suzanne, before the cap was put on they were collecting about 25,000 barrels of oil off the surface out there. that was every day. and one day last week they only collected about 56 barrels so that shows you how the big amounts of oil on the surface isn't quite there anymore and they now have to hunt for the smaller pieces that are proving to be more elusive. >> david, with the less oil in the water at least what they're finding here what happens to that program that pays fishermen essentially to clean up the oil? >> reporter: well, the vessels of opportunity program is still in full swing. in fact, their role is a little bit more important now because as that oil gets harder to spot from the air they need more eyes on the water to keep an eye on it and watch where it might be going. so they're doing a lot more monitoring out there even though they're not collecting quite as much. they're the ones who are going to have to be able to watch where the tar balls are forming, where they might be churning up