Is the Oil Spill A Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy?

Revelation 8:8-9 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

Revelation 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

Who can look at the horrible pictures of the Gulf waters that literally look like the color of blood due to the BP oil disaster, without thinking of the scriptures above from the book of Revelation. Some have suggested that this event of the past weeks is the fulfillment of these verses, but we believe that this is not the case for the following reasons.

First we believe that the events referred to above will take place during the Great Tribulation period, after the Lord Jesus Christ has returned for His saints. Then we believe that that the article "the" mentioned in the two verses five times referring to "the sea" in its singular form has reference to the Mediterranean Sea because it was the only sea known in John the Apostle's time.