i'm jeffrey kofman, at miami

jeffrey kofman went to find out. >> reporter: this is what it looked like in the gulf a few weeks agohen we reported finding huge plumes of oil hidden below the surface. but in the two weeks since the leaking well was capped, government and independent scientists have gone extensive testing in the deep sea. it is not what they expected. >> we're finding hydrocarbons around the well, but as we move away from the well, they move to almost background traces in the water column. >> reporter: many scientists pointed to the same answer. the deep sea microbes that occur naturally in the waters of the gulf, and when there is oil, they multiply to eat it. >> when a large amount of oil comes into the environment, then they quickly muster, if you will, and they can sometimes grow to 1,000-fold. >> reporter: they are also not finding oil in seafood. this independent lab has been testing fish from the louisiana coast since the disaster began. the state has tested 15,000 seafood samples. not a single one has shown elevated levels of oil. what are you finding? >> we're not finding very much at all.

jeffrey kofman has been looking for the oil on the water and in the air. he's in buras, louisiana, tonight. >> reporter: for 86 days, oil spewed into the gulf, perhaps 200 million gallons of it. so where is it? >> i think it's underneath the water, you know? >> reporter: he has been laying out boom with his boat but he says there's no oil to catch. is there much oil? >> no, no, no, there's not really a lot. >> reporter: it's becoming increasingly hard to find the oil. we surveyed the marshes this morning and saw none. in a flight to the rig site yesterday with the coast guard, there was no oil to be seen. >> it's becoming a very elusive bunch of oil for us to find. >> reporter: two weeks ago, skimmers picked up about 25,000 barrels of oily water in one day. last thursday, they picked up a total of just 200 barrels. that doesn't mean all that oil is gone. there are thousands of small patches like this below the surface. but experts say an astonishing amount has disappeared. here's why. the light crude began to deteriorate the moment it escaped at high press

here's jeffrey kofman. >> reporter: that blown-out well, capped -- at least for those ships fr gas at tips frantically burning oil and gas at the spill site, suddenly quiet. and look at this map of the area where the oil had been spotted then this weekend. in june, and then this weekend. ys the oil slickys, the oil rably.has shrunk considerably. >> we see light at the end of the tunnel. it's a very long tunnel, but today we're making progress. ch is a good which is a good thing, because the more than 400 skimmers have had very little impact, catching perhaps 80,000 barrels of the 5 million barrels that have spewed into the gulf. >> and we still have an awful lot of oil out in the gulf of mexico. >> reporter: while oil has hit the beaches and marshes in four states, this weekend, there is no sign of oil along the florida e is no sign of and scientists say the very small amount of oil in lake pontchartrain, the tidal bay ed.th of new orleans, has broken down and disappeared. and remember the loop current that threatened to catch and carry the oil through the florida keys and up the coas

jeffrey kofman, abc news, venice, louisiana. >>> well, august is just a few days away now. but you couldn't know it in parts of colorado. a summer storm hammered the foothills west of denver, leaving some areas buried under up to a foot of hail. wow. many drivers needed help after getting stuck in all that ice. >>> and now, for this morning's weather from around the country. the monsoon season brings more heavy rain to colorado, new mexico and arizona. severe storms in the dakotas and northern nebraska, with gusty winds, large hail and isolated tornado there's. thunderstorms and downpours from new england, down to the washington area. and isolated showers in parts of the south. >> 90s from dallas to miami and all the way up the east coast. 80s across much of the midwest. 75 in seattle. 85 in sacramento. and a sizzling 105 in phoenix. >>> it was another historymaking day for president obama, as he sat down with the ladies of "the view." >> yesterday's taping marked the first daytime television appearance by a sitting president. an unprecedented attempt to directly reach out

jeffrey kofman returned today to check on the oil-soaked marsh he photographed two months ago. jeffrey? >> reporter: good evening, diane. you know, it was almost a month after the rig explosion we first saw oil come ashore in those remote marshes. today, to see where things stand on day 100, we went back to those same marshes again, and what we saw today was not what we expected to be seeing by now. as we began our journey on the mississippi on day 100, a surprising sight. that collection of skimmer boats assembled from across the country, sitting at anchor,. apparently there's no oil to skim. are you heading back out to skim? >> we're not sure. we're just waiting for orders. >> reporter: we moved on. our destination, here, in the eastern marshes of the mississippi on may 18th that we waded ashore with maura wood to see the very first oil from the rig disaster make landfall. >> here's the problem. it's so sticky. >> reporter: today, as we made our way towards those same marshes, we saw no oil in the water. we saw oil boom, but no oil on it. this was my report on may 18th. but to

and here's jeffrey kofman. >> reporter: just how safe are gulf fish? one way to check is the oysters because unlike fish and shrimp, they can't swim away from the oil. mitch jurisich and his brother frank are third generation oystermen. more than half of their oyster beds are closed, but government inspectors have reopened these. and what did they find? >> nothing, the water samples are good. that's why we're open. it's coming out of good, clean water. >> reporter: and this is safe? >> safe. i'm still standing here. >> reporter: but will i be standing in 12 hours? >> you'll still be standing in 12 hours. i guarantee you. >> reporter: well, they taste good. >> they're clean. >> reporter: i'm going to be okay? >> you're going to be fine. >> reporter: most of louisiana's commercial fishing grounds are closed, but recreational fishing is gradually being reopened. we met these guys as they returned from a day on the water. that is one big fish. and look what they caught. a 28-pound red fish. you'll eat this? >> oh, yeah. >> eat it tonight. >> reporter: what

and here's jeffrey kofman. >> reporter: many of those shrimp boats that have been used for oil cleanup for the last three months could be back shrimping very soon. with the leaking well capped and less and less oil on the water, the federal government is poised to announce a major reopening of fisheries. this huge area east of the mississippi will be open to commercial fishing for the first time in almost three months. work for the fishermen, but less work here. in venice, louisiana, bp now operates a small city. 2,100 workers get fed, housed and well paid to work on oil spill response. what happens if they start racheting down here? all these people -- there are thousands of people now working on this project. >> it's going to be bad. people are going to be out of money, out of jobs. >> reporter: at the peak of spill response operations three weeks ago, 46,000 people from florida to texas were working at bp's expense. with no oil near florida or alabama now, more than 16,000 jobs have disappeared. there were almost 7,000 boats involved. today, 4,300. many of them on rated by fishermen

jeffrey kofman, abc news, miami. >> we're both itchy after that story.than what that situation was. they do offer some interesting advice. they say you should not swat a mosquito with one hand, it pushes air down and shoos the mosquito away, creates a vacuum. you should, when you can, a to do the clap, catch them from both sides. >> catch it before it's on you. ! roa a >>> war secrets posted online. the stunning revelations, who may be to blame, and the widespread impact. >>> then, crisis management. the historic oil spill and bp's decision to send its chief executive far away from the gulf. >>> and, survival story. the brain injury that could have killed a toddler. >> a lot of people say a miracle. yes, it is. >> and the medical team who saved him. it's tuesday, july 27th. >> from abc news, this is "world news now." >> definitely incredible medical stories this morning. that's another one about this little boy in north carolina. literally a hook in his head and survived it and may be totally fine. >> it's hard to watch, hard to see those x-rays. >> goo

jeffrey kofman went looking for it, by boat and by air. >> reporter: for 86 days oil spewed into the gulf. perhaps 200 million gallons of it. so, where is it? >> i think it's underneath the water. you know? it's between the bottom and the top of the water. >> reporter: trooper salvador cipriano has been laying out boom. but he saysing there nothing to catch. is there oil in the marshes? >> not right now. >> reporter: it's become hard to find the oil. we surveyed the marshes and found none. and in a flight to the rig with the coast guard, there was no oil to be seen. >> it's been an elusive bunch of oil to find. >> reporter: two weeks ago, skimmers picked up about 25,000 barrels of oily water in 1 day. last thursday, they picked up a total of just 200 barrels. that doesn't mean all that oil is gone. there are thousands of small patches like this below the surface. but experts say, an astonishing amount has disappeared. here's why. the light crude began to deteriorate the moment it escaped with high pressure. then, it was zapped with dispersant. the oil that made it to the surface was

besser about it in a moment, first jeffrey kofman has more. >> reporter: usually they're just annoyingave taken on an added menace because some are spreading dengue fever. >> symptoms are like flu on steroids. you'll feel very, very bad. your joints will hurt severely. you'll have headache behind your eyes. you may have a rash. >> reporter: the world health organization estimates there may be as many as 50 million cases of dengue every year, more than 70% in asia, but it's the more than 10,000 cases this year in the caribbean that are of concern to authorities in the u.s. at least 32 people have died so far in the dominican republic and puerto rico. the 18 cases in key west this year hardly constitute an enkick and there are no serious illness and no reason to panic. >> we're doing okay. so far, we're doing okay. >> reporter: precautions are being taken. standing water is being cleared. fumigation is under way. >> dengue fever is not even on the top 100 list of my concerns. >> reporter: photographer robert clark knows why people fear the disease. he was infected with dengue while on as

here's jeffrey kofman. >> reporter: that blownout well, capped, at least for now. oil and gas at the spill site, suddenly quiet. and look at this map of the area where the oil had been spotted, first in may, then in june, and then this weekend. in just a few days, the oil slick has shrunk considerably. >> we see light at the end of the tunnel. it's a very long tunnel. but today we're making progress. >> reporter: which is a good thing. because the more than 400 skimmers have had very little impact, catching perhaps 80,000 barrels of the 5 million barrels that have spewed into the gulf. >> we still have an awful lot of oil out in the gulf of mexico. >> reporter: while oil has hit beaches and marshes in four states, this weekend, there was no sign of oil on alabama's orange beach in gulf shores, and florida's pensacola beach. and scientists say the very small amount of oil in lake pontchartrain, the tidal bay north of new orleans, has broken down and disappeared. and remember the loop current that threatened to capture and carry the oil through the florida keys and u

jeffrey kofman reports from the coast of louisiana. >> reporter: many of those shrimp boats that havesoon. with the leaking well capped and less and less oil on the wate the federal government is poised to announce a major reopening of fisheries. this huge area east of the mississippi will be open to commercial fishing for the first time in almost three months. work for the fishermen but less work h in venice, louisiana, bp now operates a small city. 2,100 workers get fed, housed, and well-paid to work on oil spill response. what happens if they start ratcheting down all these people, thousands of peop working on this project? >> it's going to be bad. people artof money, out of jobs. >> reporter: at the peak of spill response operations three weeks ago, 46,000 people from florida to texas were working at bp's expense. with no oil near alabama or florida now, more than 16,000 of those jobs have disappeared. there were almost 7,000 boats involved today. 4,300. many of them operated by fishermen being paid $1,500 a day. bp is being careful to say even with the well capped they are not ru

jeffrey kofman, in buras, louisiana, for us this morning. good morning, jeffrey. >> reporter: good morning, to you, robin. big news from bp. that's right. bob dudley will take over as ceo of bp on october 1st. $32.2 billion is what bp says it will cost. that helps explain the quarterly loss announced today, $17 billion. putting a positive spin on the record losses will be the first challenge for bob dudley and for bp. >> it really has an obligation now to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible, to keep investors satisfied that it is not going to lose its way. >> reporter: this morning, dudley's boss, chairman carl-henric svanberg, explained it. >> we have the tragedy to handle. but i think we have all trons believe that we can bring a strong future to this company. >> reporter: bp's first step, selling an estimated $30 billion of assets. then, the p.r. battle. that's your oil. >> i know. i'm gutted. i'm absolutely devastated. >> reporter: outgoing ceo tony hayward is set to receive a year's salary. and a healthy pension worth mill