Estimating the short-term economic damages from the Prestige oil spill in the Galician fisheries and tourism

The Prestige oil spill may be considered as one of the worst in the last years because of the amount of oil spilled (59,000 tons at the moment) and the wide zone affected: almost all the coastline in Galicia (Spanish region with a very important coast fishing and tourist activity) and some points in North Spain and in Southwest France. In this paper, we estimate the short-term economic damages from the Prestige oil spills in the Galician fishing and tourist activities. The economic losses arising from the Prestige oil spill exceed those items that can be indemnified under the IOPC system. Their magnitude could reach 5 times more than the applicable limit of compensations in the Prestige case. The consequence is net losses from repeated oil spills and internationally accepted incentives to risky strategies in the marine transport of hydrocarbons.