A potential oil slick has been spotted off the coast of Coogee in Sydney a day after hundreds of “mysterious black, ball-shaped debris” washed up along the beach.
Lifeguards discovered the golf ball-sized debris on the sand on Tuesday afternoon at the popular eastern suburbs beach.
Randwick city council environmental officers collected samples and sent them for testing. In the meantime, people were advised not to touch or go near them. The beach was closed until further notice.
The incident was also reported to the Environment Protection Authority and Beachwatch NSW.
The council said the unknown material could be “tar balls” formed when oil comes into contact with debris and water – usually as a result of oil spills or seepage.
Council jetskis spotted what may be an oil slick out at sea on Wednesday morning, the Randwick council mayor, Dylan Parker said. However, it has not yet been confirmed.
The state environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said the EPA was working with other government agencies and forensic scientists to identify exactly what the balls were, the source of the contamination and what risks it presented.
“The advice is that people shouldn’t be swimming and Coogee is closed,” she said on Wednesday.
“Other beaches are fine, but we hope to get to the bottom of what is a pretty unusual situation as quickly as possible.”
Parker said debris balls were still washing up on the beach on Wednesday morning. More were also spotted on Wedding Cake Island 1km off Coogee beach.
Coogee beach was closed with yellow barricades, orange flags and council signage reading “work in progress” on Wednesday morning.
About 20 staff in hi-vis were working along the length of the beach.
The debris balls were picked up one at a time by staff. The balls were placed in mounds above the high tide mark and covered with sand to avoid them being washed away.
Crews on jetskis were also checking for balls in the water and trying to determine where they had come from.
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A local barista said the closed beach was different than a normal morning when “people do laps around the pool or are just out walking”. “Usually you see plenty of people,” he said.
Jennifer, who works at Coogee Express convenience store, said she anticipated business would be quieter so long as the beach was closed. “I think next week [it will] get better,” she said on Wednesday.
The council posted to social media Tuesday evening: “Coogee beach is closed until further notice after council lifeguards this afternoon discovered mysterious black, ball-shaped debris washed along the length of the beach.
“Council is investigating the origin and composition of the material, which has the appearance of dark spheres.”
The council was arranging for the material to be safely removed from the beach and began inspections of other nearby beaches.
Beachgoers were advised to avoid Coogee until further notice and not touch the material while the clean-up and investigations continued.
The beach would be cleaned and opened again “hopefully in a matter of days”, Parker said on Wednesday.
