I was working in North Carolina when it all went down. There was a parade of MSRC and NRC boats with their barges, and a ton of notch tugs and barges going by. I couldn't figure out why, with all of that shipping responding, they didn't let the stuff float where it could be captured. Someone way smarter than me with an idea, I'm sure.
I certainly didn't mind, with BP picking up the grub bill, we were told to order whatever we wanted
However, it looked like an anchorage in NYC with all the boats sitting at anchor in Mobile... I think out of all of our barges only one handled oil. Although that oil was the oily waste from the tug.