CASE STUDY: THE PRESTIGE OIL SPILLIN GALICIA, SPAIN The western coast of Galicia in north-west Spain has a rugged granite shoreline with cliffs, bays and rias With its very clear waters and sandy beaches, it is both important for fisheries and for tourism. On November 2002 the Prestige into two during rough seas off the coast of Galicia spilling its cargo heavy fuel oil onto the shore. The ship carrying a total of 77 tonnes of this polluting form was leaking at a rate of some per day and soon formed a slick km long and 18 km wide. the Spanish and Portuguese authorities had refused to let the ship, when first got into difficulties, come into harbour and as result it sank into deep water about 800 km away from the mainland. Some predicted that this situation would stop damage as the fuel oil would the cold of the deep waters and no longer leak; was not to be and new polluting oil may continue to leak until 2006