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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

The U.S. Navy MZ-3A Airship will help monitor oil, oversee skimming operations and locate oil-covered wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Navy

A U.S. Navy blimp is aiding oil spill clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico this morning, the Sun Herald reported today.

The blimp, named the MZ-3A Airship, will monitor oil, oversee skimming operations and locate oil-covered wildlife. Unlike other aircrafts, the blimp can stay in the air for 12-hour periods and costs less to operate.

In a press statement, BP reported that 44,500 personnel, 6,563 vessels and 113 aircraft are engaged in oil-spill response efforts.

Currently one-third of Gulf Coast waters are closed for fishing. Yesterday, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality reported 20 tarballs and 12 pieces of oil debris on the beaches of Hancock County, as well as oil on Cat Island.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.