“Birds were found oiled up to 124 km from the site of the oil spill” which occurred on January 15 in Peru, assures Sunday January 23 on franceinfo Antidia Citores, spokesperson for the Surfrider Foundation Europe, which fights for the protection of the oceans and its users. “The spills continue, says the spokesperson. So there is real concern. The President of Peru accuses Repsol of being responsible for these tens of millions of dollars of damage, both environmental and touristic.
franceinfo: What information do you have?
Antidia Citores: The spills continue. So there is real concern. Peruvian authorities have designated this ecological disaster as an ecocide. There is a particularly fragile fauna and flora that have been affected, including birds found oiled up to 124 km from the site of the oil spill.
It is essentially the avifauna [les oiseaux] which has been affected for the moment, but also the entire fisheries resource, that is to say the fish. Fishing is now prohibited in these areas. We are still in the state of observation of these mortalities on coastal species, such as the cormorant, and in addition we have two nature protection parks which are also affected.
Is the damage also important for the economy?
The port itself cannot be in operation, but also the entire fishing sector which is prohibited for more than 18 km, destabilizing the economy of this region. The President of Peru accuses Repsol of being responsible for these tens of millions of dollars of damage, both environmental and touristic. At the time of the final estimate, there will be very significant requests for financial guarantees.
Can we hear the argument of the Repsol company which discards itself by evoking the volcanic eruption in the Tonga Islands?
According to the oil company, Peru, unlike other countries, would have been less alert than other countries in relation to this risk of waves, which can be described as rogue, which destabilized the ship at the time of unloading. It’s an argument, but the real question is, if they had been warned, would they have put in place a real risk management plan? Did they have any training for their crews? I allow myself to doubt it since these are things that are relatively unpredictable.
The best prevention would have been not to do this unloading. This is also why the Surfrider Foundation increasingly invites people not to use fossil fuels and to turn to renewables. There, we are still on crude oil.