What exactly are these lumps on the beach? Coastal protection employees initially classified them as “paraffin-like substances”.
Wangerooge – White lumps have washed up again on the beaches of the East Frisian island of Wangerooge. According to initial findings, the island’s bathing beach is particularly affected by the pollution, said a spokesman for the Environment Ministry in Hanover on Tuesday.
The exact extent and whether beaches on other islands were also polluted is currently being examined. What kind of substances it is also still unclear. Coastal protection employees classified the lumps as “paraffin-like substances”.
As a dpa reporter from Wangerooge reported, the white lumps were distributed over the entire beach and were of different sizes. Some lumps are about twice the size of a golf ball. Islanders assume that the lumps have now been washed onto the beach with the stormy seas of the past few days.
It was not until the end of April that white, waxy lumps were washed up on the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony, including on the islands of Wangerooge and Langeoog – two of the finds were, according to analyzes, paraffin wax. The cause of the pollution remained unknown.
Oil and chemical residues from ships are often disposed of in the North Sea, for example when residues are washed out of the ship’s tanks. Since the beginning of 2021, stricter rules have been in place for the discharge of paraffin – but there is no ban.
The Greens MP in the Lower Saxony state parliament, Meta Janssen-Kucz (Borkum / Leer), again called for a ban on the discharge of paraffins in view of the washings. “A uniform pre-wash requirement can be decided upon and implemented jointly by the North Sea residents. Here the state government must finally put itself at the forefront of the movement instead of always referring to the International Maritime Organization, ”said the politician. dpa
