Let us not forget that the Galapagos archipelago is a World Heritage Site and therefore, in theory, has the protection of the international community. With modern methods of navigation that tanker should never have gone aground. The accident has put unique wildlife, and the living systems of which they are a part, at risk of imbalance or even collapse. The Jessica is listing badly The only good news is that right from the start a partnership of the Ecuadorian Government, national parks and The Charles Darwin Foundation, swung into action to try to soften the blow. Their protective feathers soak up the oil and their desperate preening means they ingest the toxic oil.
Penguins are especially at risk as are the sea lions because their hair attracts the oil.
And much of the oil that has leaked out of the Jessica will end up on the sea floor where it will pose further threats. The honest answer is we do not know because we are dealing with a biological system. One tiny bacterium getting into the wrong person at the wrong time could bring about the fall of an empire. Similarly, one glitch in one key ecosystem component of the Galapagos could do the same thing. Thank God, ecosostems are in the main more resilient than their man-made counterparts.