Photo: © 2010 AP via AAP/Sean Gardner
An estimated 5000 barrels of oil has been leaking out everyday since a BP rig exploded and sunk last week.
The 200 kilometre, 15 million litre slick is so big that it can be seen from space.
It has now started lapping on the marshy shore of Louisiana, where a state of emergency has been declared.
"It's a scary situation knowing that you have no control over this and that your livelihood is in the hands of other people," Louisiana fisher Kimberly Chauvin told the ABC.
"You know at this point pretty much all you can do is pray and try and get out there and clean it up."
