The Prestige oil spill: A scientific response

Abstract

On November 13th, 2002, the tanker Prestige, operated by a Greek shipping company under a Bahamas flag, and carrying 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel-oil, suffered a severe structural failure of the starboard cargo tanks 30 miles off the Finisterre coast (Galicia, NW Spain) and started to leak oil. On November 14th, considering the risk of serious pollution of Costa da Morte and Rias Baixas, one of the first mussel producer regions worldwide, the authorities decided to tow away the ship, travelling first north-eastward until November 15th and south-westward until November 19th, when the tanker broke in two, 130 miles from the Galicia south-coast, after the spill of about 20,000 tonnes of fuel (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). The two parts of the wreck sank on the southwestern part of the Galicia Seamount, in the Galicia continental margin (NW Atlantic Spanish margin); the stern at 3565 m water depth (42°10.6 N, 012°03.0 W), and the bow at 3830 m water depth (42°10.8 N, 012°03.6 W). The 58,000 tonnes of fuel oil remaining in the tanker continued to ooze from several cracks in the bow, giving rise to an additional spill of about 40,000 tonnes until the recovery operations of the fuel in the wreck started in summer 2003, which required, by the way, an outstanding technological effort.