IN THE 1990s, Greenpeace famously likened the dumping of old oil platforms in the deep ocean to throwing empty beer cans into the sea. But a report published on 8 April supports claims that disused oil platforms can become havens for marine life 鈥� at least in the warm, shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where 3600 rigs are in place off Louisiana alone.
Paul Sammarco and Steve Kolian of the Eco-Endurance Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, argue that in the calcium-rich waters of the gulf, corals rapidly colonise the rigs which then become home to myriad fish and other creatures. 鈥淧latforms create reef habitat that would otherwise not exist over tens of thousands of square miles,鈥� they say in the report at .
Regulations in the US call for old rigs to be brought ashore and dismantled, unless they are retained through a 鈥淩igs to reefs鈥� programme introduced in the late 1990s. But Sammarco says that only 鈥渢ens鈥� of the thousands of decommissioned rigs have been retained under the programme.
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鈥淒isused oil rigs can become havens for marine life in the shallow waters of the Gulf鈥�
While Greenpeace accepts that some rigs might work as reefs, Simon Reddy of Greenpeace UK says,鈥漌e want all platforms to come ashore initially.鈥�
