An oily substance found on a beach near Savoonga, Alaska, along with dead sea birds covered in the substance, remains a mystery. The substance and birds have been sent to national laboratories for analysis, but scientists are still unsure of what the material is and how it got there. The oil was found to be biogenic, possibly cooking oil from a ship's kitchen or a byproduct fish oil produced by an industrial fish processing vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard has responded to the report of a spill, but little can be done until the source of the oil is identified. Marine traffic through the Bering Strait has been on the rise, and the northward movement of commercially valuable cod and pollock has brought shipping fleets closer to St. Lawrence Island.