Large-scale fuel deposition patterns on northern Spanish shores following the ‘Prestige’ oil spill

Abstract

Following the accident of the oil tanker ‘Prestige’, we surveyed the large scale fuel deposition patterns on the Cantabrian shore (northern Spain) covering three regions (from west to east): (i) Asturias, west of Cape Peñas (24 segments surveyed); (ii) Asturias, east of Cape Peñas (33 segments surveyed); and (iii) Cantabria (also east of Cape Peñas, 256 segments surveyed). Fuel arrived to the Cantabrian Coast as a single oil wave which was more intense to the east than to the west of Cape Peñas. The mean percentage of coast length affected was 25, 41 and 15% in western Asturias, eastern Asturias and Cantabria, respectively. However, less than 10% of the substrate was covered by fuel in oiled patches, thus the impact was moderate. We conclude that these patterns are consistent with fuel transport by the Iberian Poleward Current, a hydrographic feature typical of this region during winter.

Effects of temporal bias on the assessment of an ecological perturbation: a case study of the Prestige oil spill

“…Despite taking sea surface temperature into account as a source of variation in NPP, the effect of the oil spill on chlorophyll anomalies was still within the range of variation of the entire time series. Another important source of inter-annual variation in the N-NW Spanish coast in winter is the Iberian Poleward (Navidad) Current (Le Hénaff et al 2011), whose unusual strength in 2002/2003 years conditioned slick movements (García-Soto 2004, Acuña et al 2008). Another potential cause for the lack of effects at our scale and resolution may be the heavy nature of the fuel oil, which is associated with low solubility and a low capacity for dispersion in seawater (González et al 2006).…”

Temporal and spatial variability on rocky intertidal macrofaunal assemblages affected by an oil spill (Basque coast, northern Spain)

“…Following the wreckage, the tanker initially released 10,000 tons of oil, but the initial catastrophe worsened after the sinking as the wrecked ship gradually released the remaining fuel resulting in a series of oil waves for 10 months (González et al , 2006). Due to the prevailing winds and ocean currents, the oil reached extensive areas of the Bay of Biscay as well as Portuguese coasts affecting mainly the shoreline, where much of the spilled fuel was deposited (González et al , 2006; Acuña et al , 2008). The arrival of oil to the Biscay coast was continuous with two main oil waves reaching the coast in January and September 2003, that generated an extensive, but not intense, fuel deposition in the intertidal zone (ORBANKOSTA, 2004).…”