DATE: Friday, June 6, 1997                  TAG: 9706060668

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ASSATEAGUE ISLAND                 LENGTH:   31 lines

TAR BALLS FROM UNKNOWN SPILL CLEANED UP ON EASTERN SHORE

Workers have finished cleaning up hubcap-sized tar balls from an oil spill that washed ashore on four Eastern Shore islands, the Coast Guard said Thursday.

The Coast Guard was still trying to determine what caused the oil spill that affected Assateague, Assawoman, Metomkin and Wallops islands, Lt. Cmdr. Eric Washburn said.

``Our best guess is that it is from a ship, but the tar balls can travel up to 20 miles a day, so it could have been any ship passing by,'' Washburn said. ``We have no way of tracking down one vessel out of hundreds.''

The Coast Guard spent $76,000 in federal funds on the cleanup as of Wednesday night, but costs were still being tallied, Washburn said.

Six Coast Guard members, 30 private contractors from Industrial Marine Service of Norfolk and 12 people from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service participated in the cleanup.

The impact to wildlife was minimal, Washburn said.

The spill was discovered Friday on a four-mile stretch of Assateague as wildlife refuge workers surveyed the piping plover population. The threatened birds, which migrate to the area from South America, are in their nesting season. KEYWORDS: OIL SPILL U.S. COAST GUARD EASTERN SHORE

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