Peru's 'worst ecological disaster' slams small-scale fishing
CTV
The livelihoods of more than 2,500 fishermen have been cast into doubt as a result of a large crude oil spill at the Spanish-owned Repsol oil refinery off the coast of Peru in January.
De la Cruz, 60, is one of more than 2,500 fishermen whose livelihoods have been cast into doubt as a result of a large crude oil spill at the Spanish-owned Repsol oil refinery on Jan. 15.
"We are desperate," he said, counting on his fingers the debts that overwhelm him, including a bank loan, bills for water, electricity, gas, and school supplies for his two grandchildren.
Peru has characterized the spill of 11,900 barrels in front of a Repsol refinery as its "worst ecological disaster." A report by United Nations experts estimates it involved about 2,100 tonnes of crude, well above the 700 tons the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited considers the threshold for a large spill -- and an unprecedented amount for the type of crude that leaked. The oil was extracted from Buzios, the world's largest deep water oil field and the most productive in Brazil.
The spill happened when the Mare Doricum, an Italian-flagged tanker, was unloading oil at the La Pampilla refinery, just off Peru's coast north of the capital. The ship's captain told the South American country's Congress that oil spilled into the ocean for at least eight minutes.
