Prestige disaster

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On the 19th of November, the tanker "Prestige" broke in two, after six agonizing days since Wednesday, the 13th, when the ship sent the SOS signal at a few miles off the Galician coast, north western corner of the Iberian Peninsula. The tanker, carrying some 77,000 tonnes of oil, sunk to the depth of 3,600 meters some 250 km off the Spanish coast, with a large quantity of oil still on board.

This image was captured by the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) onboard the Envisat spacecraft, launched by ESA last March. This ASAR Wide Swath image acquisition was scheduled (in emergency) for 17 November 2002 when the Prestige vessel started to sink. More information at European Space Agency Web site.

About at least 50000 tones of fuel are still supposed to be inside and some 120 tones are going out every day, through holes in the tanker hull, in the open sea. But the slick has now split into a great number of black stains of different sizes, that travel at different depths and are very difficult to manage due to the dominant currents and winds.

The impacts on the coast are extremely severe. The leakage so far has affected more than 1000 km of coast in different degrees, from the North Portugal to the South West France.

This map shows an approach to the area already affected by the oil spill in the Cantabric Coast.

This map shows an approach to the area already affected by the oil spill in South West France.

Source: TERRIS and CORINE Coastal Erosion

What will happen now on is not certain and will depend upon the decision taken and its resulting impacts. Three possibilities are at stake:

closing the holes through which fuel is escaping,
making a sarcophagi on the wreck to avoid more linkages and
pump out the fuel, which is in the long term the more secure solution.

The solution adopted will have a close and direct relation with future territorial impacts on the coast.

At short term, immediate impacts are related to the physical effects of the fuel on the substrate (coverage that impedes light penetration and oxygenation) and to acute toxicity releases.

But effects at mid and long term will be more related with the alteration of the structure and dynamic of the ecosystems. Some compounds with persistent and bio-accumulative characteristics will remain in the trophic chain for generations.

As an important quantity of fuel has deposited on the sea bottom, where cleaning is difficult or impossible, there is a very high probability that this sediment material will act as a contamination source during very long time periods.

Investigations made where other accidents of similar characteristic have happened show that the recuperation of the affected ecosystems may last 15-20 years. Problem is that ecological costs are translated quite directly and dramatically in economic, social and cultural costs in the affected zones.

Impacts depend on mainly three factors:

the characteristics of the spilled material,
the surface and quality (rich ecosystems) of the affected area and
the social and economic importance of the ecosystems in the regional socio-economic and cultural context.

The characteristics of the spilled material.

So far, more than 20000 tones of fuel have been spilled. It is a very thick material with a very low solubility in water, which happens to be extremely persistent in the environment. It presents very high levels of sulfur compounds, which once liberated are highly toxic. Moreover, it includes a number of heavy metals such as chrome, nickel, etc that accumulate in bivalves and eventually enter the tropic chain. Therefore, attention should be drawn on the fact that once the acute impact will pass, another impact will occur due to the eco-toxicology of the compound at medium and long term.

The surface and quality (rich ecosystems) of the affected area.

The affected surface is very important: more of 1000 km of coastline, with its sandy and rocky shores. But important areas in the sea bottom have also been affected, including tidal areas. These submerged areas were biologically very rich along the Galician and Cantabric shores, and are the nursery and feeders of most of benthonic and demersal species.

The environmental damage is immense. The affected area has a large number of protected habitats that make up the NATURA 2000 network in the Region of Galicia, including the Costa da Morte (several locations), estuaries of Anllons, Carnota and Monte Pindo, Monte and Laguna de Louro, Estuario del Tambre and others. The environmentalists are concerned about the fate of rock ecosystems (e.g. the Cies Islands and the rocky coastlines in the area), and especially about the coral and sponge colonies. Also affected are the rich tidal zones (eg. the tidal area Umia-Grove) and the estuaries, beaches, and wetlands that form a part of the RAMSAR protected habitats (e.g. the Corrubedo zone).

Moreover, the National Park of the Atlantic Islands, home of the four most important colonies of marine birds in the Atlantic areas have been dramatically affected (Sisargas, Cies, Ons and Vilan).

See a table showing the natural arees that are in danger.

Following SEO/BirdLife so far more than 20000 birds have dead due to the black tide caused by the Prestige, affecting specially shags, guillemots, kentish plovers, great northern divers, razorbills and gannets. Species such as the guillemot may disappear in Spain as its two only ones nesting places have been mortally affected by tons of fuel spilled by the tanker. The impact has happened during the high season for migration of birds that nest in Scotland, United Kingdom, and France, especially for razorbills, guillemots, and gannets. During this period, Galicia and Cantabric coasts are the home to large colonies of birds that spend the winter in the area because of the plentiful supply of food. The black tide is the most important episode of marine bird mortality ever registered in Spain and probably also in Europe.

The social and economic importance of the ecosystems in the regional socio-economic and cultural context.

Costa da Morte and Rias Baixes ecosystems are the main reservoir of seafood in Europe. Fishermen (specially women) specialized in shellfish recollection were expecting to make their living for Christmas season, when the high demand of seafood makes the price higher. All this expectation has dead with the black tide. Fishermen and fish industry are the most affected in a society who live mainly from the sea. A ban on coastal fishery affects the entire fishermen associations. Many families are directly affected and their weight represents also a difficult situation for the rest of the society (mainly industrial sector linked with fishery and navigation, and commercial sector linked with family consumption ). Moreover, the tourist sector, based mainly on rural and coastal tourist offer, will be also affected. So it is the entire Galician society, which is at stake. Moreover, the situation is gaining today a dramatically cultural impact, in Galicia, where civil society has organized against the tide and where an impressive movement of solidarity has arisen from the rest of Spain and parts of Europe to support Galicia and the other affected areas.

Examples of % population working on fishery sector in the affected area (in blue):

Meanwhile, WWF points out that there seems to be no end in sight to potential for similar catastrophes. As long as the oil remains the primary energy source of the world, such disasters and the loss of marine and coastal biodiversity are likely to happen at any part of the globe. At the same time, burning oil and other fossil fuels, such as coal, contribute massively to global warming and air pollution, affecting human health and causing acid rain. Crude oil provides about 40% of all present global energy demand, and is the largest single energy source. Oil exploration is projected to grow by another 60% in the next 30 years, maintaining the high share of world energy use. Oil is used in power plants as well as for heating in some countries, but its main use of as fuel for cars and trucks all over the globe. In the power and heat sector, oil can - and should - be easily replaced by cleaner natural gas and renewable energies. The Prestige was carrying heavy industrial crude for power plants, thus underscoring the need to switch to cleaner fuels for power generation. However, the main consumer of oil products is the transport sector where strong policies to curb and replace demand for oil are desperately needed.

In the framework of the ICZM Recommendations, a scientific follow-up of these different impacts is needed. In this line, some studies have already begun. And last but not least, maritime transport should, in the same framework, be clearly tackled and managed in order to prevent such catastrophes.

The map below shows the major oil spills occurred between 1970 and 2001. The red symbols correspond to the main spills.

Some figures updated on the 21th Dec (Source: Xunta de Galicia):

662 beaches affected of 1064 in Spain (437 in Galicia, 119 in Asturias, 51 in Cantábria, 44 Euskadi and 21 in the Islas Atlánticas National Park). In France at least 18.

More than 25 km of floating barriers have been placed. In France more than 12 Km are being used.

16 special ships and hundreds of small ones, thousand of volunteers&soldiers working on the cleaning tasks in Spain.

Cleaned more than 40000 tons in the Spanish beaches and more than 20000 m³ in the sea.

Fishing not allowed along 798 kilometres (the galician coast has 1121 km).

16140 fishermen, and 6619 boats of the Galician fishing fleet remain actually inactive.

You can find updated information in La Voz de Galicia, the main page of a galician newspaper (in spanish). Updated daily.

You can find more information in these sites:

	Cedre	Detailed technical information on the accident
	UNEP	World Conservation Monitoring Center - Information on the impacts of the oil spill
	WWF	Daily updates, impacts, species affected, photos
	Conselleria de Pesca e Asuntos Marítimos	Xunta de Galicia. The official web site from the regional government (in galician)
	Vigo University (Galicia)	Web site mainteined by members of Vigo University (Galicia). Updated information (in galician)
	La Voz de Galicia	The main page of a galician newspaper (in spanish). Updated daily.
	European Commission. Press release	«We could have avoided the PRESTIGE oil spill» says Loyola de Palacio at the European Parliament.
	European Commission. Memorandum in pdf format.	From the Directorate General for Energy and Transport.
	CETMAR, Centro Tecnológico del mar.	A Galician research Centre that aims to integrate and optimise R + D resources in the field of sea produce (in spanish).
	BBC	Pictures

We have grouped some images here