ORCID
- Anaëlle J. Lemasson: 0000-0002-5158-0610
Abstract
Marine artificial structures (MAS), including oil and gas installations (O&G) and offshore wind farms (OWFs), have a finite operational period. Selecting the most suitable decommissioning options when reaching end-of-life remains a challenge, in part because their effects are still largely undetermined. Whether decommissioned structures could act (sensu ‘function’) as artificial reefs (ARs) and provide desired ecological benefits is of particular interest. Here we use a meta-analysis approach of 531 effect sizes from 109 articles to assess the ecological effects of MAS, comparing O&G and OWFs to shipwrecks and ARs, with a view to inform their decommissioning. This synthesis demonstrates that while MAS can bring ecological benefits, important idiosyncrasies exist, with differences emerging between MAS types, habitat types, taxa and ecological metrics. Notably, we find limited conclusive evidence that O&G and OWFs would provide significant ecological benefits if decommissioned as ARs. We conclude that decommissioning options aimed at repurposing MAS into ARs may not provide the intended benefits.
DOI Link
Publication Date
2024-03-22
Publication Title
Nature Sustainability
Volume
7
Issue
4
Acceptance Date
2024-02-14
Deposit Date
2024-07-15
Funding
We thank and remember P. J. Somerfield, who sadly passed away during the revision of this manuscript following a short illness. We acknowledge the financial and technical support provided by NERC, Cefas and the INSITE programme. We also thank D. Maxwell for internally reviewing this manuscript before journal submission. This map was undertaken within the agreed work of DREAMS (Decommissioning – Relative Effects of Alternative Management Strategies, INSITE 2 programme; https://www.insitenorthsea.org), which is financed by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, Grant Nos. NE/T010843/1 and NE/T010835/1 awarded to the University of Plymouth (to A.M.K.) and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (to P.J.S.). Cefas was supported through its own strategic science investment fund (DP4000A awarded to M.S.).
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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
First Page
485
Last Page
495
Recommended Citation
Lemasson, A., Somerfield, P., Schratzberger, M., Thompson, M., Firth, L., Couce, E., McNeill, C., Nunes, J., Pascoe, C., Watson, S., & Knights, A. (2024) 'A global meta-analysis of ecological effects from offshore marine artificial structures', Nature Sustainability, 7(4), pp. 485-495. Available at: 10.1038/s41893-024-01311-z
