(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-09 19:18

The affected areas include 181 maritime farms that produce abalone, brown seaweed, laver, littleneck clams and sea cucumbers, said Lee Seung-yop, an official with the Taean county government, which includes the beach. Aquatic farmers in the area number about 4,000, he said.

"A lot of damage is feared to these farms, although we don't have an estimate yet," Lee said Saturday.

Local raw fish restaurants such as Lee Ok-hwa's were suffering.

"I haven't had any customers since news of the oil spill Friday," said Lee, who had previously served 200 tourists and others a day.

"I don't know how to make a living," she said. "I don't know how to pay the rent. I believe this situation will last for at least one year."

The central government has designated the oil spill a "disaster," which makes it easier for regional governments to mobilize personnel, equipment and material to cope with the situation. But it stopped short of declaring the region a "disaster area," which would make residents eligible for government financial aid.

Last year, more than 20 million tourists visited the area, home to 63,800 people.

The Coast Guard said it was unclear how many days the clean-up would take.

The accident occurred Friday morning when a barge carrying a crane en route from a construction site lost control after a wire linking it to the tugboat was cut due to high winds, waves and currents. The vessel then slammed into the Hebei Spirit tanker. Neither ship was in danger of sinking and there were no casualties.

The tanker had been at anchor and carrying about 260,000 tons -- about 1.8 million barrels -- of crude oil to be loaded into boats from a nearby port.

The size of the leak reported by the authorities would be about one-fourth that of the 260,000 barrels, or 11 million gallons, spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez in 1989.

The spill was also smaller than one in Pakistan in 2003 when a Greek-registered ship ran aground near Karachi, leaking some 8.2 million gallons of crude that polluted the city's main beaches.

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