Beachgoers heading to the shore this summer might find more than just sand between their toes. Tar balls, small black blobs of petroleum residue, are a common sight along Gulf Coast beaches.
"A fresh piece right there on the bottom of my shoe,” said Victor Jock, a lifelong beachgoer who recently visited Padre Island.
"We made a purpose to get a room down here for the beach," Jock said.
Having spent his life around coastal areas, Jock is familiar with the black substances that sometimes wash ashore.
"So coming down and being around beaches all the time, tar is a normal thing," he said.
According to Paul Montagna, Endowed Chair at Harte Research Institute, tar balls come from two primary sources.
"The main place it's coming from, believe it or not, is probably leftover from the Ixtoc spill from 1979," Montagna said.
The other source is natural oil seeps from the ocean floor.
"The gulf has thousands of oil seeps, and so oil is naturally bubbling out of the bottom of the ocean, and when it gets to the surface, it goes to the beach," Montagna said.
Montagna has studied oil spills and seeps across the country and around the world since the 1980s. When asked how our local beaches compare to others regarding tar ball presence, his answer was clear.
"Would you say that we have about the same oil tar compared to other places?”
“Oh, much more," he said.
While tar balls wash up year-round, they become more noticeable during peak beach season when more visitors are present to spot them.
"Everybody got a little tar on them," Jock said.
The size of tar balls can vary considerably. Though unsightly, tar balls aren't dangerous – just inconvenient.
"Not til the end, it can be a hassle because you know you have to get it off," Jock said.
For those who do step on tar, beachgoers have a common solution.
"Everybody says baby oil gets that stuff off your feet, shoes," Jock said.
While tar balls might be annoying, they're not uncommon along Gulf Coast beaches and shouldn't disrupt your beach plans.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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