Fishermen report huge losses after spill

After November's oil spill at accident-ravaged Butinge terminal on Lithuania's northwest coast, counts of fish are down, and fishermen in the small coastal village of Sventoji report they will experience losses to the tune of $250,000 over the next few years as a result.

On Dec. 10, representatives of the 27-member-strong Sventoji Fishermen's Association and the Palanga branch of the Lithuanian Fishing Production Manufacturers Association met in Sventoji with executives in charge of Butinge.

Local fishermen told the terminal's Operations Director Glen Emery that the accident caused long-term damage to the environment. Fishermen couldn't fish for three days as oil spill clean-up operations went ahead. Fish stocks were noticeably down after they returned to the sea.

They fear they might never return to spawn.

The accident, in which 59 tons of oil spilled into the Baltic Sea, happened at the height of the smelt and cod harvest. Fish stocks are now off by 50 percent to 80 percent. And wholesale buyers will not want to buy what they think are polluted fish unfit for human consumption.

This is the third accident at the terminal, owned by Mazeikiu Nafta (Mazeikiai Oil), which is in turn partially owned and wholly operated by U.S. company Williams. Worst of all, according to the local fishermen, this proves the terminal's management have not learned from past mistakes and are continuing to pollute the sea.

Emery told them he was concerned by their plight. He said Klaipeda University was monitoring the sea and sea bed, Lithuanian Agriculture Ministry fish harvest specialists were counting stocks, and the company had a monitoring program in place from the beginning and was checking what influence the terminal was having on the environment.

Emery did his best to assure the fishermen the company was engaged in a detailed investigation of the terminal's design and operations to avoid spills in the future.

Lithuanian experts have calculated total damages to the environment coming to around $650,000.

The terminal under Williams management has had two other spills in its short life since opening in 1999.

In a separate incident, Mazeikiu Nafta announced that the most recent accident at Butinge occurred due to a faulty underwater transportation hose.

The company Rontgen Technical Dienst, which conducted an examination of the underwater hose, concluded in a report released on Dec. 7 that the accident was caused by damage made to the inside of the hose.

According to the report, the damage was due to faulty construction.

Mazeikiu Nafta said there was no evidence showing that the hose snapped because of improper use or external mechanic damage.

This contradicts conclusions announced by a Lithuanian government commission last week, which said that the crack in the underwater hose was caused by insufficient maintenance of the underwater section of the Butinge terminal.