Hello,

Once again, we are witness to another oil spill, this time called The Prestige, closing in, on to the already seriously punished Galician coast. The consequences for the people and the environment go beyond the economic costs.

Into Action
From the beginning of this crisis, SEO/BirdLife gave the alarm, sending personnel into the area and setting up an emergency cleanup team. But with more than 300 kilometres of polluted coast and hundreds of soiled birds, we need more help.

If you wish to help SEO/BirdLife to clean up the coast and birds, here is the information you need:
- we need help, especially from Monday to Friday
- don’t forget to bring sleeping bags, winter clothes, boots, rubber gloves and, if you have them, binoculars
- we need cars: it is necessary that you bring your own vehicle
- SEO/BirdLife will cover accommodation costs, through documentation given to volunteers who register
- the meeting point is the Gandarío hostel in Sada (15 km from A Coruña). We recommend that you arrive no later than 08:00h or from 20:00h in the evening.

You can register at SEO/BirdLife via email at seo@seo.org stating your personal details (name, surname, address and telephone number) and day and time of arrival. If you prefer you can register on +34 981 13 50 14.

As well as the work on the ground, SEO/BirdLife needs your economic support too. Please make your donation in this account BBVA 0182 0913 23 0209871471 or alternatively online through the SEO/BirdLife web page (in Spanish) [www.seo.org]

Important data
The Prestige oil slick in figures:
- Some € 100 million in losses for the local shellfish industry, who find themselves ruined at the height of the season for shellfish sales
- Hundreds of seabirds soiled by oil, many of them unable to recover and in the middle of migration, when they are most vulnerable
- And there are still 50.000 tonnes of fuel oil thousands of metres beneath the Atlantic, with an uncertain future...

SEO/Bird life demands
Lets hope that this terrible disaster inflicted on the environment will serve to bring into effect, once and for all, the principle of environmental responsibility in the EU and that this kind of transportation stops threatening the world’s coasts.

For more information (in spanish): [www.seo.org]

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Juan Carlos Atienza
Research Officer

Research Projects Department
Sociedad Española de Ornitología (SEO/BirdLife)
Melquiades Biencinto, 34
E-28053 Madrid
Spain

Tel.: +34 91 434 09 10
Fax: +34 91 434 09 11
Email: jcatienza@seo.org

SEO/BirdLife is the Spanish association to the study and conservation of
birds and their habitats, and the partner of BirdLife International in Spain.
More information about our organization in [www.seo.org].

Généralités et Environnement

Accidente Prestige/ Prestige oil tanker accident