A mysterious oil spill is raising concern among South African conservationists and coastal communities.
On Jan. 22, reports started emerging of congealed oil washing up on South Africa’s southeast coast, stretching from George to Durban, some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) away. Several beaches closed due to the pollution.
Citizen networks are monitoring more than 20 affected beaches and reporting that both tar balls and barrels filled with oil are washing ashore. The source and extent of the pollution remain unclear.
“There is a lot of concern as it continues to wash up,” Mike Denison from the nongovernment environmental organization Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa told Mongabay via phone.
Denison said there are a couple likely explanations for the oil. One possibility is that barrels of oil were dumped offshore, “and some of those barrels might be breaking open and releasing oil,” he said. Another option is that a ship traveling the coast could be leaking.
Whether the washed-up oil and the barrels represent a single incident or two coinciding events remains unknown. Monitoring networks have called on local people to document and report any oil on their beaches or drums that turn up.
The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, asked the public to report any oiled seabirds. The area is home to a key colony of critically endangered African penguins (Spheniscus demersus).
In early February, marine biologists from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, a conservation organization in the country’s KwaZulu-Natal province, requested an aerial survey to look for a larger spill offshore that could explain the oil washing up on beaches.
“Fortunately, there was no sign of any oil from above [in] the sky,” Welly Qwabe, one of the marine biologists who initiated the survey, told Mongabay. “It’s worrying us, because we don’t have answers to what is causing these dense tar balls. And it has an impact on the environment.”
He said the oil appears old and dense. “It is not a fresh, thin type of oil and it looks like it has reacted a lot until it got to the beach.”
Denison said that according to the descriptions he has received — small, very sticky blobs — it appears that the oil seen across the provinces shares the same characteristics.
Nomxolisi Mashiyi, spokesperson at the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) confirmed to Mongabay in writing that reports of oil spills have been received. “The Department was notified of oil washing up at uMdloti beach on Thursday, 22 January and further reports of oil on other beaches have been received.”
Mashiyi added that the DFFE is in contact with the South African Maritime Safety Authority to investigate the oil. So far, there is no indication of a vessel grounding, sinking or collision.
Banner image: African penguins at a beach in South Africa. Image by Casey Allen via Unsplash (Public domain).
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