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Technical Assistance This page is intended to help individuals, small businesses, and communities navigate the many different kinds of resources that they may seek to leverage as they plan for recovery and the future. Communities, individuals, and small businesses across the country may benefit from the information provided here.
Technical Assistance
Natural Resource Damage Assessment After an oil spill, federal agencies study the effects through the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process, identifying the impacts to natural resources, best methods for restoration, and amount of restoration required.
Conducting Natural Resource Damage Assessment NOAA Photo
Natural Resource Damage Assessment
Monitoring Piping Plovers Doug Duncan, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, assess the impact to the Piping Plover's habitat on Grand Terre, La., on Oct. 10, 2010. The Piping Plover is listed as an endangered species, and the birds migrate to the Gulf Coast during winter months to escape the cold of the Great Plains.
(Doug Duncan photo) Click the text on the left to view this video U.S. Coast Guard photo/video by Petty Officer 2nd Class Rob Simpson
Monitoring Piping Plovers
Collecting Seafood Samples The federal on-scene coordinator, Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, takes a ride aboard a trawler to see the seafood sample collection process off Pascagoula, Miss. Oct. 8, 2010. NOAA fisheries biologists ride along to sort and collect seafood for sampling at the facility in Pascagoula.
(seafood photo) Click the text on the left to view the video U.S. Coast Guard photos/video by Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew Kendrick
Collecting Seafood Samples
Leading the Recovery "President Obama has said many times that our commitment to the families and environment in the Gulf extends far beyond capping the well.  [...] Our work is not complete until the people and the environment they rely on are on the path to restoration and recovery," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
Leading the Recovery
Get Assistance Submit a claims form for damages resulting from the oil spill and necessary response costs.
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Latest News

NOAA Closes 4,200 Square Miles of Gulf Waters to Royal Red Shrimping
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - 18:13
Contact: Karrie Carnes 305-304-0179 (cell) Today, out of an abundance of caution, NOAA has closed 4,213 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters off Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to royal red shrimping. The precautionary measure was taken after a commercial shrimper, having hauled in his catch of the deep water shrimp, discovered tar balls in his net.

An egret with a boom in the background - U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley.

Featured Fact Sheet

Natural Resource Restoration Program (PDF, 2 pages - 1.9 MB)

West Wing Week - Video Preview

West Wing Week: "Dispatches from the Gulf"

This video travels through America's Gulf Coast. Get a behind the scenes look at the federal government’s unprecedented and historic effort to clean up the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill.

Mapping the Response

GeoPlatform Preview Image

GeoPlatform Gulf Response is a online mapping tool that provides you with near real time information about the response effort.