Oil from a massive slick in the Gulf¹ of Mexico has started washing ashore² on an island chain off the coast of Louisiana, US officials have confirmed.

美国官员证实，墨西哥湾深海钻井爆炸事故泄露的原油已经扩散到路易斯安那州沿海各个岛屿。

The islands are the second oldest national wildlife refuge in the US

Pelicans³（塘鹅） and other birds covered in oil have been found on the uninhabited（无人居住的） Chandeleur islands, which are part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge.

A federal maritime⁴（海事的） agency said there was "oiling all over" the islands.

Earlier, workers began lowering a giant funnel⁵（漏斗，烟囱） over the leaking oil well at the bottom of the sea to harvest the spill.

Remote-controlled submarines are being used to lower the 90-tonne containment⁶（容量） device in an operation expected to take two days.

Oil has been leaking unstopped for 18 days from the well, 50 miles (80km) off Louisiana, since an explosion destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig, operated by Transocean and leased by BP, last month.

'All over the place'

On Thursday, the US Coast Guard confirmed for the first time oil had made its way past protective booms and was washing up on land.

Freemason Island, the southernmost of the "back islands" of the Chandeleur chain, was the first to be hit by a sheen（光辉，光泽） of oil, although there was no evidence yet of medium or heavy crude.

Heavier concentrations of crude remain further offshore⁷, and the Coast Guard said weather forecasts suggested it would stay there until the weekend.

A spokesman for BP said emergency teams had been sent to Freemason Island, a favourite fishing spot for recreational（娱乐的，消遣的） anglers（钓鱼者） some 30 miles (50km) off Louisiana's coast, to deploy⁸ inflatable（膨胀的，可充气的） booms to protect its prime marshland（沼泽地） .

"We are doing everything we can to make sure a major impact doesn't happen," John Curry⁹ told the AFP news agency.

The Associated Press also reported that a pinkish（略带桃色的） oily substance was washing up to the north on New Harbor Island, on which mangroves（红树林） serve as roosting habitat for thousands of frigatebirds.

Later, an official from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric¹⁰ Administration said oil was coming ashore all across the Chandeleur Islands.

They are the second oldest national wildlife refuge in the US and home to countless¹¹ endangered birds.

Jeff Dauzat, of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, meanwhile reported that oiled birds, including gannets and brown pelicans, had been found on the barrier chain. No other species have been affected¹².

Fears are also growing that sea life has already been severely¹³ affected in the area, which includes vital spawning¹⁴ grounds（产卵场） for fish, shrimp¹⁵ and crabs¹⁶.

"It's all over the place," Dustin Chauvin, a shrimp-boat captain from Terrebonne Parish, told AP. "That's our whole fishing ground. That's our livelihood¹⁷（生计，生活） ."