Efforts to stem the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Efforts to stem the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Efforts to stem the "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill were ongoing from the time that the "Deepwater Horizon" exploded on 4/20/2010 until the well was sealed by a cap on July 15, 2010. Various species of dolphins and other mammals (61 casualties), birds (2,095 casualties), and the endangered sea turtles (467 casualties) have been killed either directly or indirectly by the oil spill. The "Deepwater Horizon" spill has surpassed in volume the 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill as the largest ever to originate in U.S.-controlled waters; it is comparable to the 1979 Ixtoc
MV Treasure oil spill dive team reported that very little oil was leaking out of the ship. Different types of methods were used in the cleanup of the oil spill, two of which included workers loading kelp covered in oil into trucks and vacuuming up pools of oil with specially designed vacuums. In addition, booms were used to keep the oil from entering Cape Town Harbor. South African company Bio-Matrix was contracted to help clean up the oil slick that was polluting the penguins' habitats. The company used a Canadian product, also called Bio-Matrix, made of sphagnum moss properties, which are notable for their