Dolphin deaths still high after Gulf spill

Dolphin deaths and sea turtle strandings in the waters affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill continue to occur at elevated rates nearly three years after the disaster, environmentalists said in a new report Tuesday.

The National Wildlife Federation report asserted that while the response by BP and other officials to date has been focused on cleaning up visible oil, little has been done to repair the damage caused to marine life and their food chain.

"Despite the public relations blitz by BP, this spill is not over," David Muth, director of the National Wildlife Federation's Mississippi River Delta Restoration Program, said in a statement.

Among other things, the report said infant dolphins were found dead at six times average rates in January and February of this year and that more than 1,700 sea turtles were found stranded between May 2010 and November 2012, the last date for which information is available.The group says that in typical years on average about 240 sea turtles are stranded annually.

A spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Connie Barclay, declined to address the specific findings in the report.

Data from the federal agency shows turtle strandings in Gulf waters of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana actually declined in 2012 compared to 2011. NOAA didn't provide 2012 figures for the Florida coast nor 2011 data for Texas and Florida. Dolphin and whale data provided by NOAA wasn't updated as of 2011, and what was provided dealt mainly with strandings, not deaths.

"NOAA scientists continue to assess and evaluate the marine condition due to the BP oil spill," Barclay said in an email. "At this time, NOAA does not have new information to release."

A BP spokesman did not have any immediate comment on the NWF report.

BP owned the undersea well that blew out 50 miles off the Louisiana coast on April 20, 2010, causing an explosion on the Transocean-owned Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 men. It took nearly three months to cap the runaway well that spilled millions of gallons of oil into the sea. Halliburton provided the cement for the well project.

A civil trial is currently ongoing in federal court in New Orleans to apportion blame for the disaster.