Most of the strange objects were about the size of a marble. Photo: Northern Beaches
Sydney, Australia has a lot of stunning beaches. Nine of them are closed, however, due to mysterious little grey and white balls that washed ashore at Manly, Dee Why, Long Reef, Queenscliff, Freshwater, North and South Curl Curl, North Steyne, and North Narrabeen.
According to the Northern Beaches Council, the areas are closed until further notice, because no one knows exactly what the marble-sized balls are.
“Council was alerted to the debris via the EPA and is working closely with the state agency to collect samples for testing,” Northern Beaches Council representatives wrote. “So far, most samples identified are marble-sized with a few larger in size. The Council is organizing the safe removal of the matter and is inspecting other beaches.”
Sue Heins, the mayor of Northern Beaches, is just as confounded as everyone else. “We don’t know at the moment what it is and that makes it even more concerning,” she told ABC’s Radio Sydney. “There is something that’s obviously leaking or dropping or whatever and floating out there and being tossed around. But who is actually dropped it or lost it or leaked it is something none of us know.”
Just a few months ago in October, a handful of other beaches in the same area were closed to the public after blobs of “human-generated waste” washed ashore. At first, those blobs were thought to be relatively common tar balls, but the much grosser truth was discovered after testing. Those “contained traces of drugs, hair, motor oil, food waste, animal matter, and human feces.”
The beaches will remain closed until the issue is resolved.
