Substance stretching for miles in Gulf waters creates a stir
Brett Michael Dykes
Numerous fishermen told the paper that they had run across the substance -- estimated to be 2.5 miles long and 300 yards wide -- in West Bay, an open-water area of 35 square miles near Venice, La. According to the Times-Picayune's Bob Marshall: "Boat captains working the BP clean-up effort said they have been reporting large areas of surface oil off the delta for more than a week but have seen little response from BP or the Coast Guard."
The glare of new media attention was apparently enough to spur the Coast Guard into action -- it dispatched a team of pollution investigators Saturday to collect samples from the area.
Though researchers have yet to complete any lab tests to confirm the origin of whatever gunk is discoloring the water in the area, one official felt confident enough to say that "based on his observation and what he sees in the sample jars," the culprit is probably nothing more than an algae bloom, according to the Times-Picayune.
But seasoned Gulf fishermen were skeptical of that assessment.
"I've never seen algae that looked orange, that was sticky, smelled like oil and that stuck to the boat and had to be cleaned off with solvent," one fishing boat captain told Marshall. "I'll wait for the lab reports."
(Photo: Matthew Hinton/Times-Picayune)
news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/massive-oil-slick-off-louisiana-coast-creates-a-stir
Oct. 22, 2010