Devon County Council is asking for the south west coastline to be given special protection from older, single-hulled oil tankers like the Prestige, which caused a massive spill off Spain.

Single-hull tankers are due to be phased out by 2015.

But the council does not want to wait until then and is asking the Atlantic Arc Commission, which represents countries around the Bay of Biscay, to declare the whole of the area as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area.

PSSA status would mean single-hulled oil tankers, like the Prestige, could be banned and the local authorities could control the anchorage of others, keeping them away from areas like Lyme Bay, Start Point, the Exe estuary and the Exmoor coastline.

Florida Keys and the Great Barrier Reef already have this status.

Richard Hill, Devon County Council's counter-pollution officer, said gaining PSSA status may still take several years because it has to be approved by the International Maritime Organisation and the government.

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But an application would be made this week.

He said: "There certainly is a view within the Atlantic Arc following the Prestige incident and the Erika in 1999 that we should really address this issue and control tankers in a very sensitive area, both environmentally and also for its economy."

The sinking of the Erika - like the Prestige, a Japanese-built single-hull tanker - off the coast of Brittany in North West France in December 1999 prompted the EU to draw up new legislation.

Tankers that are more than 25-years old will not be allowed to operate in Europe after 2005.