Florida’s pristine beaches are one of the state’s biggest selling points to tourists.
When something goes wrong it is all hands on deck.
And Coast Guard officials were called in to solve this sick situation at Florida beaches.
Tar balls shut down beaches in South Florida
Beaches in Broward County, Florida were closed after tar balls began to wash up on the shore.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue received a 911 call about a black, oily substance that had gotten on people’s feet at the beach.
Lifeguards began to see the tar balls at the beach across the area.
A beachgoer in Broward County speculated that it could have been some kind of sea monster at first.
“When we first came down here, there was like weird, black globs on the beach and didn’t really know, I thought it was a sea creature or something, you never know, it’s the ocean, then the lifeguard came down and they’re like, ‘Everybody out of the water, out of the water,’ and we’re like, ‘What’s that for?’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s ’cause of the oil,'” the beachgoer told NBC Miami.
BEACH ADVISORY: Due to an unknown oily substance found along our shoreline, Ocean Rescue lifeguards are telling beachgoers to stay out of the water from Riomar Street south to Port Everglades inlet. Similar reports from beaches to our north. We notified @USCGSoutheast. pic.twitter.com/W33XvSuw6w
— FLFR PIO (@FLFR411) February 8, 2025
Fort Lauderdale resident Seth Platt was at the beach when he noticed the tar balls.
His kids ran into them as part of a beach cleanup project for their elementary school.
“I warned them as soon as they got to the beach,” Platt said. “I said, ‘Hey guys, there’s tar everywhere, don’t touch it.’ But they all came back with tar all over their feet.”
Coast Guard gets involved in the search for the tarballs
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said the tar balls were not a threat to anyone’s health.
The city began trying to discover the source of the mysterious oily substance.
Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection and the Coast Guard began to search for the source of the tar balls.
“A Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 crew is conducting an overflight, and Station Fort Lauderdale has sent out a boat crew to assess the scene and identify a source,” Coast Guard petty officer Diana Sherbs told the Miami Herald.
The aircraft and boat searched the Atlantic Ocean from Palm Beach to Port Everglades without any success in finding the culprit.
Trantalis speculated that the oil came from a cargo or cruise ship.
“We feel it’s a criminal act to cause toxic materials to be released into the public domain,” Trantalis said. “The Coast Guard is out there trying to figure out who the culprit is.”
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said the tar balls are oil mixed with debris.
They are created from oil drilling and production or leaks from ships in the ocean.
Florida’s Atlantic Coast has them occasionally turn up on beaches because of the current.
Beachgoer Tamara praised officials for taking action to keep people safe on the Broward County beaches.
“It’s safety, and everything is good for us,” Tamara said. “I’ve never seen anything bad in our beach and, like, my kids are so small.”
A trip to the beach can become a sticky situation when tar balls turn up.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
