15 years later, restoration efforts continue along Texas coast after Deepwater Horizon oil spill

April 20 marked the 15th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, an oil spill that claimed the lives of 11 people and spewed 135 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. That's equivalent to 4 million barrels. It's the largest oil spill in U.S. history, one that lasted for 87 days and impacted every facet of life along the Gulf Coast.

Angela Schrift with Texas Parks and Wildlife described the oil spill as an "unprecedented event" for the Gulf Coast, one she knew would take years, if not decades, to recover from.

"In the National Resource Damage Assessment settlement with BP, the Texas restoration area received $238 million to restore the resources that were injured as a result of that Deepwater Horizon oil spill," Schrift said.

One of those resources for the Texas Coast is sea turtles. Dr. Christopher Marshall, the director of the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research, has been studying marine life along the Gulf Coast for 23 years and has specialized in turtle restoration efforts in Texas since the oil spill. He says if you like to eat fish, you should also care about turtles.

"The Deepwater Horizon tragedy, even though it was a tragedy, one of the silver linings that came out of that was a lot of funding for a sea turtle restoration. And the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research has benefited from that," Marshall said.

Turtles that are rescued along the Texas coast are brought to the Wetlands Research Center, where they are nursed back to good health with the goal of being released back into the wild. Marshall and his team of over 150 volunteers also care for turtle nests to help boost turtle populations in the Gulf.

SEE ALSO: 14 years after BP oil spill, Galveston scientists are striving to save the Gulf's deep-sea coral

The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle is native to Texas. ABC13 Meteorologist Elyse Smith was even able to meet one being treated by Marshall and his team. He told ABC13 there was a noticeable decline in that turtle population in the years after the oil spill. But even before that, Marshall says that turtle numbers plummeted in the 1980s because of fisheries and poaching.

"The species almost went extinct. And so it's our duty to be stewards of this planet and to try to help recover the species," Marshall said.

True to his word, Marshall and his team have saved over 800 turtles within the past five years, and over 90% of them are back in the wild. There are even plans to expand his Wetlands Center, by building a new hospital that can also double as a resource for educational outreach. So while the main source of funding for their work is currently through settlement from Deepwater Horizon, the goal is to have a self-sustaining program that can have a lasting impact in Galveston.

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