Coral found growing on Northern European oil platforms

Pamela Sampson

Associated Press Writer

Oil drilling rigs in Northern Europe’s waters have become home to small colonies of coral, suggesting that any dismantling of the structures may need to take the marine life into account.

The white or pink coral, called Lophelia pertusa, was found in July in the North Sea for the first time on two platforms that have been producing oil since the late 1970s, according to a study in Dec. 9’s issue of the journal Nature. The coral was also discovered on an oil-storage buoy in a Norwegian fjord.

The colonies are a long way from forming coral reefs, which are prized as habitat for all sorts of marine life: The Lophelia colonies were 22 inches long on the platforms and up to 8 inches long on the buoy.

The findings were reported by Niall Bell, a marine biologist with Cordah Environmental Management Consultants in Aberdeen, Scotland, a company that provides services to the oil industry.

“We now believe that oil platforms could be providing a firm base to enable the coral to expand its distribution in the North Sea,” Bell said.

Bell also said the discovery of the apparently healthy colonies indicates the coral may have a tolerance for certain chemical discharges that result from oil drilling.

The environmental group Greenpeace International maintains that oil rigs pose a potential threat to natural coral reefs and that the discovery of the Lophelia is no reason to allow unused rigs to remain in place.

“Marine life will always grow on rubbish discarded in the sea,” said Simon Reddy, a Greenpeace spokesman in London. “If I were to dump a used car in the forest, I would expect moss to grow on it, and if I was lucky, a bird might even nest on it. But is this justification to fill our forests with used cars?”