Oil 'tar balls' on beach

REMNANTS of the oil industry known as tar balls were seemingly washed ashore on Keel Beach on Achill Island on yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon’s high tide.

A lady who walks the beach every day reported that as the tide began to withdraw, blobs of a black, jelly, tar-like substance were strewn intermittently on the beach. Some of the blobs were tangled in the seaweed which also came in on the tide.

The blobs were soft, black and shiny and ranged in size from about two inches in diameter to others about nine inches in diameter. They smelled strongly of oil and were extremely sticky if touched.

They could easily be mistaken for stones except for the bright sunlight which gave them a glossy shine.

They appear very similar to tar balls which are regularly washed up on the Texas coast of America and which come from oil leaks in offshore wells. Tar balls can come from a number of other sources too, such as a major spill, discharges from marine vehicles or even natural seepage from the ocean floor.

However, it is not yet known where the tar balls that appear to have been washed up on Achill Island have come from.