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Prestige: 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 because beachings were far more diffuse and patchy and also because Aquitaine beaches are very sandy and less sensitive to oil. Human intervention caused only slight impairment to the environment and the oiled sand when removed from the beach in quantities had no observable deleterious effect. Impact follow-up measures were set up based on national and regional observation posts, namely:

• beginning January within the framework of the national marine environment
  observation network, benchmarking was conducted in addition to monitoring APH content in molluscs and during autumn 2003
• within the framework of the Aquitaine coastal watch initiative via BRGM and ONF on request from the Regional Council for possible morphological problems ascribable to the use of machines on the beaches for monitoring buried oil and APH contents in sand.