Mystery Spill, NRC 896969

Black Bay, LA        2009-Feb-09

The regional NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator was notified by USCG Sector New Orleans of a mystery slick in the Black Bay area. A USCG helicopter overflight at 1700 hrs confirmed the presence of a small slick roughly 0.25 x 0.25 miles in size composed of silver sheen with spots of dark oil. The initial reported location was 29° 31’ 59” N Lat. 089° 29’ 05” W Long at 10:43 (local time) on 9 February 2009. This position places the slick roughly in Black Bay, 13 miles NE of Nairn and more than 15 miles NW of Breton Island. USCG Sector New Orleans requested a trajectory analysis.


Note: Documents are posted chronologically and early reports likely contain factual errors. These errors may be corrected in a later report.


Incident Details

Spill, potential spill, or other: Oil Spill
Cause of incident: Mystery Spill
Products of concern: Unk Oil

Latitude (approximate): 29° 31.99' North
Longitude (approximate): 89° 29.08' West

NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) provides science-based solutions to protect and restore the nation’s natural resources from coastal environmental hazards. OR&R serves the nation by providing expertise and a suite of products and services critical for making science-based response decisions that prevent further harm, restore natural resources, and promote effective planning for future incidents.