Assateague Island Mystery Spill; Assateague Island National Wildlife Refuge,Virginia

Assateague Island National Wildlife Refuge,Virginia | 1997-May-30

Initial Notification: About 1000 on May 30, 1997, Rangers from Chincoteague National Park reported that tarballs were washing ashore on the southern end of Assateague Island. The initial beach assessment was that the tarballs covered one to two percent of the beach at the high-water mark and stretched more than four nautical miles at the south end of Assateague Island. An afternoon overflight noted a light patchy sheen with scattered tarballs extending northeast more than eight nautical miles from the southern tip of Assateague Island. USCG district 5.