Last month, a tanker vessel carrying a cargo of 240,000 gallons (605,000 liters) of fuel ran aground off San Cristobal Island in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. After two days, the tanker Jessica began to leak, and fuel continued to spill from her for nearly a week. All told, the Jessica released two-thirds of her cargo directly into the waters of the archipelago -- the Galápagos Marine Reserve.

Galápagos resource managers faced a potential ecological nightmare. But through a combination of manpower, technology, and luck, they appear to have kept the spill from becoming the disaster it could have been. This month, MPA News examines how the Galápagos management team responded to the Jessica spill, and what other MPA managers can learn from their experience.

On the night of 16 January, the Jessica was on her way to the Galápagos port of Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island. Her cargo -- 80,000 gallons of bunker oil and 160,000 gallons of diesel fuel -- was set for delivery to the archipelago. The thick bunker oil was to be used as fuel for a boat tourism company, while the diesel was headed to the islands main marine fueling station.

The Jessica's captain was reportedly unfamiliar with the waters. When he mistook a buoy for a lighthouse and made a wrong turn, he grounded the vessel about a half-mile (800 meters) off San Cristobal, one of the easternmost of the Galápagos Islands.

On the next morning, 17 January, the Ecuadorian Navy and the director of the Galápagos National Park Service (GNPS) coordinated action to dispense floating barriers, or booms, around the ship to prevent dispersion of the oil in the event of a spill. Waters were calm, and the Navy began efforts to empty the fuel tanks ship-to-ship.

The next day, however, the Jessica listed 25 degrees; this, along with mechanical failures on the vessel, caused bunker fuel to start spilling. Over the ensuing days, cracks in the vessel and heavier weather caused the spillage to accelerate. The GNPS and the Navy announced their response plan: to contain and deflect the spreading fuel from sensitive areas as best as possible, and engage in extensive monitoring efforts of affected areas by plane, boat, and foot.

Detailed updates on the day-to-day efforts of the spill's cleanup and monitoring crews are provided on the website of the Charles Darwin Foundation (www.darwinfoundation.org). These efforts included monitoring areas affected by the spill, monitoring potentially threatened areas to establish an ecological baseline, setting up animal rescue centers, and treating affected animals onsite.

All this required extensive coordination on the part of the spill management team. Not only were GNPS and the Navy involved, but so were staff from the islands' Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (an NGO), and international spill experts. Upon request from the Ecuadorian government, specialized oil spill equipment and response experts from the US Coast Guard and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were flown to the site. In addition, local volunteers, including fishermen, joined in monitoring and rescuing wildlife.

With the Navy in charge of spill containment, GNPS directed the cleanup. In all, 60 park rangers were involved. "The Park has emergency strategies that are implemented when needed," said Desiree Cruz, a GNPS spokesperson. "We count on excellent teamwork, with well-trained people eager to work non-scheduled shifts."

Paola Diaz, a spokesperson for CDRS, said the management team worked well. "The Charles Darwin Research Station is always prepared to coordinate activities with [GNPS]," she said. "In this case, we worked jointly following the Park's guidelines. After the coordinators for each activity were established, the response flowed with no problems." The team's hard work was considerably enhanced by favorable weather. Currents and winds eventually pushed the fuel west and north, away from San Cristobal and into deeper waters. Although some of the slick reached the islands of Santa Fe and Santa Cruz, only small numbers of seabirds and sea lions appear to have been affected. Intense sunshine sped up evaporation of the diesel fuel.

Robert Bensted-Smith, director of CDRS, said on 23 January that preliminary assessments indicated the impacts of the oil spill on the Galápagos ecosystem would not be severe. "If we are right...then this will be a great relief to everyone," he wrote in a published report. "However, relief should not lead us to neglect the need for a great deal of mitigation, ecological monitoring, disaster prevention, and contingency planning, for which Ecuador will need international assistance."

Computer technology played a significant and varied role in the management team's response to the spill. To anticipate the projected movement of the oil slick, the management team used a geographic information system (GIS) to analyze drift-buoy data from the last 20 years. Complementing this, regular aerial surveys collected data on the position of the slick, and these data were entered into the GIS database. Managers used these data to determine the best areas to set up wildlife rescue stations. Websites played a key part in keeping stakeholders around the world informed of the spill and response. The website of the Ecuador-based Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF), which operates CDRS, offered a wide range of detailed and timely information.

Perhaps the most valuable website for spill managers, however, was the site for Charles Darwin Foundation, Inc. (CDF, Inc.), the US-based fundraising arm for CDF, CDRS, and GNPS. The site -- www.Galápagos.org -- not only offered daily spill update information, but also provided a way for web visitors to assist the response. A page on the site enabled visitors to donate money directly to the spill response efforts using a credit card. It also provided CDF, Inc.'s address and phone number for use as an alternate donation route.

Erica Buck, media and outreach director for CDF, Inc., said the public response to the spill was overwhelming. "The CDF, Inc. website normally gets 400-1000 visitor accesses per day," said Buck. "On one day during the spill, we had over 20,000 accesses." She estimates that CDF, Inc. raised tens of thousands of US dollars through the site, all of which went directly to Galápagos to support response efforts. Putting up the oil spill donation page was the result of quick thinking and communications, said Buck. "When the spill occurred, we talked with [CDRS] and asked them what their needs were."

Desiree Cruz, Galápagos National Park Service, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos
Islands, Ecuador. E-mail: infopng@fcdarwin.org.ec.

Paola Diaz, Charles Darwin Research Station, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos
Islands, Ecuador. Tel: +593 5 527 013;
E-mail: infocdrs@fcdarwin.org.ec; Web: www.darwinfoundation.org.

Erica Buck, Charles Darwin Foundation, Inc., 100 North Washington Street,
Suite 232, Falls Church, VA 22046, USA. Tel: +1 703 538
6833; E-mail: info@Galápagos.org; Web: www.Galápagos.org.