THE Spanish tourist trade was dealt another blow yesterday as the Blue Flags came down all along the Cantabrian coast after the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige in November.
Local officials finally admitted that they cannot guarantee its usually pristine beaches to be free from the black “biscuits”, as the floating oily clumps are known.
Eight months after the Prestige sank the clumps continue to float to the surface from its wreck, lying in 3,660m (12,000ft) of water off Spain´s north-western coast.
The prestigious Blue Flags, recognised as a quality award throughout Europe, were withdrawn from more than 30 beaches, in spite of round-the-clock clean-up efforts. Local authorities have set out tables with paper towels and cleaning fluids on Santander’s Sardineroto beach to help bathers to wash oil from their feet.
The repercussions of the Prestige disaster continue to plague José María Aznar, the Prime Minister, nine months after his Government was strongly criticised by the public for its handling of the sinking.
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The Prestige sank and broke into two after four days of being rerouted apparently without a clear plan. It was revealed in France earlier this week that it was pressure from Paris which contributed to the Prestige’s perambulations as the French sought desperately to keep oil away from their Biscay and Brittany coastlines.
As a result, the oil “biscuits” are now washing ashore over an area the length of California´s coastline. Holiday reservations in the Aquitaine region of Bordeaux and Biarritz have also dropped by half since last summer as a consequence.
The oil has even reached the Channel Islands. Jersey put up warning notices on beaches at St Ouen, St Brelade and Aubins Bays last week.
Surfers’ websites are saying that some members were taken to hospital after surfing around Bilbao in Spain´s Basque Country.
Many fishermen in Galicia, whose livelihoods have been endangered, thought that the tanker should have been towed on to the rocks on the north-west coast, where the oil pollution would have affected a much more restricted area. Half the tanker´s load of 77,000 tonnes of oil remains within the wreck, but cameras from a French salvage submarine have shown trails of oil still seeping out, even though some cracks have been sealed.
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Spain has said that it is preparing to sue those responsible for the tragedy. The International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds are expected to pay up to £130million.
Last week alone 375 tonnes of oil were recovered from the Cantabrian coast. Teams of volunteers are cleaning beaches from Vigo on the Spanish-Portugal border to the Basque Country on a daily basis.
Santander also suffered a terrorist attack by the Basque group Eta last weekend, when a car bomb exploded at its airport, although nobody was injured.