Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Essay

Exxon Valdez oil spill happened in the year 1989 at Alaska’s Prince William Sound. This was a tragic accident caused by super tanker that ran aground as a result of human error. Efforts were made to contain the oil spill. However, despite the efforts, there was more oil spill. As a matter of fact, close to 300,000 barrels of oil were lost within a short time. The company officials were bold enough to take responsibility of the accident. They issued an official statement concerning the measures they intended to take for purposes of mitigating the effects of this disaster. First and foremost, the company agreed to compensate people who were affected by the accident. Secondly, the company decided to come up with a cleanup plan that was implemented within a short time (Berlatsky, 2011). Although there were measures that were put in place by Exxon to mitigate the impact of oil spill, the impact on ecosystem was evident. Proximity of the oil spill was a challenge to sea animals that struggled to survive. According researchers, some sea animals were trying to clean their bodies by licking themselves shortly after the spill. During the cleanup exercise, thousands of sea animals were soaked in the oil. The cleaning

A big decline of the number of tourists visiting the area was recorded. This was demoralizing to communities within the area. As a matter of fact, many people within the area depended on tourism for their livelihood. Although the sector is slowly recovering, the damage is still big. Communities within the area have argued that their lives have changed for the worst since the occurrence of the disaster as far as tourism is concerned. The culture of the Native communities in the area has also been adversely affected. These communities subsist on sea animals such as shell fish which is a cultural food. The population of shell fish has continued to decrease over the years posing a threat to food security (Berlatsky,