More than three weeks after the breakup of the oil tanker Prestige, every wave that rolls on to Spain's Atlantic beaches seems to bring more black, tarry sludge.
It is estimated that 6000 tonnes of fuel oil escaped from the ship, threatening the livelihoods of fishermen and killing thousands of seabirds.
One
question is on the lips of the thousands of Spanish volunteers in the almost-impossible cleanup operation: "Who is to blame?"
The bills of lading and charter papers relating to the Prestige illustrate the difficulty of bringing a successful claim for compensation.
The tanker is registered in the Bahamas and owned by a Liberian company managed in Athens. Its cargo was being carried for a business with headquarters in Switzerland but which is owned by a Russian company.
"I can see a fantastic trail of blame stretching across the Atlantic," said Paul Stookes, an expert in environmental law and chief executive of the Environmental Law Foundation.
The first target of any legal action, he suggests, will be the ship's owners, who may attempt to implicate Spain and Portugal for refusing to allow the crippled tanker to be brought into port.
The guiding principle covering major marine pollution accidents is that the "polluter pays" and they are subject to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.
Since the Oil Pollution Liability Convention 1992, liability has been firmly established as being with the ship's owner.
The ship's operator or cargo owner is entitled to limit financial liability according to the tonnage of the vessel. But recent disasters have shown that compensation is always too little, too late and can never make amends for the lasting damage to the environment.
The thankless task of bringing legal action lies with the Spanish Government and the International Maritime Organisation, which will be primarily responsible for cleaning up the beaches and incurring the initial costs.
"It will be interesting to see whether the fishermen will be properly compensated for loss of livelihood, or whether the cumulative effects on the marine food chain will be evaluated," says Stookes.
Environmental lawyers have been urging Governments to make companies criminally responsible for their actions.
But Stookes says the burden of proof in establishing a criminal charge is often too onerous.
- INDEPENDENT
Herald feature: Environment
More than three weeks after the breakup of the oil tanker Prestige, every wave that rolls on to Spain's Atlantic beaches seems to bring more black, tarry sludge.
It is estimated that 6000 tonnes of fuel oil escaped from the ship, threatening the livelihoods of fishermen and killing thousands of seabirds.
One
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