Yah, I know. What I’m saying is that it would take probably the entire output of straw in the U.S. to cover any meaningful percentage of the many hundreds of square miles of ocean that has oil in it. The mere task of spreading that much straw (or hay) over that much ocean is a seriouly non-trivial problem. Much less the problem of picking it all up again.
Lots of things that sound easy, aren’t.
No doubt it would not be easy. The question is one of if it would be worth it. The priorities, imho are to stop the well/recover the oil being produced while that is being done, and to protect the coastal wetlands. Screw the beaches (I know that won’t be popular) but it is the marshes which are the spawning and feeding grounds for wildlife, including much of the commercial fisheries. The beaches will recover more quickly.