What Exactly Are Those Black Tar Balls Found All Over Sydney Beaches?

In the last couple of days, hundreds of mysterious black balls appeared on the beach in Coogee, and then began to appear on several popular beaches across Sydney. And plenty have been left wondering – what exactly are these mysterious black orbs?

Waverley and Randwick councils have shut down Bondi, Coogee and other beaches around Eastern Sydney as experts from the NSW Environmental Protection Agency investigate the foreign ball-shaped debris washed ashore overnight.

On Thursday, Waverley council closed Bondi Beach along with Bronte and Tamarama. They are the latest beaches to be littered with numerous ‘tar balls’ although smaller and grey in colour as opposed to the golf ball sized ‘tar balls’ first discovered at Coogee. 

Other Eastern beaches like Clovelly Beach and the northern end of Maroubra Beach have also been closed to the public.

Along with Coogee, the EPA confirmed on Thursday that balls had been found at Bondi, Bronte, Tamarama, Little Bay, Malabar, Frenchmans and Congwong beaches.

What exactly are the black tar balls that were found on Sydney beaches? 

At present, the complete material composition of the mysterious black balls remain unknown, and the investigation is ongoing.

However, Randwick Council confirmed in preliminary tests that the strange debris “is a hydrocarbon, chief component of petroleum based products, based pollutant, which is consistent with the makeup of tar balls”.

It has also been said that the tar balls are likely formed by crude oil spills in the ocean.

Executive director regulatory operations at the EPA Steve Beaman said that while the threat is believed to be low, people should avoid contact with the tar balls.

“At this stage, we know the material is predominantly hydrocarbon or oil based, and so we think the threat is low,” said Beaman.

“But what we want to say to people is the best thing you can do is avoid contact with this material.”

NSW Maritime told the ABC that Australia only sees “unfortunate” tar ball events like this once every four to five years.

Randwick Council has started clean up of the tar balls

Randwick Council quickly began the clean up and removal process of the material across all affected beaches from the previous night, throughout the day.

 Mayor of Randwick Dylan Parker addressed the spread of the mysterious debris.

“The safety of the community is our first priority. That’s why Council has taken the precaution to close these beaches while we undertake the safe collection and disposal of this material,” said Parker.

“We don’t yet know what has happened to produce the debris washing up on our beaches, but we will continue to work with relevant authorities to ensure the safety of the public and clean up our beaches.” 

The abrupt closure of Bondi was also addressed by local Mayor Will Nemesh.

“The safety of our community is always paramount,” said Nemesh. “Working with Government authorities, we will continue to monitor the situation closely and keep the community updated and safe.”

Many of the popular Sydney beaches are closed until further notice.

The council has advised beach goers to avoid the affected beaches – and refrain from touching the material – until the ongoing clean up and investigation concludes. 

The origin of the ‘tar balls’ is unknown and still under investigation.

by Naomi Lawrence