When Israel’s beaches turned black two months ago, the country faced a massive ecological disaster: the oil slick off Israel’s coast polluted the waters, and storm currents deposited 750 tons of tar along 160 km. of coastline.
As the “Tar in the Storm” incident wreaked havoc on its beaches, Israel jumped into action to remedy the effects of the Tier-2 level pollution, with experts tackling environmental, financial, and political repercussions of the oil spill.
Concerns were raised at a webinar held last month on changes caused by oil spill pollution featuring a panel of international researchers of the previous major oil spills Deepwater Horizon, Ixtoc-I and Exxon Valdez.
Biologist Dr. Steven Murawski from the University of South Florida presented some key questions Israel must address: is the seafood safe to eat? Is it safe to swim and use other natural resources? How fast will oil go away? What marine resources will be affected, and for how long? How will coastal communities be affected in the short- and long-term? Are we better prepared for the next oil spill (which will occur)?”
The Health Ministry declared Israel’s fish and seafood safe to eat on March 9 after sampling fish species over the course of a month.
“There weren’t any fish deaths, and we didn’t see any contaminants in their tissue,” explained Dr. Peleg Astrahan, an organic chemist at the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute. The IOLR sampled water and fish throughout Israel’s coast over many days and found no concerning levels of pollutants.
There is still a danger that small amounts of petroleum hydrocarbons from the spill will become more concentrated as they make their way up the food chain. While there is no evidence of immediate damage to sea life, IOLR will continue to conduct surveys on fish and marine species in the case that this occurs, said Astrahan.
“We couldn’t see any chemical changes,” said Dr. Eyal Rahav, head of the Biology Dept. at IOLR. The lab has autonomous underwater robots with carbohydrate sensors that measured the entire water column.
Rahav, who researches the effects of crude oil on marine micro-organisms, explained that if that water was badly polluted it would quickly affect the bottom of the food chain. However, he found no “significant change or decline in productivity or biomass.”
While the chemical makeup of the water has not changed, tar is still washing up on shore. Surfers from Herzliya reported this past week that they came out of the water with their boards and legs entirely black, even after the Health Ministry reopened the Mediterranean to water sports on March 9. Lifeguards at the Acadia beach said some swimmers are still experiencing burning eyes, dizziness and headaches.
2021 Jpost Inc. All rights reserved