Page 2 - Command Vessel News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: all right. well, tony, right now we are circling around the vessel that rob marciano is riding on. and he is on the command vessel that is commanding all these simmers, so what we're doing up here about 500 feet above the gulf of mexico is looking out for any oil slicks, damaged boons or injured wildlife. fortunately, we haven't seen any of those yet so far. i think the biggest thing that has surprised our crew is that we are seeing people swimming off the beaches of the coast -- gulf of mexico, and there is a warning -- warning them not to enter the water. and in addition to that...

Amber lyon is in a blimp, tracking the skimming boats that are covering the -- that are skimming up the oil. she is on the right of the screen there, shots coming in and out, but it looks like we've got her there. and rob marciano on the left is on a skimmer boat, being tracked by the u.s. navy blimp. so the two of them have got two different views of how this is going. let's start with you, rob. what's going on? >> well, the process of this operation all day long has -- well, in part, been led by that blimp or air ship, as they like to be called, owned by the navy and kind of borrowed by the ...

Angle and outpost to look from is a huge, huge advantage. so we're on the command vessel, as amber noted. about a 60-foot vessel, ice lady, as it's called and usually a touring vessel to catch fish, red snapper. but it's one of the vessels of opportunity. it is commanding the other vessels of opportunity involved in this skimming operation. about ten that we're in charge. there are other sectors around the gulf doing the same thing. and a lot of the information fed in by that air ship up there. there were two -- much smaller vessels of opportunity working in tandem to coral a sheen of oil and ...

"s.e.c. "zeke's lady" on any other day is a commercial boat to take people out to fish for snapper, but now it is a command vessel in the skimming operation today, and telling other vessels what to do based on what that blimp is telling us. so a great asset into this battle that will continue to go on for weeks to come here, and the lucky thing is that we have not seen a whole lot today. and one reason for that, wolf, we have to stay a couple of miles away from the shore. and it is one of the handcuffs that we have to put on the team today so that we can illustrate exactly what they are doing,...