Another oiled bird dies, tar balls still seen after sheen appears off coast

Offshore recovery efforts to deal with an oil sheen off the coast of Huntington Beach are being demobilized after a flyover Sunday did not reveal any sheen, but shoreline cleanup teams continue to observe tar balls along the beaches, and at least two oiled birds have now died, authorities said.

The roughly 2.5-mile-long oil sheen was spotted in the ocean water Thursday evening. The cause of the sheen is still under investigation.

Flyovers Saturday and Sunday mornings by a Coast Guard helicopter did not observe any sheen offshore.

Cleanup crews recovered approximately 85 gallons of product from offshore recovery and removed about 800 pounds of oily waste and tar balls from the shoreline and will continue to remove them as needed, according to the Unified Command.

The command consists of the U.S. Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The largest tar ball was 15 centimeters, but others were six centimeters, the Coast Guard’s Richard Uranga said Saturday.

No beach closures were ordered, but the public was advised to avoid contact with tar balls along the shoreline.

The CDFW-OSPR consulted with the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which found that there is not likely to be a public health threat associated with consuming fish due to the incident, but officials advised against fishing in areas with a visible sheen on the water.

Wildlife crews were surveying the shoreline for oiled wildlife, and found at least four live birds who were visibly oiled: two Brandt’s cormorants, a common loon and a western grebe, according to Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Greg Mcgowan. One of the cormorants died in care overnight. An injured, unoiled snowy plover who was captured also died overnight. The loon was reported dead on Saturday.

Beachgoers observing oiled wildlife were advised not to attempt to capture the animals, but to report observations to 1-877-UCD-OWCN (1-877-8236926).