SPAIN Ria de Arousa (River Arousa) -- 15/12/2002 -- Aerial view of mussel beds in the estuary of the River Arousa on the coast of Galicia

SPAIN Near Punta Faglida -- 15/12/2002 -- Aerial view of a polluted coast near Punta Faglida on the Galician coast. Thousands of volunteers and military personnel are involved in the clean-up operation which could last for six months (oil is black rocks). Thousands of tonnes of heavy fuel oil has contaminated large swathes of the north-western coast of Spain after the tanker Prestige sank in late November 2002. The ship was carrying around 77,000 tonnes (metric) of heavy fuel oil and while some has been extracted from the wreck, a lot of the oil has leaked into the sea causing a ecological disaster along much of the southern Atlantic coast of Europe -- Picture © Jon Mitchell / Lightroom Photos