Residents of the Italian island of Giglio voiced concern for their livelihoods on Monday after officials said it could take 10 months to remove the wreck of a cruise ship blighting the tourist hot-spot.

The population on the Tuscan island swells from 800 to 5,000 in the summer months as tourists flock to swim, snorkel and dive in the crystal-clear waters, but islanders fear the beached ship and pollution risks may put off tourists.

"Take the ship away, for (expletive)'s sake!" read a banner hung on a local hotel by residents, echoing a coast guard's frantic order to the captain of the Costa Concordia on the night of the disaster to get back onto the ship.

An audio recording of the heated telephone exchange between the coast guard and captain Francesco Schettino -- in which the former yells "get back on board, for (expletive)'s sake!" -- has received more than 2.327 million You Tube hits.

Over 200 residents attended a meeting on the island on Monday to form a new civic committee to ask for assistance ahead of the summer 2012 season.

A fuel leak from the Costa Concordia into one of Europe's biggest marine parks would not only be environmentally disastrous, it would deal a heavy blow to restaurants, bars and hotels which thrive on tourism, locals say.

"If there is an oil spill from the wreck, it is going to bring the island to its knees. Not just the island but the whole of the Tuscan coast," the head of the island's tourism department Samantha Brizzi said earlier.

Dolphin-spotting in the Tuscan archipelago's emerald waters has been replaced for now by day-trip tourists who come to photograph the vast luxury cruiser and the emergency crews swarming around the stricken vessel.

Technicians from the Dutch company Smit Salvage had planned to begin syphoning off the estimated 2,380 tonnes of fuel in the Costa Concordia's tanks over the weekend, but the operation was called off after the sea turned rough.

Italian navy frogmen meanwhile set off explosive charges to open more holes in the side of the cruise liner on Monday to allow access to deck five, but bad weather meant divers were unable to search for bodies of victims.

The 114,500-tonne ship ran aground on rocks with more than 4,200 people aboard on January 13 in a tragedy which left 32 people presumed dead.

A total of 17 bodies have been recovered -- of which 16 have so far been identified -- and 15 people remain missing.

The head of Italy's civil protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, assured relatives of "the moral imperative to return the bodies to their families."