THE "PRESTIGE"

• The "Prestige" will probably remain as one of the most famous sinkings in recent years, and
undoubtably one of the most photographed.

• She finally sank beneath the waves on November 19th 2002, after the Spanish government
had refused to allow her to be towed into a port for repair. It is argued that, had they done so,
the pollution that will now afflict the Galician coastline for many years, may have been
avoided.

• It was a routine voyage for the oil tanker Prestige in November 2002--until it glided into a
savage storm. The 26-year-old ship, bound from Latvia to Gibraltar, hauled some 77,000 tons
of heavy, tarlike fuel oil.
 • On November 13, 45 kilometers (28 miles) off the Galician coast in northwest Spain, a
mysterious gash suddenly ruptured the tanker's hull.

• As seawater flooded the ship and oil started to ooze, its crew radioed a frantic SOS

• Alarmed by a looming environmental disaster--the coastal waters are a mother lode for local
fishermen, the rugged shore a wildlife haven--the Spanish government ordered Prestige to
halt. Rescue tugs sped to the leaking ship and towed it 322 km (200 mi) out into the open sea.

• Choppers airlifted all 27 crew members to safety, but the disaster was far from over. Six days
later, Prestige split in two and sank 3,500 meters to the bottom of the Atlantic.

• Before descending, the tanker shed over half its load, say environmental scientists. The rest--
some 37,500 tons--sank to the seabed with Prestige. "It's one of the worst spills ever," says
Simon Cripps of the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

• The Prestige cleanup effort began immediately. Veterinarians and volunteers rescued oil-
smothered birds, while thousands of soldiers and fishermen shoveled gummy oil off
thousands of kilometers of coastline.

• Will the Galician coastal ecosystem ever recover? What happens to oil trapped in the sunken
tanker? And how can scientists and governments prevent such future disasters? Read on.

Q: What kind of oil did Prestige spill?

A: The tanker carried dense, gooey oil used to fuel large ships. "It's the kind that floats real low in the
water, like blobs in a lava lamp," Oil this heavy doesn't readily evaporate or break into droplets--
making for a killer cleanup.

Q: What happens when oil oozes into the sea?

A: "Oil is a natural product. You can have a diverse, healthy ecosystem around it." But an enormous
oil spill can overwhelm and maim an ecosystem.
All oil spills eventually clear up over time. The name for this process is weathering. Wind. waves,
and sunlight decompose an oil slick into droplets; then microscopic organisms in the sea feed on the
droplets. Light petroleum products like kerosene or gasoline evaporate quickly, disappearing in a
matter of days. But unless experts physically remove Prestige's tarlike fuel oil from the water. it will
wash ashore and possibly devastate the coastline.

Q: Is there a quick fix to get oil out of seawater?

A: One tactic is to spray a slick with chemical dispersants that split oil into tiny particles so natural
weathering can begin. But that method wouldn't work in this case. Very heavy oils are hard to
disperse.
Other strategies: Sometimes experts lasso a spill with nets called booms. and skimmer boats suck up
the oil. Or they can set floating oil afire. "Burning the oil removes a lot of it from the surface," The
resulting smoke is similar to that of a forest fire. But the Prestige oil sank 10 to 15 feet below the
surface--out of reach of booms, skimmers, or fire.
Q: What happens to oil that reaches the coast?
"When oil washes up on beaches, people just shovel it up. "It's not a high-tech thing." In this case, the
affected coast is a mix of rocky shorelines and nearly 600 sandy beaches. "We went to places where
the oil was a meter thick," Shigenaka says. After people have mopped up the "black tide," nature will
weather remaining oil on the surface.

Q: How has the oil spill impacted the region?

A: It's hard for scientists to predict the extent of the ecological damage. But they're looking at the
aftermath of the worst oil spill in U.S. waters for clues: Oil patches left over from the 1989 Exxon
Valdez disaster still release toxins that harm Alaskan sea life--from fish and birds to land mammals.
It's going to take a long time for the oil to be gone and for the effects to go away
Oil from Prestige has already killed 200,000 seabirds of 71 species, says the British Trust for
Ornithology. As for fishing--Galicia's economic backbone--"a lot of fisheries shut down," says
Shigenaka. And the wrecked tanker oozing oil at the ocean bottom threatens the entire marine food
chain, as oil particles pass from tiny microbes called zooplankton to the small fish that eat them, and
so on; even tiny amounts of crude oil can damage fish eggs and embryos, according to a National
Marine Fisheries Services study.

Q: Will the oil sit in Prestige forever?

A: At first, that was the idea. "There was hope the cold temperature in the ocean depths would
solidify the oil," Shigenaka says. Instead, the oil has thickened into a gel that steadily seeps into the
water. As a temporary fix, a French mini-submarine patched 17 of 20 holes in the tanker. "But
ultimately the hull will rust through,".
That's why scientists are urging the Spanish government to use underwater robots to pump remaining
oil out of the ship's tanks. Although the remedy could prove daunting in 3.5-km-deep water, research
teams are exploring strategies.

Q: How can we prevent future spills?

A: For starters, oil tankers need to be upgraded. Old tankers like Prestige contain one layer of metal
separating the cargo from the ocean. The new "millennium class" oil tanker has a double hull,
offering greater protection against spills U.S. and European Union laws now require all new tankers
to feature double hulls.
But as experts point out, even the best crew in the safest ship can run into trouble. "This is not the
first tanker disaster and it will not be the last," To meet the planet's 3-billion-gallon-per-day oil habit,
fuel is shipped, piped, and trucked around the globe. Are there energy alternatives? Turn the page to
find out.

Maths
Prestige was carrying 77,000 tons of oil. About how many barrels is that? How many liters? Use
these figures to help you:
1 barrel = 160 liters
1 ton = 7 to 9 barrels (depending on the oil weight)
Critical Thinking: In response to the Prestige disaster, the European Union plans to introduce tougher
penalties for marine polluters--upping the severity from monetary fines to criminal sanctions. When a
tanker spills oil, who should be held responsible and how should they be penalized?