MV Jessica

The stranded Jessica

The Jessica was a 1971 put into operation in oil tanker company Acotramar which crashed on 16 January 2001 in the Pacific off the Galapagos Islands and caused the largest oil disaster in the archipelago.

Expiration of the disaster

The Galapagos Islands are located 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador and consist of 13 major and 115 smaller islands. On 16 January 2001 the Acotramar oil tanker Jessica fell in the Wreck Bay at the entrance to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island, because the crew of the tanker had confused due to the stormy conditions, a buoy with a lighthouse. The tanker was loaded with 900 tons of fuel, 600 tons of diesel and 300 tons of fuel oil.

In the coming days, the situation became more critical. The Galapagos National Park said that " the effort to empty the ship be slowed down by Petroecuador, which seem more keen to protect the oil from contamination by seawater, as to preserve the unique flora and fauna of the archipelago ."

From the 30-year old tanker oil began to flow into the sea water. With the help of many rescue teams the leak could be sealed. In total, the tanker lost 250 tonnes of oil, but about 50 tons could be cleaned up. Finally, 1,000 square kilometers of water were covered with oil.

Ecological and economic consequences

After the accident, the wind shifted, and the oil film began to drift toward the northwest, where no major islands lie. There the oil reached the beaches of the islands of Santa Fe and San Cristóbal. In the first month after the end of oil, oil -covered animals such as sea lions, marine iguanas and pelicans were found dead. Especially marine iguanas were affected, on the one hand by the direct contamination with oil, the other by the contamination of marine algae. Five of the 13 larger islands had oil-contaminated coastal zones.

The ecological and economic consequences are closely linked. Lucky circumstances to avoid significant damage to the unique flora and fauna of the islands, which are the main tourist attractions in the country. Tourism provides more than 100 million U.S. dollars a year.

After the accident, less tourists visited the islands, which lost as part of their main source of income. The fishing was hardly affected. A lot of money was needed to combat the long-term effects of the oil disaster. The disappearance of animals in the food chain could have serious consequences for the survival of many residents of the Galapagos Islands.

Scientists participated in more than 400 sites around the island group samples and found that the environmental damage caused by the accident Jessica widespread, but compared to other oil spills were still minimal.

Regional biologists say the long-term risk lies in the fact that the fuel falling to the seabed and thus destroy algae, which are vital to the food chain. That would marine iguanas, sharks or birds threaten that feed on fish. A year after the accident were reported over 15,000 dead marine iguanas, which are about 60 percent of the population on the island of Santa Fe. They feed exclusively on marine algae. They reported high levels of stress hormones in the blood, so the decline in the population may be a result of Jessica disaster.

The effects of the Jessica oil spill on fishing in the Galapagos was not significant. Fishing - control data after the accident showed no significant changes in either the effort of the entire catch, still in catch per trip. However, fishing in the vicinity of the accident site went back and fish exports declined in the months after the accident.

Legal and policy implications

The captain of the tanker, who was not familiar with the waters, was arrested along with thirteen crew members for negligence. He was charged with environmental violations or environmental crime, and the captain admitted human error as a cause of the oil spill. Two months later, the captain was sentenced to 90 days imprisonment and confiscated his captain's license.

One and a half years after the oil spill of Jessica enacted the High Court of Guayaquil, Ecuador on October 3, 2002, a judgment against the British company Terra Nova Ltd.. The court suspended a total of 10 million U.S. dollar notes in settlement of the Galapagos National Park.

Terra Nova had Jessica, insured, but nevertheless refused to pay after the accident compensation to the Galapagos National Park. They argued that the insurance would have expired because the owner of the tanker did not conduct ship inspections and had ceased to pay premiums. Terra Nova was after the CLC Convention of 1969, however, obliged by law to inform the national authorities of Ecuador on the expiry of the insurance, but this had failed.

The CLC Convention was adopted by the United Nations (UN ) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO ) to protect territorial waters from oil pollution and oil spills. Ecuador had joined the CLC Convention, so that the possibility existed to sue the company that had to pay responsible for the damage.

A positive consequence of Jessica misfortune is that a wind farm on the Galapagos Islands has been created with the support of the UN in the years after 2004. This model project is to replace the energy with petroleum -based diesel engines by renewable energy.