LA CORUNA, Spain, - Hundreds of fishermen in dinghies scooped oil from the sea with hands and nets as dozens of slicks the size of soccer fields neared Spain's most prized shellfish beds yesterday.

Eight cleanup ships farther out to sea tried to vacuum larger slicks from the waves after a tanker sank off northwest Spain last month. Two more ships will join them today and one tomorrow, El Pais newspaper reported.

The oil threatens the mussel-rich Arousa inlet on the west coast of Spain's Galicia region, the paper said. Winds pushed more slicks to within 150 miles of France's Atlantic coast.

"So far there's a northern wind which pushes away the slicks" from the French coasts, said Dominique Bussereau, France's state secretary for transport. "At any time this season western winds can come back, so there's a real threat in the longer term."

The French government set up a committee to coordinate action that could include military and civilian forces, Bussereau said.

About 670 tons of oil that split into smaller slicks may also reach beaches in Northern Portugal, Portuguese officials said yesterday.

The oil slick at sea follows a first spill of about 5,000 tons of fuel that escaped when the tanker started listing close to the coast. That first spill has affected about 160 beaches in Galicia. Portugal has sent three cleanup boats, and a ferry boat is ready to barricade the mouth of the Minho River, which divides Portugal and Spain.