Response at sea
Oil response at sea From November the 14th, the Biscay Plan, a Franco-Spanish plan of intervention available in the case of an accident in the Atlantic ocean , was triggered...
Oil recovery In addition to oil response vessels and specialised recovery systems, fishing boats and trawl systems were widely used to recovery the oil at sea.
The "second curtain" One of the lessons learned during the Erika spill and that was used to refashion the Polmar plan was the new twin curtain or two phase sea response concept.
The learning curve The sea recovery phase went rather well despite bad weather conditions and 52,000 tonnes of emulsion were recovered as compared with only 1,200 tonnes during the Erika spill.
Response on land
Shoreline clean-up in Spain The first slicks reached the coasts of Galicia in the morning on the 16th of November between La Coruña and the Cape Finistere...
Onshore response in France The Prestige spill affected two Defence Areas (zones de défense)...
South-western defence area Western defence area Use of beach cleaners in Aquitaine Cleaning hard substrates in the western Pyrenees and Gironde
Involvement of Cedre From the moment the accident was announced, on November the 13th, Cedre was mobilized...
The French Polmar Plan Presentation of the French Polmar Plan.
Support provided by SYCOPOL: adapting the lessons learned from the Erika spill by Jean-Pierre Vanbaelighem, President of Sycopol.
European Community Involvement Immediately after the casualty was reported, a full complement of manpower and resources was made available to the French, Spanish and Portuguese authorities...
Information storage and feedback Organising data collection and processing...
The product
Study of the Prestige fuel cargo The oil transported by the Prestige was a heavy fuel for industrial combustion and slow diesel engines.
Fate of the oil at sea The viscosity of the crude increased steadily as the Prestige’s crude oil divided slowly...
Oil product treatment Different technical solutions were implemented to treat the emulsion collected at sea and the oiled material collected on the shoreline...
Slick drift
Slick drift observations and forecast Accurate slick drift information is essential to efficient pollution recovery at sea and response on the coastline.
The wrecks
Ifremer intervention on the wrecks Against what they had expected, the continuous rising of hydrocarbons observed above the wrecks obliged the Spanish authorities to find technical means to evaluate the state of the wreck...
Impact
Ecological impact The ecological impact of the Prestige spill was nowhere near as serious as the Erika and was incomparable with what happened in Spain...
Impact on birds Summary of oiled birds found washed up on coastlines - LPO (Ornithological Society)
Sea Alarm: Response in Spain by Hugo Nijkamp - Sea Alarm Foundation -
Impact on fishermen and fish farming in Galicia This area is very rich in terms of fishing activities and fish farming...
