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12016-04-23T08:55:07-07:00Impact on Marine Life and Ocean Ecosystems22image_header2016-05-04T14:56:21-07:00The oil spill did not just affect Prince William Sound’s ecosystems, but also Cook inlet, Kodiak, and an Alaskan Peninsula 460 miles south of the spill. Along this 460-mile span, an estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 Bald Eagles, 22 Killer Whales, and billions of salmon and herring eggs died soon after the spill had happened.
According to Horton , ten years after the 1989 oil spill, only twenty-three species have fully recovered. Populations of Loons, harbor seals, harlequin ducks, and pacific herring are still recovering as of 2004. However, an article done on the oil spill twenty-five years later showed that the oil still persists underneath boulders and cobbles of the affected areas. Sea otters have only just recovered while other species like the Pacific herring are not recovering at all.
