Fishing boats block Rio bay to protest oil spill
Date: 01-Feb-00
Country: BRAZIL
The fishermen, bobbing in brightly painted trawlers stretched in line
across the bay, said they wanted to bring attention to the fact that the
accidental release of 8,000 barrels of fuel oil had caused more than
just ecological harm.
"We are criticising what is being done ... We don't have any way to make
money," fisherman Joberto Alves told Reuters aboard his trawler. "But
what they are offering doesn't cover even half of what the fishing
earns."
The spill, which happened when an underwater pipeline running from a
refinery operated by state oil company Petrobras split open Jan. 18,
was the worst since a foreign tanker dumped 37,000 barrels there in
1975.
The dense oil spread over 15 square miles (40 sq km) killing marine
birds, fish, crabs and other wildlife and polluting beaches and a
marshland preserve.
But the demonstrators on Monday said the disaster, which will require 10
years of cleanup according to environmental experts, also threatened to
wipe out fishing, tourism and other industries dependent on the bay as a
source of income.
"All parts of society have to be part of this discussion," Rio state
deputy Carlos Santana told protesters. "You don't see the oil on top of
the water anymore, it has sunk down and is killing everything
underneath."
Petrobras has been criticised both for failing to detect the leak for
four hours and for failing to have enough emergency equipment on hand to
quickly halt the damage.
Petrobras president Henri Philippe Reichstul testified before Rio's
state congress on Monday about the company's response. Brazil consumes
an average 1.5 million barrels a day, most it transported through
fragile ecosystems.
The company has paid a record-setting $28 million fine for environmental
crimes and offered to pick up all of the clean up costs.
