Coast Guard investigating oil slick off California coast

But county fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni said it was “very large” and its current size would be determined when a Coast Guard helicopter arrived to fly over it.

David Zaniboni, a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, told Los Angeles television station KABC that his agency also has not identified the source of the sheen and as a result was not calling the incident an oil spill.

The oil was spotted Wednesday morning about 1,000 yards into the waters off Goleta and measured about 60 feet in width, the Coast Guard said.

Investigators descended on a Santa Barbara, California, beach Wednesday after two kayakers returned to the shore covered in oil.

Oil routinely appears in the local coastal waters from natural seeps.

A marine safety team has been dispatched to try to determine the source of the oil, including whether it is from well-known natural seepage in the Santa Barbara Channel.

The pair reported a large oil slick, Zaniboni said, adding that oil was on the kayakers’ legs and boats.

The reported oil sheen comes more than two months after a pipeline ruptured off the Santa Barbara County coast and spilled over 100,000 gallons of crude oil.

That spill May 19 released an estimated 101,000 gallons of crude along the Gaviota coast, with tens of thousands of gallons estimated to have made it into the ocean. Goleta Beach Park remains open, but people are not being allowed onto the beach or in the water.