Spain seeks to ease fears of environmental disaster

CAION, Spain -- Winds reaching 60 mph and high waves hindered shoreline cleanup Wednesday, a day after the tanker Prestige and its cargo of fuel oil sank off Spain.

Yet the high winds, which pushed waves to 26 feet, helped break up a large oil slick off Portugal as Spanish authorities worried the storm was shoving a second fuel oil slick closer to the coast.

Seeking to ease fears of an Exxon Valdez-style catastrophe, Spain's Interior Ministry said no fuel had spilled since the single-hulled vessel broke apart and sank about 150 miles off the Spanish coast Tuesday, six days after it ruptured in a storm.

The Prestige has spilled about 1.6 million of its 20-million gallon load of heavy fuel oil, a total twice the size of the Exxon Valdez crude-oil spill off Alaska in 1989.

Spain said Wednesday it had spotted four oil slicks, including one 10 miles long and 3 miles wide, near the wreckage.

Spanish Environment Minister Jaume Matas said oil has contaminated nearly 180 miles of Galicia's scenic coastline and rich fishing waters. During a visit to a soiled beach near the fishing port of Caion, he estimated economic losses at $42 million so far, and said the cleanup could take six months.

"We have to wait and be prudent because we still don't know whether we have passed the threshold of this crisis," Matas said.

Crews with shovels and buckets worked in strong wind and heavy rain to scoop up sludge along Galicia's craggy coast. The government said more than 250 tons of fuel oil had been recovered so far, half on land and half at sea by skimmer boats.

Rough seas kept two of the vessels -- sent from France and Holland -- out of the mission Wednesday, the interior ministry said.

In some coastal areas not yet hit by the fuel oil, seafood farmers rushed to harvest mussels, clams and cockles ahead of schedule. Spain's fishing industry is worth $330 million a year.

In the inlet of Ria de Arosa, described as one of the world's top mussel grounds, harvesters pulled up ropes on which clusters of black mussels grow, and plucked them all. Normally smaller ones are left behind to mature.

"The accident has hit us very hard," said Francisco Gomez, a 41-year-old fisherman in the village of Cosme. "The consequences are going to last a long time, at least two years."

Luis Ferreira, 42, was pessimistic and recalled that the people of Galicia have a long history of emigration, often to Latin America. "If the situation does not change we will have to pack our bags, just like our ancestors did."

He accused the government of understating the amount of oil in the water and said officials don't know the sea. "They only go there on vacation," he said.

The same area of northwest Spain suffered a disastrous spill 10 years ago when the Greek tanker Aegean Sea ran aground near A Coruna and lost 21.5 million gallons of oil. In 1999, an oil spill from the tanker Erika polluted 250 miles of French coastline.

A U.N. treaty banning single-hulled tankers entered into force this year, but the phase-in period stretches to 2015. European Union officials say their efforts to impose stricter inspections are being subverted by shipowners who avoid EU harbors or avoid dropping anchor when they refuel or pick up supplies.

French President Jacques Chirac said Wednesday he would raise the issue of maritime security at next month's EU summit and criticized European officials for not taking a tougher stand against "garbage ships."