TAR BALLS

NEWS: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)à released India’s first draft rules to manage tar balls for preventing marine pollution.

BACKGROUND

• Tar ballsà Often wash ashore along India’s west coast due to dense Arabian Sea shipping routes and monsoon currents.
• State governments àmust classify coastal pollution caused by tar balls as a State Disaster.
• Nodal AgencyàIndian Coast Guard will lead monitoring and surveillance under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP).

About Tar Balls

• Tar ballsà Dark, sticky lumps of weathered crude oil resulting from oil spills, ship discharges, pipeline leaks, or seabed seepage.
• They form when floating oil slicks weather; lighter hydrocarbons evaporate, and heavier residues mix with seawater, creating dense emulsions.
• Highly toxic, suffocate benthic organisms, disrupt turtle nesting beaches,contaminate fragile coastal food webs.
• Shoreline accumulationà degrades beaches, harms tourism, and endangers artisanal fishing communities’ livelihoods.
• Marine bacteria such as Alcanivorax slowly degrade tar balls