For anyone who lived in Bermuda during the 1960s and 1970s, seeing tar balls and oil on local beaches was a frequent, if not regular, occurrence.  Floating tar balls are the result of petroleum in the marine environment, either from onshore and offshore oil production, processing and handling, shipping operations, or natural oil seeps. Because some tar balls float, they can be carried over large distances by ocean currents before they are deposited on the shoreline.

New research is shedding light on the impact of oxybenzone, a chemical filter found in many sunscreens, on Bermuda’s coral reefs. With funding from the Bermuda Government Department of Nature and Environmental Resources and NASA, a team of researchers at BIOS, led by senior scientist and coral reef ecologist Eric Hochberg, conducted a study to characterize the presence of oxybenzone, or benzophenone-3, in Bermuda’s nearshore waters, as well as the impacts on corals from long-term, low-dose exposure to the chemical.