Toxic tar balls threaten endangered seabirds along South Africa's coast, revealing significant gaps in the country's pollution monitoring and response capabilities.

Small clumps of weathered oil, commonly known as tar balls, have washed up on beaches in Algoa Bay, the Garden Route and Struisbaai, sparking concern among conservationists and authorities.

The appearance of these sticky, toxic deposits along South Africa's coastlines has raised concern for the country's vulnerable seabird populations and placed the country's limited coastal pollution monitoring capabilities under the spotlight.

To date, at least two seabirds -- Cape gannets -- have been reported oiled in Cape St Francis, in the Eastern Cape, but experts cannot yet confirm whether tar balls were responsible.

The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) confirmed it retrieved one dead Cape gannet over the weekend and was stabilising a second bird, which was not severely oiled.

"It's not very clear whether the type of oil on these birds matches the tar balls," said Monica Stassen, Sanccob's preparedness and response manager. "You'd need to take samples of both to confirm, and our capabilities in South Africa for that are extremely limited."

There had been no reports of penguins being oiled or affected by the tar balls, said Stassen.

She said the organisation first observed tar balls -- small, sticky clumps of weathered...