The Macondo oil well gushed crude into the Gulf for 87 days before it was finally sealed.
It still leaks oil today, but at a much lower rate. The spill destroyed hundreds of thousands of aquatic birds and miles of coastline habitat. But ten years after the Deepwater Horizon spill there are signs of Nature's recovery, one of those signs, the brown pelican
(Pelecanus accidentalis), became a tragic icon of the damage the disaster did to the Gulf Coast.
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| courtesy: USCG |
Queen Bess Island was hard hit by the oil spill. Only five of its 36 acres were suitable for nesting. The island supported 15-20% of Louisiana's brown pelican nesting activity prior to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, so it was important that spill recovery efforts focus on the state's fourth largest pelican colony. Recovery efforts started long before the oil spill in 1968 because the colony was suffering from pesticide poisoning (DDT) after historic persecution by man. By the time the state made the bird its official symbol in 1966, there were no brown pelicans living in the Louisiana, and Florida was down to just 7,690 nests. Recovery of the island and its bird residence that include eight other aquatic species such as Roseate Spoonbills a Tri-colored Herons and Great Egrets,
is funded by the $8.8 billion settlement reached in the BP litigation for environmental damages. The spill killed an estimated 10% of the Gulf's brown pelican population.
Today, thanks to intensive recovery efforts, Queen Bess is a state wildlife refuge open to breeding this year. Hundreds of pelicans have returned to breed in peace on an enlarged island dedicated to wildlife. It is the first island in the Audubon Society's Gulf plan to be fully implemented; perhaps more success stories can be reported as Louisiana works to
fulfill its $50 billion coastal master plan to restore its rapidly
eroding coastline. Once a tragic symbol, the pelican is now an emblem of hope that man can learn to live in harmony with his environment.
