Winds threaten to blow oil slick closer to Spanish coast

4.30pm

CAION, Spain - Spain watched anxiously today as winds threatened to blow an oil slick towards her ravaged northwest coast, and ecologists warned a sunken tanker on the Atlantic seabed may prove an environmental time-bomb.

The 26-year-old Prestige broke in two late last night (NZ time) and sank 3600 metres to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean laden with more than 65,000 tonnes of viscous fuel oil -- twice the volume spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

The tanker left behind it a massive slick some 280km long by 28km wide and lingering doubts over whether more could have done more to prevent Europe's second major disaster in three years involving an old-fashioned single-hulled tanker.

Some experts expressed hope the toxic fuel oil in the Prestige's tanks would harden due to freezing temperatures and high pressure on the ocean floor, sparing rich fisheries nearby.

Some 5,000 tonnes of fuel oil spewed by the Prestige when it first ran into problems a week ago have already blackened a stretch of more than 80 km of the scenic shores of Galicia, in northwest Spain.

Ecologists rushed distressed sea birds coated in tar to a rescue centre in the regional capital of La Coruna, and hundreds of navy officials joined volunteers on some beaches yesterday shovelling and even vacuuming up thick black sludge.

But locals said the impact could be long-lasting for some of Europe's richest fisheries, famous for gourmet delicacies such as lobster and goose barnacles.

"This is going to take 10 years to recover. They try and clean it up but the sea brings in more," said retired fisherman Jose Camano, 72, staring at the tar-covered beach at Caion. "This means complete ruin for us. Who will buy our fish now?"

Weather forecasts said westerly winds should carry the gigantic spill toward the Galician coast, increasing pressure on regional authorities who rushed to place some 28km of inflatable barriers across the mouths of the region's unspoilt river valleys.

A fleet of tugs, clean-up vessels and aircraft from around Europe approached the site of the sinking, some 210km west of Spain's coastline. But five-metre waves prevented them containing any oil on the surface.

Authorities estimated the slick on Galicia's coast had already thrown 4,000 fishermen out of work and left 28,000 people in associated industries temporarily without jobs.

That could pose a grave problem for an area where fishing and tourism are the main money earners. Spain's centre-right government, which faces regional elections next year, vowed to provide tax breaks and compensation for residents.

Environmentalists questioned Spain's decision to order the tanker back onto the high seas after it begun leaking, rather than bringing it into a port to unload.

"From the first, the WWF considered the Prestige an ecological bomb circulating on the Galician coast, and finally it has exploded in a little-known area of huge environmental value," said Jose Luis Garcia Varas, head of the ecologist WWF's local maritime programme.

The area where the Prestige sank, he said, was close to a submarine mountain with a great diversity of fish and coral.

Spain has said the decision to tow the Prestige was taken under advice from maritime experts and avoided a much worse environmental catastrophe on her coast.

Government spokesman Mariano Rajoy said Spain would push for swifter implementation of European Union legislation to ban single-hulled tankers such as the Prestige. Such vessels are currently not due to be outlawed in Europe for another 13 years.

Sailing under a Bahamas flag, the Liberian-owned Prestige was chartered by the Swiss-based Russian oil trader Crown Resources and operated by Athens-based Universe Maritime.

Meanwhile, a question mark hung over the fate of the sunken ship. Some experts said the Prestige's tanks might have cracked upon hitting the sea floor, or eventually implode from the pressure or perhaps rust through.

Others said the frigid ocean temperatures of the deep could help prevent disaster by solidifying the mass, slowing its break-up.

The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPCF) has already allotted $310 million in damages for the Prestige spill, but Spain's government has said it reserves the right to take all appropriate legal action under maritime law.

- REUTERS

Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/environment