The Star 27 Apr 15;
PETALING JAYA: An unusual amount of sticky tar balls have been found washed up along the shores of the Lang Tengah beach, one of the country’s sea turtle breeding grounds.
It is situated between the iconic Perhentian and Redang islands.
Lang Tengah Turtle Watch co-founder Raphe van Zevenbergen said he noticed clumps of tar balls washing up ashore along the 15m-stretch beach and immediately lodged a report with the marine park authorities.
“So far, we have collected some 13 bags of tar balls. We are concerned that the tar might seep into the sand. We have also asked for help from the nearby resorts.
“They have been very obliging in cleaning their own sections of the beach as we all await assistance from the authorities,” he said.
Lang Tengah Island, which is just under three kilometres in length, is popularly known as Turtle Bay due to its known turtle nesting population, predominantly the green turtles.
Van Zevenbergen, who has worked on the island for three years and is a trained conservationist, said the tar balls might have come from the purging of oil from engines of big vessels near the island.
“The first couple of hours were spent racing against the encroaching sunlight as the tar simply melts into the sand once it heats up, making it impossible to retrieve without removing all the sand along with it.
“We are waiting for authorities to collect the tar balls and investigate the matter. We are worried that the tide might bring the tar balls towards Pulau Redang next,” he said.
More tar balls found on Perhentian Island beaches
FIRDAOUS FADZIL The Star 1 May 15;
KUALA TERENGGANU: More tar balls were found washed up along the shores of Perhentian Island’s beaches.
This follows Monday’s incident where similar tar balls were found on the shores of Lang Tengah Island, which is located near Perhentian Island.
Perhentian Island Ecoteer volunteer Loh Seh Ling, 31 said she noticed the clumps of tar balls on Wednesday night during a patrol around the island as part of their turtle conservation project with the Fisheries Department there.
“We saw the tar on the beach two nights ago while we were patrolling the turtle beach but we could not collect them because we did not bring any plastic bags with us," said Long on Friday.
She said that when her team returned the next morning, the tar had melted into the sand as the sun was already out.
Loh together with some 15 volunteers are planning to do the clean up at night as it would be easier for them to collect the tar balls.
This is because they expect the tar balls to clump up at night.
“There's so many of them and the balls seem to be everywhere on the beaches at Perhentian Island now,” said Loh.
She added that the plan was to pick up the tar balls and place them in plastic bags to ship back to the mainland by boat.
Loh added that she had sent an email to the marine park management asking the management to investigate where the tar came from.
There is a possibility the tar balls came from a big vessel.
“Marine park management replied that they would look into the matter but said their jurisdiction was only within 2 nautical miles from the island and they will hand it over to the Marine Department of Malaysia,” she said.
