The sinking of the Prestige on November 19, 2002, was Spain's worst environmental catastrophe. For the last 12 months the vessel has been leaking thousands of tonnes of toxic heavy fuel oil into the rich fishing waters off Galicia. It has polluted hundreds of pristine beaches along the coasts of Spain, France and Portugal, killing seabirds, fish and corals.

A Galician-based marine research agency and researchers from 16 universities would start work within days on a three-year programme to assess the full impact of the spillage on wildlife and the environment, Spanish environment ministry commissioner Xoan Novoa told reporters in the Galician city of La Coruna.

The scientists would report back in six months, said Novoa, who is responsible within the ministry for assessing the impact of the disaster.

The project, set to cost upwards of 1.2 million euros (1.4 million dollars), would also involve monitoring the coastline from specialised anti-contamination bases over a 10-year period.

The Prestige has leaked an estimated 50,000 tonnes of oil into the sea in one of the world's worst ever oil spills. It now lies beneath 4,000 metres (13,200 feet) of water, still leaking remnants of its 77,000-tonne load.

The Madrid government is at pains to show it wants to deal with the long-term effects of the disaster, which dealt a severe blow to a region of outstanding natural beauty whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism and fishing.

"We are gradually getting back to normal," said Novoa, who was accompanied to Galicia on Saturday by development ministry commissioner Francisco Alonso.

The government first put the clean-up bill at around 700 million eurosmillion dollars) and then said it could rise to one billion euros.

But environmental pressure group WWF on Thursday estimated the overall cost of cleaning up the coast and reviving local industry was more likely to be eight billion euros.

WWF said in a critical report the bill for 10 years work cleaning more than 1,000 beaches on the northwestern coast would cost three billion euros. Losses to fish stocks and the fishing industry would cost an estimated seven million.

Spanish-Argentine oil firm Repsol-YPF is currently carrying out tests on the wreck of the Prestige to determine if the fuel remaining in her holds can be floated to the surface using balloons.

TERRA.WIRE