President Obama said Monday that federal officials are "gathering up facts" to help ensure that embattled oil giant BP fairly compensates people and businesses suffering losses.

Speaking at a Coast Guard staging facility in Theodore, Alabama, Obama said he hopes to hammer out with top BP officials Wednesday a new structure for processing claims so that they "are dealt with justly, fairly, promptly."

He said preliminary talks on the restructuring have already begun, but was cautious about how much progress can be made before Wednesday's meeting.

He said that cleanup and containment of the spill won't happen overnight. "It's going to take time for things to return to normal."

"There's going to be a harmful effect on many local businesses and it's going to be painful for a lot of folks," he said.

Obama also announced an effort to ensure that seafood from the Gulf of Mexico remains safe to eat.

Under the new comprehensive seafood initiative, federal authorities will increase inspections of seafood processors, strengthen surveillance programs and monitor fish caught outside restricted waters, Obama said. "Seafood from the Gulf today is safe to eat, but we need to make sure that it stays that way," he said.

The president arrived in Gulfport, Mississippi, earlier in the day -- his first stop on a two-day tour of the states, including Alabama and Florida, most affected by the oil disaster. This is his fourth trip to the Gulf Coast since the oil began to gush nearly two months ago, though previous trips were limited to Louisiana.

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