Mystery revealed after thousands of black ‘tar balls’ wash up on popular tourist beach
Thousands of black balls found washed ൩🦄up on a popular Sydney beach have been identified as tar balls.
The unusual floaters wer🍎e first spotted on Coogee Beach on🤡 Tuesday.
Randwick City Council says preliminary test results from samples collected on Tuesday afternoon showed the balls were a hydrocarbon-based pollutant “consistent with the makeup of tar balls,” as had been suspected.
H🎀ydrocarbons are the m☂ain components of petroleum-based products and can be carcinogenic or poisonous.
Coogee Beach and neighboring Gordons Bay remain closed till further noꩲtice, as a major cleanup of the sites continues.
Rand🌄wick Council Mayor Dylan Parker said hundreds of 🧔the black, ball-shaped debris was found along the length of the beach on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
Parker said council lifeguards had spotted the balls washing by Wedd♛ing Cake Island, just off the coastlin💜e.
He said the beaches would be closed until workers coಞuld safely remove and dispose of the material.
“Our priority as a local council is to keep people safe and protect as far as possible our coastal an✃d marine environment,” Parker said.
“We have engaged an ex♈pert occupational hygꦛienist and a specialist waste removal contractor who are currently systematically removing the debris from the beaches in accordance with an agreed safe work method statement developed with the NSW EPA.
“This process will likely continue (Thursday).”
While the scale or or🦹igin of the pollution incident is not yet known, Parker said Council will continue to work with all relevant authorities as r💝equired.
“I am grateful to the🔯 c🀅ommunity for their patience and for remaining off the beach. I also wish to thank the council staff, contractors and various NSW government agency staff who have been working around the clock to respond to this issue.”
Humane Society International marine biologist Lawrence Chlebeck said earᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ꧂ᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚlier the balls look like tar balls or oil balls.
When asked about the substance b𒈔eing carcinogenic, Chlebeck likene🥂d touching one of the balls to inhaling fumes or immersing in fossil fuels.
“We would not want to stick our arm into a barrel o🦄f crude oil,” he said, cautioning anyone from grabbing them or swimming🦹 nearby.
Lab testing would identify ♓which chemicals were present in the cluꦬmps, pointing to where they had come from, Chlebeck said.
Keep up with today's most important news
Stay up on the very lates🍬t with Evening Update.
Thanks for signing up!
A ship or small run-off was likely the 🌸cause of the oil or tar entering the water, and there would need to be “a lot more evidence” to suggest any sort of large scale oil spill, he said.
The particularly round nature of the clumps indicates they have b🃏een buffeted and smoothed at sea for months.
But the fact they have only washed ashore at ൩Coogee and Gordons Bay and not Bondi showed how intricate sea currents can be, and they could well have washed up from the wider Pacific Ocean.
People at nearby beaches should be on the loo⛎kout in the coming days, he said
The mayor of Randwick Council says the mystౠerious black ba🐷lls began washing up on Sydney’s popular Coogee Beach on Tuesday, with early indications pointing to an oil spill out at sea.
“Council lifeguards on jet skis have gone out and we have identifiedꦓ some of these balls washing up on Wedding Cake island,” he said.
“Ther𒐪e looks to be an oil spill or slick but ꦕit’s still under investigation.
“Initial reports seem to suggests s🍰ome 🌠sort of oil pollution or contamination.”
Randwick Council is liaising with the NSW Environment Protection Agency, Beach Watch NSW and other relevant bodies on when it might be safe to open the beach♏ again.
“This has never happened before,” he said.
Coogee is one of Sy▨dney’s star beaches and a tourist hotspot.