Favorable winds, tides aid Galapagos cleanup efforts


Spilled oil in waters near the Galapagos Islands

Concern over ecological impact

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Human population threatened too

Skipper makes costly error

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From staff and wire reports

PUERTO BAQUERIZO, Galapagos Islands -- Efforts to clean up a spreading oil slick in the ecologically sensitive Galapagos Islands are getting a hand from favorable winds and ocean currents that are carrying the spill northward.

Diesel fuel that continues to flow from a crippled tanker already has reached land in several places on the Galapagos Islands, which lie in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles (965 km) west of mainland Ecuador, threatening their famed wildlife and the livelihood of fishermen.

Now, officials say, it's thought the slick will not wash up on additional beaches. However, there is still concern about serious damage to the area.

So far, some 170,000 gallons of diesel fuel has poured from the disabled ship, which last week ran aground and began leaking its cargo just off San Cristobal Island.

Absorbent materials were being used to lessen the impact of the diesel fuel, according to island authorities, but Tuesday the spill had already reached Santa Fe Island, 37 miles (60 kilometers) west of San Cristobal.

The islands were catapulted to fame in the 19th century when naturalist Charles Darwin studied their exotic and rare wildlife and developed his theory of evolution.

One long-term threat is that the fuel will sink to the ocean floor, destroying algae that is vital to the food chain. That could threaten marine iguanas, sharks, birds that feed off fish and other species, officials said.

"Marine iguanas, sea lions, all kinds of sea birds. Ultimately as some of that oil reaches the ocean floor, the algae and lobsters and marine life can be affected to the point where we reach disaster," oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau told CNN.

Some colonies of marine turtles could be threatened as well, said Carlos Valle, coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund's Galapagos program in Ecuador.

But species in danger of extinction, such as the miniature Galapagos penguin and flightless cormorant, are not in danger because they live in the far western reaches of the archipelago.

Sea lions, booby birds and 30 pelicans have been spotted along Santa Fe Island with diesel stains, Galapagos National Park spokesman Fabian Oviedo said. Workers were capturing birds and cleaning them with special detergents.

The damage could be grave for the hundreds of sea lions and thousands of iguanas that populate Santa Fe, Valle said.

Human population threatened too

The archipelago's humans, who depend on the sea for their livelihood, say the tanker has destroyed their fishing and spoiled the waters that are the azure backdrop of their lives.

"The sea is our sustenance. Because of this spill, we are left without work," said Pedro Mieles, 35. "We have nothing to do. We are immobilized."

Ecuador, which controls the territory, declared a state of emergency late Monday to speed funding for the cleanup.

Currents had spread intermittent slicks over at least a 488-square-mile (1,250-square-kilometer) area.

"We can't fish the shallow waters because it is contaminated, so we went to some other areas. As you can see, I'm back," Mieles said, pointing to oily, black stains on his legs.

Local radio broadcasts warnings from the Galapagos park for residents not to eat the fish or swim in the water -- an alarming message in a community where some 700 of the island's 4,000 residents are fishermen who supply most of the food and commerce.

In recent years, the islands have become the focus of a struggle between fishermen and conservationists as migration from Ecuador's mainland poses a major threat to the islands' fragile ecosystem.

The Galapagos, inhabited by fewer than 1,000 residents in 1950, is now the home to some 16,000 people. To feed and employ the population, fishermen have stepped up demands for loosening regulations on catch sizes.

Skipper makes costly error

Some 60,000 gallons (227,118 liters) were recovered from the damaged tanker Jessica over the weekend, Ecuadorean Environment Minister Rodolfo Rendon said.


Oil is removed from a sea bird caught in an oil spill in the Galapagos Islands

A team of U.S. coast guard specialists recovered another 10,000 gallons (37,850 liters) of diesel fuel from inside the damaged tanker Monday. They first pumped the fuel into undamaged tanks aboard the 28-year-old ship, then transferred it to another vessel.

An estimated 10,000 and 40,000 gallons remained in the ship's cargo hold, according to several reports.

Police on San Cristobal said no charges had been filed against the Ecuadorean ship's captain, Tarquino Arevalo, or against his company, Acotramar. But Ecuadorean President Gustavo Noboa on Sunday demanded a "detailed report" on the cause of the accident, which began January 16 when the tanker ran aground in pounding surf.

Authorities said the cause of the accident was human error. The pilot mistook a signal buoy for a lighthouse.

"What infuriates us is the fact that the tanker had never been in the Galapagos on a regular basis because the one that normally does the supply was in repair," Cousteau said.

"They were ill-equipped. They apparently didn't have right charts and they ran aground in rocks that are very well known. There's really no excuse."

CNN correspondent Harris Whitbeck and the Associated Press contributed to this report.