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On November 19th 2002 the oil tanker Prestige sank off the Atlantic coast of Spain. It was carrying 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. About 12,000 tonnes of this was spilled and a few hundred tonnes have already appeared on Spanish beaches. Most of the oil (90 percent according to some estimates) seems to have gone down with the ship to the bottom of the sea, where it will turn into a gel which may or may not reappear at some later date. Greenpeace of course is calling this "one of the world's worst environmental disasters" (19 Nov 2002). But is it? How does a spill of 12 - 77,000 tonnes compare with other famous marine oil spillages?
Source: International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Most environments around these previous spills had recovered within a couple of years. Bird populations in particular re-grew rapidly. Local shellfish beds and sheltered inlets will take the longest to recover but overall this accident looks likely to be locally damaging but probably not an ecological disaster. Jim Thornton Nottingham, 23 Nov 2002 See also Letter from Pablo
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