large part of the marine food web that includes other injured resources, such as birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals. 

NOAA’s restoration efforts include identifying high-priority species and associated objectives  including: reducing bycatch; reducing illegal, unregulated, and unreported (also known as “IUU”) fishing; reducing threats from marine debris; and reducing post-release mortality in recreational fisheries. 

Project Information and News

• Gulf of Mexico Fishermen Reflect on Efforts to Restore Oceanic Fish
• Gear Up for the Summer Snapper Season with Return ‘Em Right

Oysters

Oysters are widely distributed throughout all five Gulf of Mexico states, where they contribute to the health of the nearshore ecosystem. In addition to providing habitat for oysters, oyster reefs serve as habitat for a diversity of marine organisms—from small invertebrates to large recreationally and commercially important species. They also help protect shorelines from erosion and filter pollution out of the water. 

NOAA is involved in restoration efforts to create living shorelines by developing healthy oyster reefs, which support shellfish and other invertebrates that filter water, and provide food for fish and wildlife. Some of our restoration techniques include: 

• Distributing shell base for oysters to attach and grow
• Constructing linear reefs of shell and rock to stabilize shorelines and provide habitat
• Creating hatcheries to provide seed oysters 

To bolster oyster populations and oyster reef habitat, we map oyster bed conditions, monitor water quality, and share our findings with industry and conservation partners.

Sea Turtles  

Four of the five species of sea turtles that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico were injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley, green, and hawksbill. Leatherbacks were also likely exposed to oil, but injury could not be confirmed. All of these species are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Deepwater Horizon spill affected nesting (including nesting females, eggs, and hatchlings), small juvenile, large juvenile, and adult sea turtles throughout the Gulf of Mexico. 

NOAA is leading projects to help restore sea turtle populations impacted by the spill including: 

• Increasing our capacity to respond to sick, injured, or dead turtles through the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network 
• Helping reduce sea turtle bycatch by providing tools, resources, and devices to Gulf fishers 
• Data collection to better understand sea turtle distribution, abundance, and habitat use

Project Information and News

• Three Ways We Are Restoring Sea Turtles After Deepwater Horizon 

Gulf Sturgeon 

The Gulf sturgeon is a fish that lives in coastal waters and estuaries in the northern Gulf of Mexico and rivers from the Pearl River in Louisiana to the Suwannee River in Florida. After spending the first 2 to 3 years in the river in which it hatched, they become anadromous, spending fall and winter in the Gulf of Mexico and spring and summer in spawning rivers. The Gulf sturgeon is threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Gulf sturgeon were potentially exposed to Deepwater Horizon oil in the nearshore areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Since 2019, NOAA and the Department of the Interior have worked to restore Gulf sturgeon populations. NOAA has led work to assess trends in sturgeon reproduction, growth, survival, and genetics in seven spawning rivers across the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA is also collaborating with the Department of the Interior to assess how, where, and when juvenile Gulf sturgeon use estuarine habitat and to characterize spawning habitat across nearly 1,000 miles of river channels in the Pearl and Pascagoula river systems.  

Marine Mammals 

Cetaceans (dolphins and whales) in the Gulf of Mexico inhabit a broad range of habitats, from the open ocean to coastal waters, bays, sounds, and estuaries. The Gulf of Mexico boasts over 20 diverse cetacean species, including sperm whales, killer whales, and bottlenose dolphins.  

NOAA is involved in efforts that will help us better understand the behavior patterns and ongoing needs of cetaceans in the Gulf of Mexico, including conducting deep sea surveys that involve identifying, tagging, and collecting biological samples. We are also supporting efforts to enhance the capacity of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network in Louisiana, Florida, and across the Gulf to quickly respond to and investigate marine mammal strandings.

Project Information and News

• NOAA Scientists Collecting Information to Restore Marine Mammals and Seabirds in the Gulf of Mexico 
• Stranding Network Partners Successfully Relocate Trapped Mother and Dolphin Calf in Louisiana 
• Scientists Analyze Dolphin Breaths to Better Understand Risks from Surface Oil

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Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities 

In the dim mesophotic zone, seafloor communities include deep-sea corals and animals such as fish, sea anemones, sponges, and sea cucumbers. Sunlight-free deep benthic (ocean bottom) communities also host corals and other life forms such as sea stars, sea urchins, fish, and crabs. In the Gulf of Mexico, mesophotic and deep benthic communities are scattered across vast areas of the ocean floor. 

NOAA is leading a variety of projects to advance our understanding of deep-sea habitats and enhance the information available to restore areas impacted by the spill. These efforts also provide information to support management, protection, and restoration of resources across the entire Gulf of Mexico.

Project Information and News

• Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities 
• Deep-Sea Pioneers Take Root in the Gulf of Mexico 
• Story Map: Explore Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities Expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico

Monitoring for Success

In the years since the spill, NOAA has enhanced our science, technology, and communication, leading to significant advances in oil spill detection, modeling, understanding oil toxicity, data management, and methods to assess protected species.

For Deepwater Horizon, NOAA is focused on identifying and conducting work to advance science needs—to fill data gaps needed to help us better target restoration, and to advance our ability to monitor and evaluate restoration outcomes for NOAA trust resources. This includes assessing deep benthic and mesophotic communities on the seafloor and monitoring the effects of restoration activities on injured marine mammals, sea turtles, Gulf fish, and invertebrate species and their coastal and marine habitats. 

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Learn More About Our Restoration Efforts

The Gulf Spill Restoration website is the best source of information about NOAA and co-trustees’ restoration efforts associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Subscribe to our email updates to get the latest news from the Gulf Spill Restoration website delivered directly to your inbox. You can also explore our Gulf Spill Restoration Projects interactive map to see details on restoration projects happening across the Gulf of Mexico region.

The Deepwater Horizon Collection in the NOAA Institutional Repository provides easy access to NOAA-authored publications, peer-reviewed articles, tech memos, and studies related to documenting impacts from the oil spill, advancing science to fill data gaps and better target restoration, and advancing our ability to monitor and evaluate progress toward recovery.

In April 2020, NOAA Fisheries commemorated 10 years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill with a series of videos and stories highlighting the ongoing work to restore the Gulf of Mexico. These stories provide information and insight into the complexity and scale of time involved in our restoration efforts.