On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil well spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill lasted from April 2010 through September 19, 2010 and spread up to 68,000 square miles. At the time of the spill, officials in Florida were concerned that the spill would destroy the oysters in Apalachicola Bay. As a result, officials in Florida loosened the restrictions on harvesting of oysters from the Apalachicola Bay. This led to extensive oyster harvesting in the years 2011 and 2012. In the lawsuit, a marine ecologist testified that the average densities in the most heavily harvested oyster beds dropped 78% in the 2011 and 2012 time frame. At the same time, that same ecologist noted that the mean densities in other oyster beds that were not as heavily harvested had increased 3 – 13% during the same time frame.