Tar Balls; Sebastian Inlet, Florida

Sebastian Inlet, Florida | 1988-Nov-17

Initial Notification: On November 17, 1988, the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office (MSO), Miami, received a report of an oil spill at Sebastian Inlet in Martin County, Florida. The spill was described as a slick of tar balls measuring 50 feet wide by approximately five miles long, offshore of the inlet and trailing southeast with some tar balls already on the beach. MSO personnel on a Coast Guard Auxiliary overflight confirmed the report of tar balls two miles north of the inlet and sighted a scattered slick six miles offshore covering approximately four square miles and trailing in a southeasterly direction. USCG district 7.