Jessica (ship)
 The stranded Jessica
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The Jessica was a 1971 put into operation in oil tanker company Acotramar that on 16 January 2001 in the Pacific Ocean in the Galapagos Islands crashed and caused the largest oil spill in the archipelago.
history
The ship was built in 1971 as hull number 221 at the Nishii shipyard in Ise, Japan, and was put into service in December of that year as the Hokuei Maru for the Sekiyu Kaiun shipping company from Otaru. In 1983 the Ecuadorian shipping company Repreco took over the tanker and continued to operate it as Sofia . Two years later, in 1985, the last owner, the Acotramar shipping company, took over the ship and renamed it Jessica .
Jessica stranded in Wreck Bay
The Galapagos Islands are 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador and consist of 13 large and 115 smaller islands. On January 16, 2001, the Acotramar oil tanker Jessica sank in Wreck Bay near the entrance to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on the island of San Cristóbal because the tanker's crew mistook a ton for a lighthouse due to the stormy conditions. The tanker was loaded with 900 tons of fuel , 600 tons of diesel and 300 tons of heating oil .
In the next few days the situation became more and more critical. The Galapagos National Park stated that "efforts to empty the ship are being stunted by Petroecuador , who seem more interested in protecting the oil from marine pollution than preserving the archipelago's unique flora and fauna ".
Oil began to pour into the sea water from the 30 year old tanker. With the help of numerous rescue workers, the leak was sealed. In total, the tanker lost 250 tons of oil, but around 50 tons could be cleaned up. In the end, 1,000 square kilometers of water were covered with oil.
Ecological and economic consequences
After the accident, the wind turned and the oil film began to drift northwest, where there are no larger islands. There the oil reached the beaches of the islands of Santa Fe and San Cristóbal . In the first month after the oil leak, oil-covered animals such as sea lions , sea iguanas and pelicans were found dead. Sea iguanas were particularly affected, on the one hand by direct pollution with oil, on the other hand by the pollution of seaweed. Five of the 13 larger islands had oil-polluted coastal zones.
There was no major damage to the flora and fauna of the islands. A lot of money was required to combat the long-term effects of the oil spill. Scientists took samples from more than 400 locations in the archipelago and found that the environmental damage caused by the Jessica accident was widespread, but still minimal compared to other oil spills. A year after the accident, over 15,000 sea iguanas were reported dead, over 60 percent of the population on Santa Fe Island. They only feed on seaweed. They had high levels of stress hormones in their blood, so the population decline may be a result of the Jessica disaster.
The impact of the Jessica Oil Spill on Galapagos fishing has not been significant. Fishing control data after the accident showed no significant changes, neither in effort, total catch, nor catch per exit. However, fishing in the vicinity of the accident site declined and fish exports fell in the months following the accident.
In the period after the Jessica was stranded , fewer tourists visited the islands, which led to a loss of income.
Legal and political consequences
The master of the tanker, who was not familiar with the waters, was arrested along with thirteen crew members for negligence . The charge was environmental offense or environmental crimes, and the captain admitted human error as the cause of the oil spill. Two months later, the captain was sentenced to 90 days in prison and his captain's license revoked.
One and a half years after the oil spill of Jessica enacted the High Court of Guayaquil in Ecuador on 3 October 2002 a judgment against the British firm Terra Nova Ltd . The court ruled that $ 10 million would be the compensation for the Galapagos National Park.
Terranova had insured the Jessica , but refused to pay compensation to the Galapagos National Park after the accident. They argued that the insurance expired because the owner of the tanker failed to conduct a ship inspection and stopped paying premiums. Terranova was legally obliged under the CLC agreement of 1969 to inform the state authorities of Ecuador about the expiry of the insurance, but had failed to do so.
The CLC agreement was enacted by the United Nations (UNO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to protect territorial waters from oil spills and oil disasters. Ecuador had joined the CLC agreement, so there was an opportunity to sue the company that was responsible for paying for the damage.
A positive consequence of the Jessica accident is that a wind farm was set up on the Galapagos Islands with the support of the UN in the years after 2004. This model project aims to replace energy generation with petroleum-dependent diesel engines with renewable energies.
See also
literature
- Kit Bonner, Carolyn Bonner: Great Ship Disasters , MBI, St. Paul, 2003, ISBN 0760313369 , pp. 104ff.
Web links
- Accident of the oil tanker Jessica off the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) (PDF; 876 kB), report for the European Commission, January 16, 2001
- Galapagos National Park Press Releases: Chronological account of the tanker Jessica (English)
Single receipts
- ↑ The Hokuei Maru at Miramar Ship Index (accessed October 26, 2017)
- ↑ Jeff Hecht: Galapagos oil spill devastated marine iguanas , In: New Scientist , June 5, 2002 (English)
- ^ Abraham F. Born, Eduardo Espinoza, Juan Carlos Murillo Posada, Graham J. Edgar, Effects of the Jessica oil spill on artisanal fisheries in the Galápagos , February 2003
- ↑ Captain of Galapagos Tanker Takes Responsibility for Spill In: New York Times , January 26, 2001.
Coordinates: 0 ° 53 ′ 46 ″ S , 89 ° 37 ′ 0.5 ″ W.