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An analysis of the oil shows that it is from the "Prestige," which sank off the Galician coast of Spain on November 19.
LPO has set up a network along to monitor the number of birds oiled and washed up along the French coast.
The number of dead oiled birds recovered from the "Prestige" oil spill has unexpectedly increased over the past week, according to the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/BirdLife), the BirdLife International Partner organization in Spain. The number of live oiled birds recovered has also increased.
After a period of two weeks in which the number of dead oiled birds recovered averaged between 20 and 30 per day, the daily average more than doubled to 72 per day after December 26, 2002.
On December 28, a total of 102 dead oiled birds were collected, the highest figure for a single day since the tanker sank.
"The increase in the number of dead oiled birds being found so long after the initial slick occurred is significant because it is almost unique amongst oil spills, and is without doubt related to the continued leakage of oil from the sunken wreck of the Prestige," said Carles Carboneras of SEO/BirdLife in Galicia.
SEO/BirdLife has estimated that the total number of birds affected during the first month of the Prestige oil spill to December 16 was between 20,000 and 40,000. The most affected species are puffin, guillemot and razorbill.
"All the indications are that oil from the Prestige will continue to affect the coast of Galicia as long as it continues to leak from the wreck. SEO/BirdLife therefore predicts that in the coming weeks the number of oiled birds affected will be even higher when more diverse species move into the area in February," Carboneras said.
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