On 6th Anniversary of BP oil spill USF research vessel praised for crucial research

Six years ago Wednesday the BP oil spill damaged the Gulf of Mexico like no other man-made environmental disaster before or since. The full extent of that disaster is still under study and University of South Florida marine scientists have been at the center of that research aboard the vessel Weatherbird II.

“A lot of work we’ve done on this boat has led to a lot of discoveries,”said USF College of Marine Science Professor David Hollander who leads a consortium of scientists studying the impact of the BP oil spill. “Those early cruises turned out to be a real benefit to understanding the processes of what happens when you have a blowout in 5,000 feet of water.”