- Title: Ecuador: Emergency In The Galapagos Islands After Oil Spill
- Date: 17th January 2001
- Summary: Ecuador has declared a national emergency in the Galapagos Islands after an oil spill just a half-mile (0. 8 km) from the shore floated toward the western most islands, threatening some of the world's rarest sea animals and birds. The Galapagos Islands, 600 miles (1,000 km) west of Ecuador's coast in the Pacific Ocean, are home to hundreds of native species -- including giant tortoises and iguanas -- that evolved over thousands of years. The spill started on January 19, 2001, when a pipe burst in the machine room of the Ecuadorian-registered boat Jessica, which had ran aground three days before on an embankment near Galapagos' capital and principal port, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island. It grew worse over the weekend, when tanks carrying 240,000 gallons (912,000 litres) of diesel and bunker fuel -- a heavy fuel used to power some tour boats operating in the islands -- leaked 144,000 gallons (547,200 litres) of oil into ocean waters shared by tropical fish, pelicans and sea lions. The Jessica, 211 feet (65 metres) long and weighing 835 tonnes, was on its way to service a private tour boat operator and Petrocomercial, an arm of the state oil company that provides the islands with fuel. While the accident is far smaller than the Exxon Valdez supertanker's 1989 spill of 11 million gallons (41. 6 million litres) of oil in Alaskan seas, the unique ecological makeup of the Galapagos and the spill's closeness to its shores have sparked outcries from environmental organisations world-wide. The stain over the clear blue Pacific waters had an overall area of 390 square miles (1,000 square km) late on Sunday (January 21). It is now moving westward toward Santa Cruz Island but growing thinner as it travels, posing less of a threat. Authorities hoped the oil would be dispersed in 48 to 72 hours. According to the Galapagos National Park, 30 pelicans, four sea lions and seven boobies have been affected by the spill. One Franklin sea gull died. The long-lasting impact of the spill remained unclear, though local environmental watchdog the Nature Foundation said it would have "irreparable" consequences. The World Wide Fund for Nature, a global conservation body, called for limits to shipping off the Galapagos, which British naturalist Charles Darwin visited in 1835 while developing his theories of national selection. In 1999, about 66,000 tourists visited the islands, about 81 percent of them foreign.
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- Location: ECUADOR GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
- Reuters ID: LDL0012EYH3X3
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