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REVIEW article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Ecosystem Ecology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1264892

Is OSPAR 98/3 science-based politics or politics-based science?

Provisionally accepted
Nicole Paces Nicole Paces 1ABIGAIL J. DAVIES ABIGAIL J. DAVIES 2*Astley F. Hastings Astley F. Hastings 3
  • 1 University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • 2 The National Decommissioning Centre, Newburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
  • 3 School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Man-made structures in the marine environment such as offshore Oil & Gas infrastructure are known to provide a hard substrate that enables ecosystems to develop on and around them. Current decommissioning practices on the UK Continental Shelf are mandated by the OSPAR Decision 98/3 with the premise of a clean seabed at its core, meaning that it is the expectation that all infrastructure is completely removed at the end of its operation life, leaving a clear seabed behind. This study critically reviewed 49 peer-reviewed articles relating to the ecosystem and the impact to these ecosystems by current removal practices. The results clearly demonstrate that current science-based evidence shows that existing O&G platform substructures act as multipurpose artificial reefs upon which rich ecosystems have developed and that their removal degrades the overall North Sea marine environment. Furthermore, this study shows that clear-sea bed policies, such as OSPAR 98/3, do not reflect, nor understand the complex relationship and interdependencies between biology and manmade structures and do not reflect current scientific knowledge.It is concluded that based on current knowledge, it is no longer scientifically justifiable to mandate the removal of all O&G infrastructure during decommissioning and that applying the principle of a clean seabed according to the OSPAR Commission should be re-considered.

    Keywords: OSPAR 98/3, manmade structures, ecosystem, Ecology, Oil & gas, marine, Environmental impact

    Received: 03 Nov 2023; Accepted: 02 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Paces, DAVIES and Hastings. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: ABIGAIL J. DAVIES, The National Decommissioning Centre, Newburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.