The Biggest Oil Spill You’ve Probably Never Heard of | Spain: the Lawless Sea | Frontline/world

How an aging tanker caused one of Spain’s worst environmental disasters — and what it revealed about maritime regulations. (Aired January 2004)

This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Donate to FRONTLINE now: https://bit.ly/47DFzCb

And support your local PBS station here: https://www.pbs.org/donate
In November 2002, the oil tanker “Prestige” sank off the coast of Galicia in northwestern Spain after encountering a winter storm, causing one of the worst oil spills in the country’s history.

The tanker had a murky and complicated backstory — making it difficult to track culpability. At 26 years old, the rusting, single-hulled tanker was well past the age of retirement. But that didn’t deter the owners from loading the aging ship with crude oil number 4, one of the most toxic fuel oils known.

After the spill, Spain imposed a six-month ban on fishing in the region, leading to great economic hardship.

“Spain: The Lawless Sea” investigated what went wrong with the tanker and uncovered a largely unregulated maritime system that offered few safeguards against environmental disasters.

“This is an act of terror, a criminal act,” said Rafael Mouzo, a fisherman and then-mayor of the coastal town of Concurbion. “We need an international tribunal to judge ... all those responsible for the spill.”

Learn about developments since the film aired on our website:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/oil-spill-prestige-tanker-spain-disaster-documentary/

“Spain: The Lawless Sea” was a co-production with the Center for Investigative Reporting. The reporter was Mark Schapiro. The producer was Oriana Zill de Granados. The co-producer and videographer was Camille Servan-Schreiber. The founder and executive producer of FRONTLINE was David Fanning.

We are making episodes from FRONTLINE/World’s archive newly available here on YouTube and on pbs.org as part of an effort to make our past reporting widely accessible.

Originally developed by FRONTLINE producers in conjunction with public television stations KQED San Francisco and WGBH Boston, FRONTLINE/World launched in 2002 as a national public TV series that turned its lens on the global community, covering countries and cultures rarely seen on American television. The series completed its final broadcast season in 2010.

Explore more about FRONTLINE/World and this film on the legacy website for the series:
https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/

#Documentary #Spain #OilSpill #Environment

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSfrontline
Sign up for our newsletter: https://frontline.org/newsletter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinepbs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontline
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/frontlinepbs.bsky.social

FRONTLINE/World was a production of GBH in Boston. The executive producer was David Fanning.

FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation, and Fialkow Family Foundation. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and Corey David Sauer, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

#BreakingNews #WorldNews #GlobalUpdate #WorldBuzz #GlobalEvents #SpotlightNews