News, January 2007

4th anniversary of Prestige tanker disaster

12th November. It is just 4 years since the Mayday signal was received from the Prestige a small tanker carrying fuel oil off the 'coast of death', Galicia. The coast and major shell fisheries were badly affected. 4 years on, superficially things are back to normal, but under the sand and behind the scenes too little has changed. Thousands demonstrated today warning that a repetition is all too possible.

The sinking, together with faulty decision taking, led to the entire coastline of Galicia and extensive parts of neighbouring regions being affected by the slicks. To this day, oil can be found hidden below beaches and while some species have recovered, certain types of mollusc are almost impossible to find in the affected areas. Oil continues to seep from the carcass, 4000 feet below the ocean's surface affecting fishing gear daily, while politicians have failed to put together proceedures to deal with any future contingency. The people of Galicia are right to be concerend, not just because of the current state of the Christmas shell fish crop, but also for the future of their beautiful coastline and maritime economy.

Among those who were affected and especially among those who helped the clean-up process were many evangelicals, as the coastal areas of Galicia have a larger than average proportion of evangelicals. An evangelical camp was also affected this summer by the forest fires, which hit many districts close to the coast. Now the autumn storms washed much ash onto the same beaches which were affected by the oil, giving another headache to shell collectors and hitting the mussel banks.