Adm. Thad Allen says the 1 million gallons of dispersant used to break up the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico has helped create "hundreds or thousands of patches" of oil that need to be cleaned up.

Update: The Oval has updated this post to correct Allen's quote about the number of patches. We regret the error.

The spill is "no longer a single spill but a massive collection of smaller spills," said Allen, who briefed reporters at the White House before heading into an 11 a.m. ET meeting with President Obama and Cabinet officials working on the spill response.

The upside is that mass quantities of oil don't wash up in any one place along the shore, according to Allen, the federal incident commander for the spill. But finding and removing so many patches is "increasing vastly the complexity of the response," he said.

To find and skim the oil, the government has now trained the operators of 1,500 fishing boats. More Coast Guard cutters and patrol boats also are being brought in, Allen said.

Meanwhile, British Petroleum is making progress capturing oil from the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well. More than 420,000 gallons a day are now being captured and BP is moving another vessel in to process more oil, Allen said. "I think it's going fairly well," he said of the latest effort to halt the flow.

In other news, Allen said:

It will take four to six weeks after the leak is stopped in early August to clean up oil slicks on the surface of the water. Cleaning up marshlands and restoring ecosystems will take years, he said.

He plans to meet with BP officials to discuss speeding up their claims process for individuals and business owners affected by the spill. "We'd like them to do it a little faster," he said.

At least 120 linear miles of shoreline have been affected by the spill.

(Posted by Mimi Hall)