Israel's Health Ministry has barred the sale of seafood from the Mediterranean Sea. Fishermen were ordered back to shore. Shops and restaurants were warned to take anything that arrived in the past few days from the sea off their shelves and to take in no new sea products. The ministry also said it was sending samples of marine life to Agriculture Ministry laboratories to check for contaminants.
The exceptional measures stem from a massive oil spill off Israel’s coast that occurred at the beginning of February. The spill was detected Feb. 16, when hundreds of tons of tar washed ashore after a heavy storm. On Feb. 21, the ministries of environmental protection, health and interior issued a joint statement calling on the public to avoid the beaches. “The ministries are asking the public to refrain from going to beaches from Rosh Hanikra in the north down to Zikim Beach in the Hof Ashkelon Coastal Council until further notice due to the pollution of the Mediterranean Sea and the beaches from tar. … Do not go to Mediterranean Sea beaches for swimming, sports, or recreational activities until further notice," read the statement.