RI man documenting Gulf oil leak

LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. (WPRI) - A Rhode Island man has returned from the Gulf of Mexico with new underwater footage of the massive oil spill .

Jeff Snyder of SeaVision Underwater Solutions in Little Compton, traveled to the Gulf with a crew from CNN. Using a small robotic submarine with a camera, he shot video at several different depths up to 60 miles away from the gushing leak.

Snyder said what he found in the footage was troubling. 

"We found this oil cruising right through a coral reef, which is a prime fishing area," Snyder said. "No one is really talking about what impact that has on the species that are down there."

The ruptured well has spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf. Thick sludge has started to wash ashore into delicate wetlands and bird colonies. The federal government has declared a fishing disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Snyder hopes his footage will reveal the true scope of the unfolding environmental disaster.

BP has been unsuccessful in its attempts to stop the leak . Later this week, it plans to try a "top kill," which involves shooting mud and concrete into the well. BP said Monday there was a 70 percent chance it would succeed, though a top kill has never been tried this deep before.

The Obama Administration rejected calls Monday to take over for BP, saying it had neither the oil company's expertise nor its equipment.