What's the source of the dark goop washing up on Florida's beaches? The U.S. Coast Guard is scanning the shores from Port Everglades to Palm Beach after locals reported sticky balls of sludge amid the sands. They're far from unique—"While some tar balls may be as large as pancakes, most are coin-sized," the agency says in a fact sheet about the phenomenon—but are an environmental problem for beachgoers of every species and officials want the mystery solved.
Coast Guard crews conducted searches by air and by sea, but they were unable to find a specific source, Coast Guard Petty Officer Nicholas Strasburg said Wednesday. It's believed that whatever was washing ashore will naturally dissipate, Strasburg said. Though the agency is no longer investigating the source of the tar balls, it is working with local communities in case they have any further concerns, he said. There's been no evidence that the tar balls came from Port Everglades off the shore of Fort Lauderdale, but giant tanker ships routinely sit near the port. Every day, more than 12.5 million gallons (47.3 million liters) of products including gasoline and jet fuel move through the port on tanker ships and barges, and there are many petroleum terminals in the area, according to the port.
It's oil, yes, but whose oil? And it's a regular occurence. In May 2019, "very soft" tar balls washed up on Texas's Padre Island beaches, adhering to beachgoers. The 2015 Refugio oil spill near Santa Barbara, California, resulted in tar balls appearing on beaches as far south as Los Angeles County. A ruptured pipeline released approximately 105,000 gallons of crude oil, contaminating over 100 miles of coastline with tarry sludge.
Internationally, in October 2024, Sydney, Australia's Bondi Beach and others were closed after thousands of sticky blobs, initially thought to be tar balls, washed ashore. Further analysis revealed however, that it was "human-generated waste, including fatty acids, petroleum hydrocarbons, and traces of drugs."
The Weather Channel and CBS have footage of Florida's new tar balls.
