Calls for Oil and Gas industry to work with marine life experts to protect coral

There are calls for the North Sea industry to work with ecologists to protect the wildlife living below oil and gas installations.

A new study from the University of Edinburgh suggests man-made structures like the subsea parts of oil platforms can help protect sea creatures threatened by climate change and habitat loss. Rigs, shipwrecks and other structures in the North Sea could play a vital role in holding coral populations together and increasing their resilience, researchers say.

Their findings suggest artificial structures from the oil and gas industry support a network of densely connected coral ecosystems that spans hundreds of miles and crosses international borders.

A team led by scientists at the Scottish University used a computer model to reveal how a protected species of coral might use industrial structures to spread.

Coral larvae released near oil platforms would travel between corals that have colonised other structures and reach natural populations located at great distances, they found.

It’s believed understanding how the North Sea marine life has responded to man-made structures that have been in place since the 1970s is key to informing decisions about decommissioning

We need to think very carefully about the best strategies to remove these platforms, bearing in mind the key role they may now play in the North Sea ecosystem.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, involved researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, Heriot-Watt University and BMT Cordah, industry specialists in marine growth surveys.

Professor Murray Roberts from the school of Geosciences said: “When we first spotted these corals growing on the legs of oil platforms in the late 1990s it was a real surprise, as we expected this to be a very unsuitable environment for them.

“We now have strong evidence that they’re likely to be dispersing right across the North Sea and into marine protected areas."