from area beaches. signs of disaster can still be found in the delicate marshes. it s there. it hasn t gone away. the bacteria haven t consumed the oil. reporter: after taking several core sediment samples, the unmistakable scent of oil remains. that is distinctive. you can really smell it there. now you see science, sometimes we have to search. but this is definitely tainted with oil. some areas remain close to shell fishing and those who oyster for a living say they feel for the counterparts in the south whose fishing grounds are being devastated by the b.p. spill. if the water is not clean, they are not going to grow. they are going to die. in the decades since oil decimated the marsh lands, the area has largely recovered. but it s what lurks beneath the seemingly idyllic spot that speaks volumes about the long road ahead for gulf coast residents. in falmouth, massachusetts,
and spent weeks raking fuel from area beaches. signs of disaster can still be found in the delicate marshes. it s there. it hasn t gone away. the bacteria haven t consumed the oil. reporter: after taking several core sediment samples, the unmistakable scent of oil remains. that is distinctive. you can really smell it there. now you see science, sometimes we have to search. but this is definitely tainted with oil. some areas remain close to shell fishing and those who oyster for a living say they feel for the counterparts in the south whose fishing grounds are being devastated by the b.p. spill. if the water is not clean, they are not going to grow. they are going to die. in the decades since oil decimated the marsh lands, the area has largely recovered. but it s what lurks beneath the seemingly idyllic spot that speaks volumes about the long road ahead for gulf coast residents. in falmouth, massachusetts,
marshlands on the coast. there are skimmers out there and we need to put them to work and bp needs to approve the paperwork to get the skimmers in the water. i understand you have to make it safe but at what point does paperwork need to be for forgotten. maybe scum up the oil with the paperwork and get ships out there. we re standing down for weather. we have a sense of urgency to work between the rain storms but we re shutting down midday, sometimes in the morning. the rainstorm passes, we ve got to have the accepts of urgency to get out there in between the rain storms, immediately after the small storms come ashore. we re going to lose this battle. oil is really starting to come ashore heavy in the marshlands. over 4,000 acres of our parish to marsh lands have been affected and that s growing
all right. it s become a familiar sight along the gulf coast. a lot of yellow in the form of booms set up to protect beaches and marsh lands, but they were no match for hurricane alex even though the storm was centered hundreds of miles away. cnn s senior correspondent allan chernoff has more. reporter: take a ride down the mississippi into the gulf of mexico and see what hurricane alex has delivered from bp s out of control oil well. we re more than 60 miles away from the oil gusher by comfort oil which is within saint bernard parish and the oil has made it over here. there is a bit of a sheen on the water and there are also what you would call tar balls. this is emulsified oil. it s been in the water for at least a week, maybe two weeks. that s the reason there is boom all around the island trying to
civilian capacity. now that storm alex has mostly passed, give us a sense of the latest on how badly hurricane alex has him pangted the skimming effort? how soon can your teams return to their positions? well, skimming is always impacted by weather and whether this storm is having a definitely impact, we had to pull the skimmers that were skimming oil off the waters. we re putting that force together to be back on the water as soon as we can once the weather passes and that affects not only the area near shore, but the well head itself where they need to be skimming as well. you talk about that area near shore, especially in louisiana, you said wednesday that a two three-foot storm surge alone could move oil inland and into the marsh lands there where we hadn t seen it before. what is the early assessment at this point. well, what s happening right now is we have got assessment