disastro alle Galapagos

["~ FABIOCCHI ~" <fabiocchi@infinito.it>]

Distastro ecologico alle galapagos. Complimenti ai TG per lo spazio che gli
hanno dedicato... effettivamente era piu' importante la notizia sui
cardinali del Vaticano.
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Fabio Quattrocchi mailto:FABIOCCHI@supereva.it
LEGALISE CANNABIS HTTP://CANAPA.4NET.COM
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Boat Leaks Oil in Ecuador's Pristine Galapagos

Last updated: 20 Jan 2001 23:30 GMT (Reuters)

Reuters Photo
By Amy Taxin

QUIT0, Ecuador (Reuters) - A boat carrying fuel to Ecuador's Galapagos
Islands that ran aground four days ago is leaking oil into the ecologically
sensitive waters near the famous islands, the government said on Saturday.

The spill has already affected animals including sea lions and pelicans and
volunteers are on standby to clean up and rescue them, an ecologist said.

Adm. Gonzalo Vega, director of Ecuador's Merchant Marine in Guayaquil, said
the oil spill began late on Friday when a pipe in the boat's machine room
burst, fouling the water near the islands that boast unique marine and land
creatures such as iguanas and giant tortoises.

He said a second and potentially more harmful leak occurred early on
Saturday, when about 1,000 gallons of a heavy fuel called IFO 120 began to
spill from the craft.

"That (the IFO 120) is the dangerous part. The worst thing that would happen
is that the boat would burst entirely and it would all spill," he told
Reuters. "If we manage to unload the majority today, the situation will be
under control."

The Galapagos Islands, located 600 miles from the Ecuadorean shore, were
visited by British naturalist Charles Darwin in 1835. His observations of
island life led to the development of his theories on natural selection.

The Galapagos National Park preserves the creatures and their natural
habitat, where they have evolved for thousands of years in isolation and
with little human intervention.

The boat, named "Jessica", was carrying 160,000 gallons of diesel and about
80,000 gallons of IFO 120. It ran aground half a mile from the Galapagos'
main port on San Cristobal Island on Tuesday.

It was on its way to service an Ecuadorean naval operation and a private
tour boat operator, according to a government spokeswoman.

PROTECTIVE FENCE SET UP

The Ecuadorean Merchant Marines have controlled the leak by setting up a
fence to trap the fuel and applying chemicals to neutralize it. They are
currently unloading the fuel in the tanks that Jessica was carrying.

U.S. Coast Guard clean-up crews were to arrive late on Saturday and early on
Sunday at the request of President Gustavo Noboa, the government said. The
10-person response team will focus on removing oil from the ship and provide
advice on response and clean-up.

But sea lions, pelicans and blue-footed boobies, animals endemic to the
islands, have already been affected by the spill, said Maria Eugenia Proano,
representative of the Charles Darwin Scientific Station on San Cristobal
Island.

"The biological situation is what most worries us and there has already been
an impact," she told Reuters.

The station has trained groups of volunteers to go out and wash the animals
to rid them of the fuel, which sticks to their feathers and skin, and
evacuate them when necessary, she said.

This isn't the first time Galapagos has suffered an oil spill, Mario Garcia,
director of Ecuador's Foundation for Ecologic Studies, told Reuters.

"In my opinion, there's a serious problem in Galapagos in everything that
has to do with military and port control," he said. "This isn't the first
time there's been a diesel or fuel spill."