Population of Scoter ducks falls victim of oil spillage

A small, dark and mysterious duck is the main victim of the Sea Empress oil spill. A large fraction of the entire population of Scoter ducks wintering in British waters are in danger of being wiped out.

There were about six thousand - about one-fifth of the total British population - in Carmarthen Bay, west Wales, when the supertanker ran aground two weeks ago. Most have been oiled and are likely to die. By last night about 2,300 had been rescued from the beaches but more than 1,000 had been found dead.

"This species has suffered above all," said Euan Dunn, marine policy officer with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. "It's safe to say that over half the birds in Carmarthen Bay are likely to succumb, and this is their most important British site."

The Prince of Wales learnt of the oil spill's effect on the Scoter during a three-hour visit to the Milford Haven area yesterday. He spoke to fishermen, representatives of the tourist industry and environmental bodies. Today he will raise their concerns with William Hague, Secretary of State for Wales.

He was briefed on the clean-up operation and told that eight small fishing boats - one called The Lady Diana - are being used to collect oil in near- shore waters using floating booms.

The Prince visited only one beach at West Angle Bay and this had already been cleaned fairly thoroughly. Two miles away at Freshwater West, which has received repeated slickings, there were large quantities of oil and no clean-up staff. They were all working at full stretch at beaches further to the east. Large quantities of oil continue to come ashore along a 20-mile stretch of coast, some of them hitting beaches which have escaped until now.

Some of the people the Prince met asked for a public inquiry as well as the Department of Transport's marine accident investigation. The Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine, assured the Commons yesterday that the inquiry into the Sea Empress spill will be "thorough and independent".

Paul Flynn, the Newport West Labour MP, asked him: "Will you give an undertaking today that the full inquiry will take place, preferably under Lord Donaldson, and that inquiry will be public and entirely independent?"

Mr Heseltine replied: "The Marine Accident Investigation Branch will carry out a thorough and independent inquiry into the cause of the incident and the conduct of the salvage operations."

Nick Ainger, Labour MP for Pembroke, said advanced radar coverage installed at the mouth of Milford Haven had been out of action for six months before the tragedy.

The Government, keen to minimise the political fallout from the disaster, yesterday announced that the insurers of the Sea Empress are establishing a claims handling office immediately in Milford Haven. Mr Hague and Lord Goschen, the Minister for Aviation and Shipping, said the office will make hardship payments to those suffering financial losses following the accident.

Lord Goschen said: "The Government is very concerned about the financial hardship which could be caused especially to those who earn their living from the sea. I want to give assurance that there will be proper compensation for pollution damage."

Pumping off a final shipment of oil from the tanker was due to begin early today and should be completed tomorrow. All but one of its 14 cargo tanks were holed during the grounding and subsequent salvage attempts and about 70,000 tonnes poured into the sea.