Florida Keys and Cuba wildlife under threat as currents widen impact of BP oil slick

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has threatened to become one of the world's worst environmental catastrophes as experts predict that oil from the leaking undersea well could be carried as far afield as the Florida Keys, Miami and Cuba by strong currents in the gulf.

BP is still struggling to contain the leak, which has already dumped oil debris ashore on the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, threatening fisheries and wildlife areas.

However recent research has found that the spill has now entered the Gulf's Loop Current, which, if it were to transport the slick as far as Florida's beaches, would have disastrous consequences for the Sunshine State’s $60 billion-a-year tourist industry.

Disaster: This image taken by a NASA satellite shows the oil spill is moving west, perilously close to the Florida coastline

The alarm was raised on the Florida Keys earlier this week after tar balls washed up on a beach on the Lower Keys, however laboratory tests revealed they were not from the Gulf of Mexico spill.

Tar balls are not uncommon in the region, which has around 8,000 commercial vessels passing through it every year. Some of the vessels defy anti-pollution rules and wash fuel oil from their tanks.

Plumes of oil pour from the ruptured well after the Deepwater Horizon rig sank last month

Andy Newman, of the Monroe Tourism Development Council, said: 'Even if we don't get a gumball-sized tar ball down here in the next month, there has already been significant perception damage to Florida Keys and Florida tourism.

'We understand we are not out of the woods yet, that there's more oil out there.'

BP has said a siphon tube inserted into the well is capturing an estimated 2,000 barrels (70,000 gallons) a day from the ruptured undersea Macondo well - around 40 per cent of the amount that was gushing out.

Environmentalists warn that the spill, which followed an explosion on April 20th on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, could prove worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.

Slick: Rust-coloured oil debris floats on the water at the mouth of the Mississippi Delta

Authorities have nearly doubled a no-fishing zone to 19 per cent of U.S. waters in the Gulf affected by the spill.

Florida Senator Bill Nelson, a staunch critic of offshore drilling said: 'While I always hope for the best, this is looking like really out-of-control bad.'



The spill has forced President Barack Obama to put on hold plans to expand offshore oil drilling and has raised concerns about planned oil operations in other areas such as the Arctic.

BP, which has seen its market value cut by £21billion, has said it plans to increase the amount of oil captured from the well as it works on a permanent fix.