Plans are being drawn up to stop oil pollution blighting the South West's coastline.

The move follows the spillage from the tanker Prestige in Spain, where 25,000 tons of oil polluted the coast of Spain, Portugal and France.

It is hoped that Devon, Dorset and Cornwall coastlines will be given the same international protection as the Great Barrier Reef, so they would be declared as Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas.

About 95 miles (150 kilometres) of shore, the "Jurassic Coast" which is famous for its fossils, is already a World Heritage Site after it was officially recognised by the United Nations.

The Prestige tanker was carrying 25,000 tons of oil

The day before its accident in December 2002, the Prestige came within 30 miles of the South West coast.

The RSPCA has spent lots of time improving rescue techniques for birds covered in oil.

But it has also said it wants to find out how to prevent such spillages.

Peter Budd of the RSPCA said: "It's heartbreaking. We know it's going to happen as soon as you get rough weather and shipping problems and the birds.

"You put the three together and we know there's going to be problems.

The RSPCA says it will still clean up birds

"We should find some way of stopping the oil leaking out in the first place. But if we've got to clean birds, we need ways to put it right."

Spain, France and Portugal now want to stop single-hulled tankers more than 15-years-old from coming within 200 miles of their shores.

This could force more tankers closer to Britain which has worried people in the South West, so they have called for it to be given a sensitive status.

Peter Drummond, from Dorset County Council, said: "This would allow the authorities to control the types of ship that come into the area and could even insist in compulsory pilotage."

Local authorities say there is no wish to hurt commercial trade, but it hopes such measures would help to control its bad side.