As the oil spreads outward from the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico, so does the economic hardship. It is now affecting everyone from fishermen and seafood processors to the owners of vacation rentals who cannot attract guests to oil-marred beaches. In response, BP has opened 25 claims offices across the gulf and sent $46 million in checks so far to some 17,500 Gulf Coast residents for their lost income.

Image Chris Camardelle at his bait shop. He said his check from BP would not offset the income he was expecting this season. Credit... Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

But some boat owners, like Mr. Zito, complain that BP is not paying enough. Others say they have had a hard time getting their claims paid. BP said another 17,500 claims — about half of all submitted — had yet to be paid because of questions about documentation, which can be hard to come by in a cash industry like fishing.

When President Obama visited here on Friday, he said he did not want to hear that BP was “nickel-and-diming fishermen or small businesses here in the gulf who are having a hard time,” while spending billions of dollars on dividends and millions of dollars on advertising.

Darryl Willis, a vice president of BP America who is in charge of the claims process, said the company would honor all legitimate claims. “We will make these payments for as long as it takes,” he said in a conference call with reporters on Saturday.

Mr. Willis said that BP had initially decided to pay all captains $5,000 a month and all deckhands $2,500 to get the process moving, but that they would readjust and pay more to people who could show that they were losing more because of the spill. And he said claims adjusters were trying to work with people who lacked documentation, by accepting pay stubs or bank statements from some claimants who lacked tax forms.