Fresh tar balls sweep across Goa beaches

PANAJI - Fresh tar balls have swept across several beaches in South Goa, an official said Friday. According to an eyewitness, tea bags too floated in at one of the beaches.

The sticky, acrid, semi-solid tar balls have littered and continue to deposit on the beaches of Colva and Betalbatim, about 35 km from here, since Thursday, causing disappointment for the local populace which banks on tourism for sustenance.

“Some tar balls have deposited on the Colva beach. My team is there to clear the debris. It is not serious, as far as I can say,” Tourism Director Swapnil Naik told reporters.

When asked if the tar balls — which are a result of a waste oil dumped by ships reacting with sea water — would be a consistent phenomenon, Naik said: “The flow of tar balls is very localised.”

“It all depends on the currents. Because the currents are strong, the tar balls are being washed onshore,” he said.

Local activist Judith Almeida said: “Tar balls have washed ashore right up to the high tide line this time and the authorities are slow in lifting the debris.”

In several cases, the tar balls were in the heat, leaving behind ugly patches of oil, she added.

Another eyewitness, James D’Souza from Cansaulim, said along with the tar balls, the waves incidentally also dragged along several score tea bags. These were washed ashore at the Cansaulim beach Thursday night.

The phenomenon of tar balls landing up in Goa’s beaches by the ton triggered a scare in the tourism industry, which banks on the arrival of nearly two million tourists who visit the beaches annually from October to March.