A special issue of Endangered Species Research, was published on Jan 31, 2017, and features 20 scientific articles that summarize the impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill on marine mammals and sea turtles. The scientific studies, conducted by NOAA authors and partners, document the unprecedented mortality rate and long-term environmental impacts of the oil’s exposure and presents a synthesis of more than five years’ worth of data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Findings from these research studies, in addition to other studies on other parts of the ecosystem, formed the basis of the natural resources damage assessment settlement with BP for up to $8.8 billion.  

All of the data associated with the settlement is available publicly in the Data Integration Visualization Exploration and Reporting (DIVER) database, but the Endangered Species Research special issue is the first time this information on sea turtles and marine mammals has been compiled together in peer-reviewed scientific publications.