19 , though considerable efforts remained to clean up area waters and revive wildlife affected by the spill . Earlier this month , NOAA reopened federal waters off the Louisiana coast to fishing . Thursday 's release marked another milestone in the area 's recovery , according to those involved . `` Returning this group of sea turtles to their home waters is ... a sign that Louisiana is on the path towards recovery , '' said Randy Pausina , an assistant secretary for Louisiana 's office of fisheries . The 33 turtles had been rescued more than three months ago by federal officials and state wildlife authorities from Louisiana , Florida and Georgia , as well as the Riverhead Foundation and the In-Water Research Group . They were rehabilitated at the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans . They included green , Kemp 's ridley and hawksbill sea turtles , which are classified as endangered species . There also were loggerheads , which are a threatened species . With 270 turtles having been cleaned , nursed back to health and released , there are more than 200 still in rehabilitation sites around the area . Scientists did extensive aerial
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Months after rescuers found them struggling and covered in oil , 33 endangered and threatened young sea turtles are finally going home to the Gulf of Mexico . Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Audubon Nature Institute freed the turtles Thursday in waters about 40 miles southwest of Grand Isle , Louisiana . This marked the latest mass release of turtles since about 500 were rescued in the weeks and months after the massive months-long oil spill . `` We were able to release these turtles because they 're now healthy , and we 're seeing recovery in the surface habitats of the Gulf of Mexico , '' NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said in a news release . The spill began after an April 20 explosion on the offshore drilling platform Deepwater Horizon that killed 11 men . Two days later , the platform sank and oil started gushing into the Gulf . In early August , owner BP used cement and mud to plug the damaged Gulf of Mexico well . Officials formally declared an end to the oil spill disaster on September