European Surfing's Oily Apocalypse
CD: And the ship
still continues to leak from under the water.
JB: The Erica spill
was different. It all came at once. It was really a mess, but the Prestige oil
is still coming from the ship.
The
Mini Sub Used to Plug Some of the Holes.
They sent was a sub to plug some of the holes and they were able to stop
some of it. But it's still leaking. I was just reading something on it. They
said they named a special committee that will try to pump the fuel off the ship.
But it's 3000 meters(9000+ feet) down. Otherwise they will try to put something
on top -- to cover the ship. I don't know if it will work. They'll try it this
summer when the weather is more settled. But the problem also is that this area
is the worst in all of Europe for weather. Even in the summer you can have big
storms in the Gulf of Gascogne and there are always a lot of bad currents near
the corner of Europe there.
CD: So Surfrider
didn't tell members to work on this cleanup because they didn't want people
to get sick?
JB: Surfrider was
boycotting because for the main reason that they didn't want folks to get sick.
But it was also a way to put pressure on politicians -- that if they have to
pay for this kind of cleanup, then they will have to enact stronger legislation
and set aside more money to prevent it in the future.
CD: Is there enough
money to clean it?
JB: The people
who deal with finances for disasters like this said we could collect around
171 million Euros (170 million dollars). The Spanish government said we know
we're going to need 1 billion Euros, and in France it may cost 300 million .And
that’s only to solve the crisis -- we're not even taking into account loss
in tourism, fishing and economic activity. There will be huge consequences.
I think it will be a poor tourism season in France.
CD: What sort of
effect will it have on Quiksilver Europe?
JB: Our president
said a few days ago that he thought that it would not impact too much on the
major level. But in some areas that lose local business, local retailers are
going to have a problem to pay the bills.
In Spain for example,
most of our business is not done right along the coast. But maybe near Vigo
in Portugal, there will be a considerable effect.
There will be a
meeting in two weeks with SIMA (Surf Industry Manufacturers Association) of
Europe. And all people working in the industry. Some people are starting a study
on the impacts, so we should know more soon.
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