PANJIM: Tar balls that surface on the beach are not merely a concern to the tourism industry, but a preliminary study by CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has expressed the possibility of it impacting humans due to hazardous pathogens nurturing on them.
Following a detailed study on the reasons for the deposition of tar balls along the Goa coast, NIO scientists have embarked on a three-year project under the State Directorate of Science and Technology to unearth the impact of tar balls on marine biodiversity. The study will also identify the presence of micro-organisms on tar balls, which usually surface in the pre-monsoon period, especially in the last week of May.
A team of NIO scientists comprising Rakhee Khandeparkar and Sameer Damare are working on the project to identify its impact. They have been sampling water and sediments from beaches like Vagator and Morjim in North Goa and Cansaulim and Betul in South Goa, which are the main coastal areas for tar ball arrivals.
Speaking to Herald, Khandeparkar, a senior scientist working in the Biological Oceanography division, said that tar balls contain hydrocarbons, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which pose significant environmental risk.
She said the kind of pathogens arriving on the beaches due to tar balls are not healthy. “It is indirectly changing the biota of marine waters, which might affect planktons, zooplanktons and thereby fishes which we eat,” she said.
Pathogens are a bacterium, virus or other microorganism that can cause disease. “Marine organisms are affected. Also, if a human body comes in contact with these tar balls, then it can cause serious infection and hence poses being hazardous,” she said.
Khandeparkar, however, said that these are just preliminary findings and unless the study concludes on the type of pathogens, they cannot spell out the exact impact.
The study will be completed by 2021. Along with listing its impact on the marine life and biodiversity, NIO will also recommend to the government what needs to be done to tackle the menace.
Scientist said that the “preliminary study reveals that the bacterial diversity changes a lot due to tar balls”. “What we see before tar balls entry is different from what we see when tar balls are present. The types of bacteria differ and mainly pathogens are increasing,” she added.
“Unless we come to a conclusion on the pathogens we cannot say whether they are hazardous. But oil is there, so on that micro organism grow. There are reports that they enrich on tar balls. They utilise oil as food. So it is harmful,” she stated.
Khandeparkar urged beach cleaning agencies and locals to ensure that tar balls are discarded properly once removed from the shore. “What many do is that, they just clean the shore and don’t discard it properly. They just burry it and during high-tide, it again gets washed away,” she said.
