Peru declares 'environmental emergency' to battle oil spill

Peru has declared an environmental emergency to battle an oil spill caused by freak waves from a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific.

With its 90-day decree, the government said on Saturday that it plans "sustainable management" of 21 beaches tarred by 6,000 barrels of oil that spilled from a tanker ship unloading at a refinery last Saturday.

One aim of the decree is to better organise the various agencies and teams working in the aftermath of the disaster, said the environment ministry.

The environment ministry said 174 hectares – equivalent to 270 football fields – of sea, beaches and natural reserves were affected by the spill.

Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Roberto Sanchez estimated on Saturday that economic losses total more than $50 million, all sectors combined.

"In a normal season, between January and March (during Peru's summer) five million people visit the affected beaches. The economic loss is immense," Sanchez said, adding that thousands of jobs had been affected and the tourism sector "mortally wounded."

The government is demanding payment of damages from the Spanish energy giant Repsol which owns the refinery.

READ MORE: Oil spill clean-up efforts in Peru to take over a month

Clean-up operations

Crews have been working for days to clean up the spill.

But the ministry said it issued the emergency decree because the crude still in the water was still spreading, reaching 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the spot of the original spill.

The environment ministry said "the spill amounts to a sudden event of significant impact on the coastal marine ecosystem, which has major biological diversity."

It said that over the short term, Repsol is responsible for emergency cleanup operations.

Repsol said on Saturday it is "deploying all efforts to attend to the remediation of the spill."

Last week, fishermen and other local people who live off the sea and tourism staged protests over the sudden loss of their livelihood.