Ashes from summer forest fires threaten shellfish banks in Spain

MADRID, Spain Fishermen struggled Wednesday to clean a thick layer of ash-laden mud from beaches in northwest Spain, as mucky runoff from summer forest fires threatens rich shellfish banks.

A 20-centimeter (8-inch) coat of mud and ash caused by torrential weekend rains in the Galicia region has flowed down from coastal hills, covering several beaches, contaminating sea inlets and suffocating cockles and clams, fishermen said.

"The situation is very serious," said Ramon Portela, head of the fishermen's association in the town of Combarro, one of the most affected areas in southern Galicia, said in a telephone interview.

"Everywhere you look there is mud, which is very heavy and is asphyxiating all the shellfish. It's worse than if it were oil," he said.

Portela said that in Combarro alone 500 families make their living from shellfish, mostly women. On an average day 100 people work on the beach and mouth of the rivers and catch up to 400 kilograms (882 pounds).

Crews are using shovels and mechanical diggers to clean the beaches, and Portela said it could take days.

The regional government of Galicia said biologists were taking samples to assess the situation and did not have figures of the amount of shellfish that may have died.

The newspaper El Pais said that on the beach of A Seca, in the province of Pontevedra, some 20,000 clams had suffocated due to ash from the forest fires in August.

The mess is yet another blow for the environment in Galicia, which the hub of Spain's fish and shellfish industry. In Nov. 2002 it suffered a huge oil spill along its coastline from an aging oil tanker, the Prestige, which broke in two in a storm and sank.

More than 2,000 forest fires, most deliberately lit, ravaged Galicia in just a two-week span this summer, giving the region its worst fire season in 20 years. Police arrested 52 people.