The numbers of shrimp in the waters off the Gulf of Mexico was found to have increased after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to new research.
Scientists at George Mason University in Virginia found the numbers of brown and white shrimp actually rose following the disaster.
By 2012, the number of shrimp in the area that was worst hit during the oil spill, were found to have returned to normal levels.
The study was conducted by Joris L. van der Ham and Kim de Mutsert, who began studying Louisiana shrimp after the oil spill.
Both the amount and size of shrimp in estuaries were analysed in areas heavily impacted by the spill, both before and after the spill occurred.
In their report, the scientists found shrimp numbers were actually higher in areas which were heavily impacted by the oil spill.
They found in the more polluted areas, which were closed following the spill, shrimp were less fished which meant their populations were able to grow.
But they also concluded the rise may have been due to a slower growth in shrimps created by the exposure to oil, which meant there was a delay in migration, and so more shrimp remained inshore.
The authors said: “The rebound to normal abundance and the absence of any effect on shrimp size agrees with the view that the spill may have negligible long-term effects on Louisiana shrimp.”
But they said long-term effects of the spill on shrimp may “manifest itself in other traits”, which could be immunological”.
Since the oil disaster in 2010, BP has been fighting a series of rulings against it by a court in New Orleans.
Earlier this month BP asked the US judge in charge of thousands of oil-spill damage lawsuits to review a ruling that exposes the company to as much as $18billion in fines, saying it was based on evidence he said he wouldn’t consider.
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