After the slick, the clean-up in the Galapagos islands

Shifting ocean currents and winds appear to be moving an oil slick away from Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, reducing the threat to the unique sanctuary of animals and plants, scientists said yesterday.

Shifting ocean currents and winds appear to be moving an oil slick away from Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, reducing the threat to the unique sanctuary of animals and plants, scientists said yesterday.

However, Ecuador declared a state of emergency and appealed for international assistance to fund a clean-up. Officials have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident and the repercussions of an oil spill in the archipelago.

While the spill is "extremely serious", the impact has eased as currents and wind carry the main slick into open water and sunshine accelerates evaporation of the diesel fuel spilt from a tanker, according to Robert Bensted-Smith, head of the Charles Darwin Research Station on the most populated island, Santa Cruz. "Our very preliminary assessment is that, thanks mainly to climate and currents, the impacts of this major oil spill on the Galapagos ecosystem may not be severe."

Government officials agreed that the bulk of the oil was veering out to sea, although "the currents can change at any time", said Mauro Cervino, head of information at Ecuador's Environment Ministry.

Some species, such as the equatorial penguin and the lava gull, already faced extinction before the spill and volunteers are flocking to learn first aid for affected pelicans and blue-footed boobies. The 9,000 land-dwelling giant tortoises, for which the Galapagos are renowned, are not in danger. But Santa Fe island, home to thousands of unique iguanas and a large seal colony, is bracing itself to cope with the aftermath.

Diesel has been detected 600 miles away from where Captain Tarquino Arevalo, apparently mistaking a buoy beacon for a lighthouse signal, ran the Jessica on to a reef eight days ago. About 80 per cent of the 240,000-gallon cargo has oozed into the sea. New cracks have appeared in the hull of the vessel, even while a US Coast Guard crew tries to pump the remaining fuel into the ship's undamaged storage tanks.

A government spokesman cited "human error and a lack of alertness" for bringing about an environmental catastrophe "equivalent to an earthquake". There were no marine charts aboard the tanker, nor was it insured for third-party damages.