Oil spills near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

Australian authorities have found an oil slick off the country’s western coast near the Great Barrier Reef.

Police from the province of Queensland are still working to figure out how much oil was spilled, where it came from and what effect, if any, it would have on the world’s largest coral reef, the Brisbane Times reports.

{mosads}“We can confirm some patches of oily water have been sighted in the water south of Townsville,” a spokeswoman for Queensland Transport told the Times.

The slick was first confirmed Friday afternoon, which was early Friday morning in the United States, by a helicopter team about 10 miles off Australia’s coast.

“A water police vessel out of Townsville, and Emergency Management Queensland helicopter investigated and reported a sheen on the water and small oily patches about one metre in diameter,” the Queensland agency said.

Officials did not tell the Times how big the sheen is, but local coast guard officials said it is about 800 meters, or a half mile, in diameter. The agency is assembling a team of oil spill specialists to travel to the site.

The spill is likely to be Queensland’s worst oil disaster since the March 2009 spill of about 100,000 liters, or 26,000 gallons, in a bay.