Thousands of golf ball-sized pieces of black debris scattered across two beaches have been identified as “tar balls.”
Randwick City Council explained that the balls, which appeared on Sydney’s Coogee Beach and Gordons Bay beaches on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, are a “hydrocarbon-based contaminant”.
Both beaches were closed following the discovery of the balls and remain closed amid ongoing cleanup efforts.
Randwick Council staff are helped by working with the NSW Environmental Protection Authority, NSW Transport and Ports Authority.
“Our community is rightly very protective of our natural environment and this has been a very worrying incident,” Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker said.
‘Our priority as a council is to keep people safe and protect our coastal and marine environment as much as possible.
‘We have engaged an expert occupational hygienist and a specialist waste removal contractor who are currently systematically removing waste from beaches in accordance with an agreed safe work method statement developed with the NSW EPA.
“This process will probably continue tomorrow.”
Tar balls usually form when oil comes into contact with debris and water.
They are usually seen after incidents of oil spills or leaks.
Mayor Parker added that the council will work with all relevant authorities to determine the scale and cause of the contamination.
“I thank the community for their patience and for staying off the beach,” he said.
“I would also like to thank Council staff, contractors and a number of staff from NSW Government agencies who have been working around the clock to respond to this issue.”
More to come.
