Spain Spill Prompts Ships Blacklist
The European Union on Tuesday released a blacklist of 66 ships to be banned from its ports, hoping to prevent future oil spills even as Spanish fisherman raced to protect their livelihood from a persistent oily tide.
In addition to issuing the blacklist, the EU's Executive Commission also called for the total ban of heavy oil fuel transported by single-hulled vessels.
The Union's moves come after The Prestige sank off the Spanish coast last month and spilled thousands of tons of fuel, was such a single-hull ship. The ban can become effective if approved by the national governments.
The oil slicks have already killed some 15,000 birds and contaminated 164 beaches. The spill now also threatens to hit the French coastline.
The blacklist names 49 bulk carriers, eight chemical tankers and oil tankers that should be shunned. It also lists one passenger vessel — the "Gabrielle" from Bolivia.
It lists ships that would have been banned under proposed new EU rules, in the hope that "operators will refrain from chartering substandard ships."
Of the ships, 26 were from Turkey, 12 from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and nine from Cambodia.
The Prestige was flagged from the Bahamas when its hull broke and sank on Nov. 19. An estimated 5.3 million gallons spilled. The rest, about 57,000 tons, sank with the ship.
The oil released by the Presitge spread along the coast this week. Fishermen, trying to protect Europe's richest shellfish beds, frantically deployed their nets and other equipment Tuesday to scoop thick globs of oil from the sea.
Meanwhile, a French research submarine was scheduled to make its second dive to confirm preliminary results that there were no new leaks from the sunken wreck, some 155 miles off the coast.
Dozens of small and large fishing boats were at the entrance of the Rias Baixas (Lower Estuaries) gathering the tar-like fuel oil with nets, cranes and other fishing equipment to protect the reserve that provides livelihoods for some 250,000 families in the area.
"Every fifty meters (yards) you see a slick, it is enough to make you cry. We are resigned to our fate. All we can do is keep fighting," said one local fisherman.
A report from the regional government of Galicia confirmed Tuesday that there was a slick seven miles (13 kilometers) off Isla de Ons at the entrance to one the estuaries.
More than 164 beaches on the Galicia coastline have been contaminated, ruining the region's vital fishing industry and killing or severely harming thousands of birds, fish and several dolphins.
The World Wildlife Fund in Madrid also warned that the slick was on the brink of hitting Corrubedo, a coastal nature park with large sand dunes, wild flora and fauna, just north of the Rias Baixas.
A small French submarine surveyed the wreck Monday and concluded the ship was not leaking from its cargo tanks, the government said.
The Nautile, best known for finding the remains of the Titanic, was to continue examining the site of the wreck for another week.