The Weatherbird II research vessel returns after its mission into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Credit: marine.usf.edu

Oil that dispersed in the Gulf of Mexico is still out there, coating deep-water spawning grounds and potentially resurfacing on Panhandle beaches, University of South Florida researchers say.

The findings contradict federal studies, which said oil that spilled after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon blowout had largely dissipated.

Now a coalition of Gulf community activists, scientists and philanthropists are saying the federal government and BP are misrepresenting the amount of oil left to be cleaned up in the Gulf of Mexico and the safety of eating seafood from the region.

A group call the Gulf Coast Fund says more than 53 million gallons of oil remain to be cleaned up out of 172 million gallons that spilled from the ruptured BP well.

"Just because the oil is no longer on the surface, it does not indicate that the area is healthy," Wilma Subra, a chemist and microbiologist and adviser to the fund, said in a press release.

Scientists no longer believe an Aug. 4 federal report that claims only about a quarter of the 4.9 million barrels of oil that leaked from the BP well remains to be cleaned up.

"Commercial fishermen in the Gulf know the seafood is unsafe for eating and will not feed it to their own families," Mississippi community organizer Derrick Evans said in the fund’s press release.

USF researchers say oil from the BP disaster may have settled on the floor of an ocean canyon only 40 miles from the Florida Panhandle -- farther east than original estimates.

"It looks as if we'll never get over this oil spill," said Sandra Cummings, owner of the Seafarer's Pride restaurant on Panama City Beach. "At least, not in my lifetime.

"We have relatives in the United Kingdom who think all we're doing is conning BP for money. I wish they would come over here and really see how it feels when we have to close down a business it's taken so many years to establish."

The movement of the oil, driven by chemical dispersants, could wreak environmental havoc on the sea bed, John Paul, a USF marine microbiologist, told CNN Tuesday.

"The dispersant is moving the oil down out of the surface and into the deeper waters, where it can affect phytoplankton and other marine life," Paul said.

Paul and a dozen other USF scientists aboard the Weatherbird II research vessel detected oil droplets settling in DeSoto Canyon, a spawning ground for fish.