Multiple agencies are investigating after a particularly disgusting mystery washed ashore in West Vancouver.
On Friday evening, residents reported to the District of West Vancouver what appeared to be globs of stinky fat washing up on Ambleside Beach.
“It is gross, to be sure,” said Donna Powers, West Vancouver spokeswoman. “It is kind of mysterious.”
The blobs of fat were mostly at the high-tide level, according to the district.
The district sent staff to investigate and collect the distasteful debris with shovels, resulting in almost 40 litres being picked up and hauled away — enough to fill 10 one-gallon ice cream tubs, Powers said.
The Canadian Coast Guard as well as staff from the Ministry of Environment and Vancouver Coastal Health came the next day to inspect the beach.
Some of the congealed grease was collected and sent to a lab for testing. The results won’t be known until later in the week, but the health authority opted not to close the beach for swimming.
“We were advised by Vancouver Coastal Health that it presented no health risk,” Powers said.
There has been no sign of fresh fat deposits turning up since then, she said.
It will be up to the province to determine whether there was a hazardous materials spill and investigate who may be responsible, Powers said. If the fat was dumped from a vessel in the harbour, it will be difficult to track down, she noted.
Metro Vancouver has previously warned of “fatbergs” — large masses of fat and other solids — in the sewer system. Melted fats dumped down drains solidify and then tend to trap other solids, which can build up and threaten to clog the system.
“We clean them out in West Van all the time,” Powers said.
