Marine scientists from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have published a report warning that fish and shellfish from Spain may be poisonous for up to 10 years as a result of the pollution from the stricken carrier.

The Prestige was carrying 70,000 tonnes of fuel oil when it sank in 3600m of water, 130 miles off the Spanish coast.

Smit Salvage barges was forced to tow the vessel out to sea after no port was willing to take the tanker, where it eventually split in two and sank.

"A lot of oil went down with this (front) part … we hope the majority will go down with the ship. Most of the containers are intact," said a Smit spokesman at the time.

Since then Spain and Portugal have engaged in a war of words in an attempt to pass the buck, each saying the vessel was in the other's territory.

Regardless of the political finger pointing the WWF study contains stinging criticism of the Spanish government for prematurely opening the Galician fisheries and failing to clean up oil lying in shallow waters.

Entitled - Prestige one year on, a continuing disaster - the report says that toxic pollutants from the oil were rapidly absorbed by shellfish and crabs after settling on the seabed in the shallow coastal waters, leading to potentially serious consequences for both the crustaceans and for people eating them.

More than 2,000 miles of coastline, from the Isle of Wight to the Canary Islands, has been polluted.