South of Tampa: Phones buzzing “with callers reporting oil” — WHITE BUBBLES and FOAM; Officials say “nothing out of the ordinary” (PHOTO)

White Bubbles in Sarasota (Herald Tribune)

In Sarasota, south of Tampa, "The phones are buzzing at the Sarasota Emergency Management Department with callers reporting oil in area waters," according to the Herald Tribune.

"But investigators are finding nothing out of the ordinary," Ed McCrane, director of Sarasota County Emergency Management, told the Tribune.

According to the paper, the sightings can be explained naturally:

• Right now, red drift algae, a type of brownish-red seaweed, is floating near the coast and drifting into bays and waterways.
• A brown algae also is blooming now, resembling a thin film of mud on the water's surface.
• Sometimes, expired animals look suspicious. Last month hundreds of dead sea squirts washed ashore. The slimy critters turned black.

No word on what the white bubbly, foamy substance featured in the article might be or if any testing will be undertaken...

Other news reports have mentioned similar sighting:

"About halfway back to port we come upon a thick sheen layer that is covered in emulsified, white foam … the same kind I've seen in videos taken by VOO workers, in which dispersants have been used atop oil," according to Dahr Jamail in Truthout.

On Aug. 5 while at the Dauphin Island Marina, commercial fisherman Donny Mastler said, "I was with my friend Albert, and we were both slammed with exposure... We both saw the clumps of white bubbles on the surface that we know come from the dispersed oil," according to the Inter Press Service,

During a recent 'town hall' meeting (see video below) in Grand Isle, LA, Dean Blanchard, owner of the largest dockside seafood broker in the United States, said to a BP representative, "You know ya’ll are sinking it. You know what ya’ll are doing. Ya’ll are sending all the boats, you’re putting them all in a group at night, we all hear the planes, and the next morning there’s nothing but white bubbles! What do you think, we’re stupid?"

See also:

• Top scientists testing SARASOTA Bay to evaluate HUMAN “bioaccumulation” and “long-term natural resource damages” from oil disaster
• CSTARS Director expects oil to “wash ashore near Clearwater, SARASOTA, and farther south”; “Oil is slowly creeping along the coast”
• Evolution of BP Oil “Spill” through June 21 (VIDEO); Approaching SARASOTA, FL
• Marine Center Director: “Never seen anything like this”; 10 whale sharks only 23 miles southwest of SARASOTA