Tar Balls Wash Ashore At Cocoa Beach, WESH Channel 2 NBC Orlando, July 6, 2010:
More than a dozen tar balls have been found in a 2- to 3-mile stretch of Cocoa Beach during the past two days, according to Brevard County authorities.
Lifeguards said some beachgoers collected the tar balls in buckets. One woman said she found one that was as big as a roof shingle.
The tar balls have washed ashore at Lori Wilson Park, and also along the shore from 6th Street southward to the Cocoa Beach Pier.
“I don’t like it at all. They are ruining our beaches — even all the way up here on the East Coast,” one beachgoer said
Fresh Tar Ball (News 13)
Kimberly Prosser, a spokeswoman for Brevard County, said the tar balls will be examined to determine if they came from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Results are expected back within the next couple of days.
“We don’t know what the source is. Because of the fact that several pieces have washed up in the same area, it is apparent that it is from the same source, but we don’t know what that source is,” Prosser said.
She said the tar balls could be from the BP oil spill or processed oil from a boat spill. A few weeks ago, a shrimp boat sank off of the Brevard coast, and it is possible the oil could be fuel from the tank.
Video here: http://www.wesh.com/green-pages/24159259/detail.html
BREAKING: Tar balls wash up on Cocoa Beach, WDBO Radio Orlando, July 6, 2010:
Dozens of tar balls have washed ashore at Cocoa Beach.
Ocean rescue in Brevard County is reporting that about two grocery-sized bags filled with tar balls were taken by the Coast Guard this afternoon.
“This is an unusual amount of oil that has washed up”, said Elisen Witcher, who is the assistant ocean rescue chief for Brevard County. “Usually we get small amounts from possessed oil but not this much.”
Witcher says they do not know if the oil is coming directly from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The coast guard has taken the tar bars to get processed and tested to see exactly where the tar balls are coming from and those results are expected to be back within a week.
"Another theory is that the tar washed in from a shrimp boat that sank in May." -- bwahahahahaha. RIIIIGHT.
http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2010/july/118652/Tar-balls-wash-up-on-Cocoa-Beach
One beach regular said he collected five pounds in a plastic shopping bag in a short amount of time.
Three samples from Satellite Beach, Patrick Air Force Base and Melbourne Beach were sent for Coast Guard testing.
