A series of ships have been identified as possible sources of a film of oil stretching near the world famous Great Barrier Reef. An oil slick was confirmed 33 kilometres northeast of Cape Upstart on Friday evening, but aircraft were unable to detect any oil on the surface. Now Maritime Services are claiming they know which ships went past the area, with fourteen ships identified as possible sources of the oil, reports Brisbane times. 'There are 14 ships that we consider are possible sources of oil and we plan to take oil samples from all of those ships,' Patrick Quirk, general manager of Maritime Services QueenslandOfficials confirmed oil spill near the Great Barrier Reef on Friday nightA fisherman reported the spill in the morning before police verified claimsAn aircraft was unable to locate traces of oil at the site on Saturday14 ships have been identified as possible sources of the oil leakageTownsville police will try to match the oil with samples from the ships
'Maritime Safety Queensland has oil pollution resources and staff on standby if required in _ and other ports.