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SEOUL, S KOREA - SOUTH Korea's worst oil spill has devastated marine life, halving the number of sea plants and mollusks found off the western coast, a government report said on Thursday.
The oil leak also threatened the underwater food chain, endangering fish and sea birds, the Environment Ministry report said.
Surveys following the spill last December showed mollusk populations had plunged to 56 creatures of five species per square metre from 133 creatures of eight species as mussels were found to have been considerably contaminated by remnants of crude oil.
The density of seaweeds per square metre fell 43 percent from February 2007 and phyllospadix iwatensis, a seagrass, also declined 47 per cent.
'Because seagrasses and seaweeds make up the lowest part of the ocean food chain, there are risks of second-hand contamination of fish and birds that are at the top of the food pyramid,' the report said.
The surveys, the first since the oil spill, were carried out in order to set up plans to restore damaged beaches and sea farms.
Hong Kong-registered supertanker Hebei Spirit spilled 10,900 tonnes of crude after it was rammed by a Samsung Heavy Industries barge in rough seas off Taean county on Dec 7.
Scores of marine farms and kilometres of beaches were devastated and three people in Taean, about 110 kilometres southwest of Seoul, killed themselves in frustration over delays in compensation.
Five people - the skippers of the barge and of the two tugs, and the tanker's captain and chief officer - are on trial on charges of negligence and violating anti-pollution laws.
Samsung Heavy Industries and Hebei Shipping, a Hong Kong corporation which owns the tanker, have also been charged with violating anti-pollution laws. -- AFP
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