and black hawks dropping in and filling in the eight passes on pelican island, we're working the three largest passes in schofield island, filling the gaps. the idea is let's fight the oil outside the barrier islands. don't let the oil get inside. we passed it on the way out here, we don't want them getting to the wetlands and killing off the oysters. >> reporter: isn't it a drop in the bucket compared to berms and everything else? >> this is one of several tactics. this will complement the hesco baskets. we've done over seven miles in plaquemines parish and seven ilmiles in jefferson parish. and the national guard has instructed them to do. we'll use anything and everything we've got. this did a war. we've got to be adaptable with our tactics what we're doing if we can fill in are we've identified 40 miles along our coast. this won't replace sand dredging but complement it. when the oil pools here, we've gotten permission to deploy the barges, the suction barges, the vacuumage barge vacuum barges, putting pumps on