these are very crucial steps in this untested technology. and as the crews are watching that offshore, closer to shore, the breton national wildlife refuge has been closed to the public so crews can clean up the oil that was there earlier this week and prevent more from coming ashore. the water around louisiana s chandeleur islands is fouled by oil. we found large pungent patches 2 1/2 miles west of the chain, but as we approached the shore friday, a hopeful sign. have you seen any oil around here? it was over here yesterday. reporter: yeah. any today? none today. reporter: local boat captains say the tides and ever-changing currents most likely moved the oil. the chain of barrier islands is part of the breton national wildlife refuge, where 13 species of birds nest. including the brown pelican. this is the first line of defense here at north island. it seems to go on on for miles.
some good news today. bp announcing they ve capped off one of those three leaks that are at the bottom of the gulf of mexico. it is the smallest of the three leaks, but it s a step in the right direction. we went out there to look for that oil slick. we saw a lot of it and something very disturbing was swimming inside of it. boat captains in port told where yous to find it, an ugly reddish-brown wave of oil. a bumpy two-hour ride later, it was impossible to miss. finally here we are 15 miles out. we ve slowed down and the seas are still pretty rough, as you can see. i don t know if you can see it or not, right here in front of us it looks like a red, muddy line through the water. that is the oil. national wild life federation frz larry schwying art believes the impact is inevitable. it s been treated and it s breaking up and dispersing into the water column. reporter: it looks like pea-sized blobs in the water,
they literally form constellations. boat captains follow the constellations of the oil platforms. and when it s at that scale and that much human operation of oil platforms out there, sooner or later human error will come into play. we will inevitably get this again unless we begin to look for alternatives like offshore wind. you know, mike, frankly, are you surprised we don t see disasters like this more often? i think most people would be surprised to hear how you just described some 4,000 rigs out there. i mean, the potential for this to happen is constant. the number one thing protecting the coast of louisiana and mississippi and alabama from oil spills is the odds. just chance. it has been, frankly, just flat out luck that this hasn t happened before when you have so many wells, so much potential for human error. this will happen again.
they are restoring, rebuilding, the crumbling brick and mortar of this historic site. more than $7 million in stimulus money is making it possible. it s grueling, but for dennis wood, a mason from massachusetts, it s work he s glad to have. things are slow today though, got a job offer down there so we took it. reporter: if it wasn t for you working probably be laid off right now. reporter: the seven masons and eight support workers were unemployed before the job. others benefited too. probably 100 people affected by these people laying brick. boat captains, people running the boat that broke you out here, brick makers and cement makers. reporter: ft. jefferson was built in the mid-1800s to deter pirates, but it was never finished. for a time it was a prison. this was samuel mud s cell, the
fire department and that s where our boats are inbound. me and adam, one of our other boat captains are out riding. just getting the lay of everything. scoping out so we can immediately deploy. so you are just beginning to get out. inundated with calls. do you have a sense of how many calls or how many people are trapped? we had, i would say, over 500 calls on our zello channel and 888 number. we were two hours away and winds are too high for us to pull in the air boat. we are staging them in and bringing in the low shallow water boats first and behind that is the air boats to do quicker missions and get more people. right now, we are getting the efforts started as soon as the boats arrive. in the meantime, we are setting up points. if you can make that point once again. i think it is so important as the winds are picking up where i am in wilmington.