North Sea oil and gas extraction can cause pollution to spike by more than 10,000% within half a kilometre around off-shore sites, a study has found for the first time.
The University of Essex, Natural History Museum and Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) research has uncovered the true impact on Britain’s seabed life - with the number of species plummeting nearly 30% near platforms.
The findings, published in Science of The Total Environment, come in the face of continued global fossil fuel exploration.
The study discovered pollutants like hydrocarbons were up to 10,613% higher within 500m of the platforms than unimpacted, further away sites.
And heavy metals - like lead, copper, and nickel - were 455% higher within the same distance.
Direct impact
Contaminants have been accumulating for decades around platforms and this study shows a direct impact on marine invertebrates - which play a key role in underwater ecosystems, acting as food for larger animals like fish.
The study examined data for 4,216 species collected from 1981-2012 at nine oil and gas platforms off the coast of Scotland and England and observed a general decrease in the number of species and individuals in the contaminated sediments.
Food webs - which describe the network of feeding interactions between species in an ecosystem - also became simpler and smaller from sediments within 500m of oil and gas platforms.
Large predators like starfish disappeared closer to the platforms with smaller organisms like worms able to thrive in the contaminated sediment.
There were clear changes in community diversity and composition, with a general decrease in the number and type of species near the platforms after oil and gas production began.
Scientist then examined biological samples from each zone that were taken before and after production of oil and gas commenced at each platform between 1981-2012.
They showed the impact sites had a 28% decline in species richness, with fewer food web connections closer to platforms.