GALICIA.. MAYDAY RELAY..

[Albatros]

This is a message from Galicia.. in NW Spain.. where, as you all may already know, some days ago, an old single-hull oil tanker named PRESTIGE cracked and sunk causing a tremendous oil slick that has been polluting and killing the Galician sea and coast in over 300 miles.. firstly with about 10,000 tons of toxic heavy fuel that hit the shore last week.. and now with 11,000 tons more which are just about to hit a much wider area during the weekend.. and the situation is far from seeing its end as thousands of the 50,000 tons still remaining at the bottom of the sea at just over 100 miles off the coast are leaking off the sunken vessel and starting to float in the area.. and which will eventually hit Galicia again, but even portugal, France, UK.. depending on winds and currents..

The situation in Galicia is terrible.. from the very first moment.. with technically-ignorant politicians leading the operation.. forbidding private volunteers and citizen organizations from cleaning the beaches and protecting the fish farms, the estuaries, the birds.. cheating on the Galician population, trying to minimize the real dimension of this catastrophe.. even denying the existence of an oil slick.. while other European governments, specialized organizations, foreign and national technicians, were already confirming Europe's biggest ever oil pollution disaster.. since what is already a tragedy is nothing but the tip of the iceberg.. the worst is yet to come..

The tanker, owned by THE SAME Greek holding that was behind the disasters of AEGEAN SEA in Galicia 10 years ao and ERIKA in France, sailing under PANAMA flag, and chartered by the Russian ALPHA GROUP, was in a very poor condition, and loaded with toxic heavy fuel, with an incredibly high sulphur content and loads of carcinogenic substances.. and loads of that heavy fuel are not floating but spreading all over the seabed, killing fish and shellfish in the bottom.. killing all birds on the beaches.. and already affecting the lungs of the few volunteers that managed to bypass government's control and started to clean up the beaches..

Galicia lives OFF the sea.. FOR the sea.. BY the sea.. thousands of fishermen, shellfish farmers, sailors, have lost their income.. their daily bread and butter.. when they were starting to recover from the AEGEAN SEA tragedy of 1992.. and previous tragedies of URQUIOLA in the 70s.. CASON in the 80s.. and the most important fishing and fish farming area in the world has been destroyed.. and is still being destroyed as I type this letter.. because there is no response from the government.. there are no means to clean up the spill.. there are no barriers.. the means are so scarce and inadequate that are virtually useless.. and the lack of experience and know-how of the politicians handling this situation is increasing the magnitude of this catastrophe by the minute..

Not only volunteers have been told off the beaches.. there is no coordinaton or organization of efforts at all.. neither technical means nor human resources.. and international help offered hours after the situation started has never been accepted.. except for a couple of boats that arrived too late and which cannot operate in the adverse weather conditions we are suffering these days..

Planes and helicopters have just been banned off the area so that nobody can take pictures or live shots of the Galician coast or sea.. !!!!!!!!!!!!

Thousands of people in the area.. not just the fishermen and their families, but all of us who love the sea and sailing on it.. our sea.. YOUR SEA.. because the sea belongs to us and to you too.. it belongs to ALL of us.. or at least that's what I feel when I sail in UK waters , Spanish waters or anywhere else.. I feel we all own a bit of it.. and I reckon we should all feel affected by this atrocity.. even if the oil slick does not get to our very own coastal villages and harbours..

As you probably guess from reading this letter.. it is written in a state of anger, fear, anxiety, worry, which is shared by thousands of people here in Galicia.. that horrible feeling of being absolutely powerless, abandoned, alone.. because Galicia has been left to die.. silently!!! this is no longer just an unforeseen accident.. this is not unvoluntary homicide or manslaughter.. this is MURDER.. and it is being carried out in the MEDIA DARKNESS.. hiding it with lies and disinformation.. misleading international interest.. minimizing media impact.. killing us with a hand covering our mouth so that our cries do not hit national and international headlines!!!!

We all depend on making this public and widely known as the ONLY WAY to force European politicians to put an immediate end to this situation and future tragedies all over Europe by passing strong and urgent bills to prevent crappy tankers from sailing across our seas at a short distance of our shores.. by enforcing inspections off ALL vessels at ALL harbours and arresting those which do no not meet safety standards.. by banning oil companies from making huge profits by putting all of us at risk.. by making the companies behind the PRESTIGE, the AEGEAN SEA, the BRAER, the SEA EMPRESS, the ERIKA, and so many others have not just economical but legal liability for their actions.. even go to jail (not the Masters, who are simply doing their job the best they can.. but the GREEDY PIGS who sit comfortably at their homes, miles away, while reading the news on these catastrophes.. and who even make more money out of them.. with cargos insured at 110% of their value.. and crappy ships very well covered and paid by insurance companies..) by making class societies be strict and not affected by the pressure from their "clients".. by not allowing shipowners to by pass all safety regulations by using convenience flags and "slave" crews with no technical knowlege of shipping..

This is a MAYDAY RELAY message from Galicia and its people.. for you to transmit the best way you can.. to as many people as possible.. using all possible means.. word of mouth.. internet forums worldwide.. websites.. letters to editors.. mass media articles.. whatever!!!! please don't let our sea.. YOUR SEA.. be killed silently.. speak up if you can.. because most of the people suffering, crying, praying, here in Galicia cannot do it.. and it is our future and the future of our kids we are dealing with..

When my dad took me to see the burning URQUIOLA I was the same age my kids are today.. and it is me now taking them to see PRESTIGE's slick.. my youth was marked by those YEARS of tar covered beaches and rocks.. by the dead birds on the beaches.. by the acrid smell of the sea.. and I hoped then that it would never happen again.. but it did, back in 92.. when I was starting to be an adult.. and it did again a few days ago.. and it is my kids now who will suffer during the coming years the effects of this tragedy..

Let's all do our utmost so that it never happens again.. neither in Galicia.. nor wherever you are.. NEVER AGAIN.. NOWHERE..

Best regards from Galicia.. in NW Spain.. and thanks to all of you who share our feelings and who understand what Galician people are going through.. especially to those who have contacted us and volunteered to help.. we need it.. and shall need it for a long time..

Albatros

 

[nicho]

Albatross - this is a bit of a heavy subject, which is probably why not too many have replied so far. What can be said, except that everyone here is I'm sure very sorry indeed for the problems you face over there?. It must be doubly devastating knowing that the problem was undoubtedly exacurbated by Government dithering/incompetance (nothing new there then).

I read the other day that some of this oil is now turning up on some UK beaches - nothing as bad as over there of course.

Very best of luck to you and the rest of the coastal based population affected by this disaster.

Mike N.

 

[plopp]

Re: GALICA Tory Canyon

I still remember the grounding of the Tory Conyon all those years ago and the damage that the coast and wildlife incurred. This was the first of the big tanker oil spils as far as I know,and see all the ditherring around the politicans did then. After god knows how many sinkings a Lesson has, will not be learnt.
Good luck Albatros, and all those in northan Spain,

 

[cgull]

This subject received at least 10 seconds on BBC news tonight!

 

[Ohdrat]

Is there a campaigning / lobbying web site regarding this and other oil spills..

I feel as strongly about this as you Albatros (living in another beautiful part of the world .. Scotland)

When I see our environment so needlessly endangered it makes me furious and I get a real sense of frustration 'cus I cannot see how I can change or prevent further enviromental disasters like this..

 

[spark]

Highland Council are trying to organise an international conference to discuss the threat of oil spills on Europe's coastlines and put pressure on governments to eliminate 'flag of convenience' vessels from European ports. I think the conference is planned for next Feb (ish) but how much good it will do is anybody's guess. There has been a campaign going for the last 10 years to keep oil tankers out of the Minches but it has yet to meet with any success, possibly because it doesn't really address the real issue which is poorly built/maintained ships with untrained crews.

My heart goes out to the Galicians. The thought of the same thing happening here is chilling. It would destroy huge chunks of our already fragile economy, never mind the damage to wildlife.

 

[Guest]

An Englishman thinks he is moral....

when he is only uncomfortable.
Geore Bernard Shaw.

Sorry Albatros, I sympathize with you for having this terrible disaster on your doorstep, but shipping owners and masters have as much feeling for the environment as French, Spanish, and yes, British fishermen have for maintaining fish stocks and looking after the environment. The French also have a terrible record for animal welfare but us British buy it because it’s cheaper than (legal) homegrown.

This current disaster is only a symptom of our own selfish requirements for fuel and convenience at the lowest possible price.

Lets take an example of (us) a pleasure boater in a marina. He probably does a round trip of say 180 miles in his powerful car, or worse, a four wheel drive to go sailing. This is encouraged by schoolboys and schoolgirls presenting motoring programs that encourage the young to drive cars like killers and the rest to feel like an idiot in anything less than a BMW. He drives this type of vehicle for his own vanity, and certainly not for the mpg or environment. It does not stop there of course. While he’s been away, his dehumidifier has been burning away all week , plus, probably his fridge with perhaps next to nothing in it. If his marina is like the one near me, it is dredging the WHOLE of the winter to take out eighteen inches of mud that has accumulated over the year in this man made environment for pleasure. You cannot believe how much diesel this takes to both drag it up, and worse, pump the spoil over a long distance. He does all this for the simple reason that he has the ability to pay and bugger everything else . Even leading members of his government enforce this attitude. Half the owners own a boat to prove to themselves, and more likely others, that they have ‘made it’.

This now kicks in down the line. Probably, at least half of marina dwellers would not have a boat if they had to ‘rough it’ with a mooring. This now pushes up the price for the average sailing punter with a mooring where the anti is pushed up for nearly all other services. Economies of scale go in reverse instead of working for all. Even on the East Coast there is a waiting list for marina berths yet we are all on an island with hundreds of miles of useable coastline. We could all have an excellent taxi service to our moorings if we really wanted it.


WE ARE ALL TO BLAME – lets not kid ourselves otherwise. Do I use marinas ? Yes.














price

 

[halcyon]

Re: An Englishman thinks he is moral....

We have oil coming ashore along our bit of the Cornish coast of a similar type, may be from the wreck, may be from a tanker cleaning tanks in mid channel, we await official words.

Regarding the new marina culture, we have it locally with the expansion of our small local site.
Uptil 4 years ago 95% of moorings were swinging, 5% pontoon, 20-30 foot, 10/20 year old boats most owned by local working people, car park full of exBT vans or bangers. But come weekends and Summer holiday weeks, the moorings and pontoon would be empt as every one sailed at every oppertunity.
Now we have 180 birth marina , and a 1/3 of the swinging moorings gone, now we have 30-50 foot boats, new to 5 year old, car park with Mercs, BMW, Volvo and loads of 4x4's. and birthing fees doubled at least. Come Summer though do the boats move ? no, this year mid Summer blue sky nice breeze, nothing moves, the owners that are there are reading there newspapers.
So not only have we moved 1000's of tons of mud, we have got rid of the people who used the water and replaced them by people who do not need the facilities.

Funny world these days.

Brian

 

[webcraft]

Re: An Englishman thinks he is moral....

Vic,

We are NOT 'all to blame' just because we use petroleum products. That is a convenient argument that the oil companies want us to believe. If you really think that none of us can criticise the oil companies unless we give up all oil based products then I hope you enjoy your guilt, but I certainly won't share it.

I'm sure the fishermen of Galicia don't share your guilt either - they use diesel or petrol in their engines, are you suggesting that makes them responsible for the mess they now find themselves in? I hope not.

Oil companies are 100% to blame for using these rickety single-hulled tubs to transport the stuff. They make huge profits and have the power to run all these disgusting old buckets off the sea if they choose. They choose not to, however, and now Galicia is living with the consequences.

I am sure that if (unsurprisingly) the oil companies do not want to pay more for safe transportation then most of us would welcome the opportunity to pay an environmental tariff on our fuel/plastics to fund it. We are not however given the option, we are simply told that we are greedy bastards who want cheap fuel and don't care how we get it. This may be true for the US, but surely not for the rest of us. Problem is, most oil companies are US owned or controlled . . . Catch 22.

(You can read more posts on this issue and related matters in the thread 'thanks for the oil, Spain')

Albatros, I will do what I can - I will put your post on my own website, but like all of us I feel powerless. Do you have a Green political party in Spain? If so, hopefully a few more people will vote for them next time.

<font color=blue>Nick</font color=blue>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.bluemoment.com>

</A>

 

[Ohdrat]

Re: An Englishman thinks he is moral....

Quite agree.. and any way the fault here lies with the ship builders for cutting corners and use of the single skin build type and the shipping owners / managers for using an aged single skin tanker..

 

[Twister_Ken]

Torrey Canyon, not Tory, and contact addresses

Just in case your post was thought to be political, it was the Torrey Canyon, not the Tory Canyon.

But talking politically, single country action is unlikely to achieve anything. For pan-European action, the best bet is probably to lobby your state's MEPs, especially those on committees.

Look at:
http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep5/ow...othbody=&ictry=&ictry=&iukreg=&iaction=search
for members of the environmental committee, and:

http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep5/ow...othbody=&ictry=&ictry=&iukreg=&iaction=search
for members of the fisheries committee and

http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep5/ow...othbody=&ictry=&ictry=&iukreg=&iaction=search
for members of the Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism committee.

Those pages also link to email addresses for the MEP's concerned, making contacting them fairly simple.

 

[Metabarca]

Re: GALICIA Name and shame

When these accidents happen, is it not possible to find out for which company the oil is destined? (assuming it is going to a high street 'name'). If it were, at least we - the public - could make good some of our frustration by voting with out wheels and choosing NOT to fill up at Esso, Shell or whatever.
Anyone know?

 

[TheBoatman]

Re: Why Did

Why did the Spanish Government insist on the vessel being towed out into very deep water?
Why did they not try to beach it and maintain control of the leakage?
Is it not better to wreck a couple of miles of coastline than 100's of miles?
With all the previous oil leaks, it is proved that nature can look after itself and all have recovered?
And before anyone says that I dont care. I do. I have the greatest sympathy with those affected and to the loss of wildlife but I believe that the situation has been made worse by polititions. They took no account of the expertise on offer from the salvage crews and went directly against any such expertise, now we have a major disaster which they (the polititions) want to blame on everyone else.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Text of a letter ...

... you might like to use as the basis for your own letter to MEP's etc. Feel free to cut and paste, plagiarise, amend, etc as you think fit. A source for MEP addresses is in my e-mail further down this thread.

----------

I am writing to request that the EU takes action on marine protection from pollution. My action is in response to events in Galicia, NW Spain.

Some days ago, a single-hull oil tanker named Prestige cracked and sank spilling heavy fuel oil that is polluting and killing sea and bird life over 300 miles of Galician coast, and doing unseen damage futher offshore, on the surface and beneath.

It is possible that eventually the Prestige’s cargo will affect Galicia. Portugal, France, Eire and the UK, and even penetrate the Western Mediterranean, depending on winds and currents.

This is not the first tanker accident to affect European waters and livelihoods. This list is long (and not exhaustive):

Ship Year Location Tonnes spilt
Amoco Cadiz 1978 Brittany, France 223,000
Haven 1991 Genoa, Italy 144,000
Torrey Canyon 1967 Scilly Isles, UK 119,000
Urquiola 1976 La Coruna, Spain 100,000
Independenta 1979 Bosphorus, 95,000
Jakob Maersk 1975 Oporto, 88,000
Braer 1993 Shetland Islands 85,000
Aegean Sea 1992 La Coruna, Spain 74,000
Sea Empress 1996 Milford Haven 72,000
Erika 2001 Brittany 15,000

Over the years, tens of thousands of European fishermen, shellfish farmers and sailors have lost their livelihoods temporarily or totally. Billions of Euros of tourist revenues have been spent elsewhere.

The time has now come for the EU to act unilaterally.
• We must prohibit single-hulled tankers from European ports and territorial waters.
• Competent governmental authorities must inspect all tankers using European ports at least every six months, and detain contravening vessels until defects are made good.
• All flag of convenience vessels (whether tankers or not) using European waters and ports must be inspected by competent governmental authorities at least every six months, again with detention for repairs.
• Oil companies should be charged one cent per litre for all products sold in the European Union, this to build a compensatory fund for immediate assistance to those whose livelihoods are impacted by oil spills.
• Legislation should be enacted to enable the EU to enforce ‘polluter pays’ collection of costs and punitive damages from the ship owner, the shipper and the oil company concerned in any spill.

The European Union must make a stand on this. With over 3,000 single hulled tankers at sea, every day of delay puts more European coastline and livelihood at risk. The EU needs to act, because action by any single member nation will not be effective in closing European waters to this hazard.

Thank you for your attention,

(name, address, etc)

 

[plopp]

Re: Torrey Canyon, not Tory, and contact addresses

Thanks for the correction,I knew as I hit the button there was something wrong with it ,time makes the brain a bit foggy. Have taken note of addresses and will drop one or two of them a line. P.S nothing political in the statement.
Regards Andy

 

[Chris_Robb]

Ria Arosa

Albatross - has the oil got to the Ria Arosa yet? This would be an absolute disaster. I have a berth at Vilagarcia next year though problems to me would be trivial compared to the impact on the locals.

 

[Ohdrat]

Re: Copied and pasted

well put Ken.. all set to spam MEP MSP and MP .. could even spam local cllr as Port of Inverness has an Oil Terminal..

 

[Twister_Ken]

EU acts

Good news today that the EU is banning single hull tankers. Too late for the Prestige, but it might save it happening again.

 

[webcraft]

Re: EU acts

Absolutely excellent news, three cheers for the EU

<font color=blue>Nick</font color=blue>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.bluemoment.com>

</A>

 

[steffen]

Re: EU acts

Wake up to reality guys. Since when has environment preceded over economics.
Some retard minister in my government has decided it is bad for the Rotterdam harbour economics when this ban comes into effect and stalled the subject under the pretext that they must investigate if there is enough double hull capacity in the world.