Nine bags of tar balls collected from Choctawhatchee Bay

Oil spotters collected nine bags of tar balls from Choctawhatchee Bay on Tuesday, according to Okaloosa County officials.

Several boats from BP’s Vessels of Opportunity program spotted the tar balls, which had slipped past the booms that had been set up to help protect waterways.

“They (booms) are not going to be effective against tar balls,” said Dino Villani, the county’s director of public safety.

Some of the tar balls float and some sink, he said.

As the footprint of the oil has shrunk and currents have kept the spill west of the Emerald Coast, Okaloosa has seen a minimal impact. Villani expects that trend to continue, but expects tar balls to be found “for quite some time.”

To see the latest NOAA map on the trajectory of the spill, click here.

“As time goes by, it will happen less and less, but we can expect onslaughts of tar balls,” Villani said. “We’re going to see these small, little battles.”

Vessels of Opportunity Boats are being deployed in the Gulf of Mexico and Choctawhatchee Bay, he added.

Villani said residents should continue to make reports when they think they see oil in the water.

“It could be black, but it’s going to be highly weathered,” he said. “Every day that goes by the oil continues to be broken down by natural bacteria in the water. … That’s what you want.”

To report oil, Okaloosa County residents can call the citizens information line at 311 and dial 0 for the operator.