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Nabarralde | Nabarra Papers
300,000
Seabirds Killed by Erika Oil Spill
By Mila Parot
Zubimendi
About 300,000
seabirds have been killed by Erika's oil spill in December,
with some 30,000 rescued and cleaned. Endangered gray seals
on the island of Belle L'il have been affected. The Erika, a
Maltese-registered oil tanker, was torn in two by high seas
and winds on December 12, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) off
the northwestern coast of the French state south of the Brittany
port city of Brest. It was carrying some eight million gallons
of crude oil from Rotterdam in the Netherlands to Leghorn, Italy.
Both sections of the tanker sank. About 10,000 tons of the heavy
fuel oil spilled into the sea. It hit the coast on December
25 and has fouled the French shore from Quiberon south to La
Tremblade.
Environment
Minister Dominique Voynet told a news conference in Brittany
two days after the incident that "one day or another it will
wash up on the coast, in Nantes, la Rochelle or the Basque coast."
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Bird caught by Erika's oil (Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society) |
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The Fauna Center
in Gorliz, Bizkaia, has rescued and cleaned some 17 seabirds
stained with oil from the Erika spill. Dozens of seabirds have
been found dead stained with oil in the Cantabric coast.
Greenpeace
spokeperson in Bizkaia, Jose Luis Garcia, said that the oil
spill is affecting and will continue to affect not only the
seabirds, but the entire ecosystem of the Gulf of Bizkaia. "It
is an ecologic disaster, and even if the oil is far from our
coast, the impact, however, is going to affect the entire Gulf
of Bizkaia."
The French
government has called for tighter controls on the transport
of crude oil such as the heavy fuel oil spilled by Erika. The
tankers carrying fuel oil, tar and crude oil should be subject
to the same safety requirements as ships transporting more volatile
products such naptha, kerosene, petrol and gaseline, said a
report by the French government issued earlier this month.
Greenpeace
has said the accident "highlights the deficiencies of the International
Maritime Organization in authorising ships, flying flags of
convenience, that do not have sufficient provisions for transporting
oil safely."
Environmentalists
in the French state have urged Totalfina to assume total responsibility
for the oiling of over 400 kilometres (248 miles) of coastline
since December 24 and the deaths of ten of thousands of seabirds.
Several groups have called for a consumer boycott of the company's
products, arguing that only this would force the whole industry
to improve its safety record.
Meanwhile,
the Council of Europe based in Strasbourg, France yesterday
called for the polluter pays principle to be applied to all
parties involved in the Erika disaster. The environment committee
of the 41-country bloc said there was an urgent need to ensure
that every company involved in hiring the Erika is made to pay
for environmental damage caused by the oil spill. Under current
international law, the carrier and not the owner of the cargo
carries liability.
January 2000
Mila Parot
Zubimendi is a law student and an environment activist.
She's currently living in Miarritze.
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