Digital Extra

In the most detailed public assessment so far of the cost of the North Cape spill, Marcel Valois, the state's economic development chief, told a Senate commission yesterday of the spill's economic costs:

-- Overseas markets are canceling orders with Rhode Island fish companies.

A $2.3 million order for herring, a $180,000-a-day arrangement for squid and a $300,000 deal for mackerel were all rescinded after the Jan. 19 spill.

-- Prices for some fish landed by Rhode Island boats have plummeted: fluke down 39 percent, whiting as much as 67 percent.

Some Rhode Island fishing boats unloading in New York and New Jersey have been paid less for their catch than the cost of their trip.

-- Nearly 350 individuals and businesses have filed claims for losses so far -- totaling at least $5.2 million.

Of those, 265 were independent fishermen and more than half (157) are ineligible for unemployment benefits.

When employment statistics are figured in, showing that each fishing job usually spins off another four related jobs, as many as 12,000 people in the fishing industry alone may have been hurt by the spill.

-- The spill has become a public relations nightmare for a state that depends on its natural beauty to lure tourists from around the world.

"It has destroyed the (Rhode Island) brand name that took us four, five years to develop at a cost of millions," said Valois, head of the state Economic Development Corporation.

And currently the state has little money in its tourism coffers to fight the fouled -- and largely unjustified -- reputation.

To make matters worse, it's not just tourists who are exhibiting an unfounded "fear," Valois said.

Despite public service announcements by Governor Almond stressing the cleanliness of Rhode Island seafood, several fish and chips operators have reported a 50 to 70 percent drop in business.

Some restaurants have taken the words "Rhode Island" off their seafood menus.

And even some fish store customers have reported an odor of oil in frozen clams -- despite the clams having been packaged in December.

"There is some fear in the marketplace," Valois said.

Valois' comment seemed all the more poignant considering his first words to the commission.

"I will be somewhat cautious" in my remarks, he said. "I don't want to release any premature information" that could hurt the state's effort to recoup losses.

The North Cape, owned by Eklof Marine of New York, went aground off Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, spilling 828,000 gallons of home heating fuel. The spill occurred after the barge's tug, Scandia, caught fire in a gale and its crew had to abandon ship.

"It could not have come at a worse time," Valois said, just as many annual vacationers are making their reservations for their summer vacations.

The spill's short- and long-term effects will be "severe."

Despite his gloomy assessment, Valois had some good news.

In a meeting yesterday morning, Eklof's insurance representatives came close to accepting a plan under which those filing claims for losses could receive partial payment now.

Eklof's two insurance companies have resisted instituting such a plan until now, Valois said, wanting instead to wait and pay claimants one final lump sum for their total losses.

"I think we made tremendous headway," Valois said, to changing their minds.

Some immediate cash would go a long way, toward helping in particular those 157 fishermen ineligible for unemployment benefits, Valois said.

Valois said state officials are also trying to persuade insurance representatives to put money up now for "crisis marketing" to reinvigorate the state's $1.4 billion tourism industry.

"They need to get the message out that we are open for business," Valois said. "That is an important part of our economy and we can't afford to miss even one year."

Toward that goal the state has also applied for, and expects to receive, an additional $1 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Tourism officials are already working on a media campaign that will be launched once the state receives the $1 million, Valois said.

A similar blitz, working with the motto -- "The Coast Is Clear" -- worked well in 1989 after the World Prodigy spill off Brenton Reef.

On the environmental front, the news was equally dismal.

Ken Hinga, assistant dean of the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, told the senators that the ocean floor off Moonstone Beach and the Harbor of Refuge is likely littered with death.

Water samples of a 10-square-mile area around Moonstone Beach -- 5 miles long and 2 miles out -- showed the area at or exceeding "acute toxicity levels."

At such levels "critters simply drop over dead," Hinga said.

The situation is much the same in the Harbor of Refuge, off Galilee and Point Judith, which acted like a glove after the spill, trapping much of the oil inside its breakwaters.

"I would guess," Hinga said, "there has to be dead things on the bottom of the Harbor of Refuge."

In a related matter, Hinga said the General Assembly should consider legislation that would make better use of URI's world-renowned expertise in marine affairs.

Hinga said he visited the cleanup command center the morning after the spill to make himself and URI scientists available. But he said it wasn't until a day or two later that URI's role in the cleanup was clearly defined and formalized.

Had a protocol already been established, Hinga said, URI scientists could have more quickly performed some of the first water and sediment samples rather than waiting for Eklof's appointed scientists to do the work.

However, Hinga said he was not implying that their work was done incorrectly.

Sen. Charles J. Fogarty, D-Glocester, was surprised to learn Hinga initiated contact with cleanup officials.

"You would think the first call the Coast Guard and DEM would have made was to URI," he said. "I'm flabbergasted that didn't happen."

But other senators said that under the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990, it is the "responsible party" -- in this case Eklof -- who determines how the environmental assessment process is done.