(16 May 1997) Spanish/Nat

Several thousand fishermen, ecologists and politicians circled Lake Maracaibo - the heart of Venezuela's oil industry - on Thursday to protest a recent oil spill.

Local fishermen were left with nothing to catch after a Greek-registered ship leaked 25-thousand barrels of crude oil into the lake last February.

They now want compensation and have joined forces with environmentalists to demand steps which would prevent a similar incident in future.

Around 900 boats sailed on Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo on Thursday to protest at the damage and financial chaos caused by a recent oil spill.

Thousands of fishermen had been joined in their protest by environmentalists and politicians.

The lake, which has been joined by canal to the Caribbean Gulf of Venezuela, is a principal route for the export abroad of Venezuelan oil.

An estimated one point five (m) million barrels of oil pass through it every day.

The Greek-registered Nissos Amorgos ran aground in the canal in February and spilled 25-thousand barrels of extra heavy crude.

The spill turned a seven-mile stretch of coastline into an ecological disaster zone.

Tens of thousands of fish and other sea life were killed or damaged in the spill, the worst in a decade.

The fishermen say the spill has prevented them from working for two months.

They are demanding 139 (m) million U-S dollars in compensation against the owners of the Nissos Amorgos.

The protesters also want action taken to prevent a repeat of the disaster.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"This use of the lake, speaking scientifically, constitutes ecological suicide, an environmental disaster of such proportions in a region where people live off the fish, where people need those fish in order to earn a living and support their families. But these days, after what has happened, the fish are not going to recover, not tomorrow. the day after tomorrow or by the end of the week. The fish are still getting sick and will go on dying, but with certain safety measures and with certain changes of attitude by governments, there should be an immediate call for a scientific inquiry into whether the fish that we eat in the near future are healthy or not."
SUPER CAPTION: Fernando Nunez Calderon, environmentalist

Environmentalists have recommended moving oil tankers from the lake altogether.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"They built a navigation canal which has salinated and adversely affected the waters of Lake Maracaibo. The only way out, the only final solution for the water of Maracaibo, its salination and deterioration, is for the deep water ports to relocate to the Gulf of Venezuela."
SUPER CAPTION: Antonio Casela, President of the Protection of Lake Maracaibo Commission

About 12-thousand barrels are still on the sea floor and are to be cleaned up in the next three to four months.

But their presence has raised doubts over the navigability of the canal.

Official records confirm the canal is sufficiently deep for oil tankers to use - but local sailors dispute this.

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