I just received a phone call from a charter boat captain upset over what he is hearing from his fellow captains that are in the Vessels of Opportunity program. The boats are sent daily to find the oil slicks. When the oil is found, the captains aren’t to notify anyone but BP. The boat is stay on standby until BP personnel arrive on the scene.
Boat crews have been ordered to not wear respirators, because BP doesn’t want a media helicopter to see the men and women wearing them.
The boat captain said, “I had a daughter call me, crying because her father was trapped in the oil and had the breathe the fumes.”