Decommissioning - relative effects of alternative management strategies (DREAMS)

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Large amounts of hard infrastructure, such as rigs, were installed in the North Sea following the discovery of exploitable oil and gas in the 1970s. Following public outcry about attempts to dispose of the Brent Spar at sea in the 1990s, regulations were introduced that require oil and gas structures in the sea to be removed at the end of their useful lives. Much of the infrastructure in the North Sea is now at the end of its useful life, at least for the purposes for which it was installed, and is to be decommissioned. A large proportion of the cost of this is borne by taxpayers. Other approaches to decommissioning are possible. Elsewhere in the world redundant infrastructure has been left in situ to support wildlife or to limit seabed disturbance, relocated to form artificial reefs, repurposed to sequester CO2, and so on. The presumption of removal has held back consideration of alternative possibilities in the North Sea. At the same time, debate about alternatives is polarised, and there is a tendency to focus on individual cases rather than the whole North Sea (eco)system. The North Sea is a productive sea that, in addition to providing food, supports many industries other than the extraction of oil and gas. A large expansion in the amount of infrastructure being installed for wind generation is underway and planned to continue. Consideration needs to be given to what happens to this at the end of its useful life. Other man-made structures are also in the sea, such as wrecks, which provide havens for some species. The purpose of the DREAMS project is to bring together all available information about the effects of man-made structures on the marine ecosystem, and on the benefits that ecosystem provides for humans. This information will be analysed and combined with ecosystem models, to examine how different possible approaches to decommissioning lead to different outcomes. In particular the project will highlight trade-offs, where action taken to deliver one objective damages our ability to achieve a different objective. The overall aim is to provide comprehensive information to support decisions, representing a shift from individual, narrowly focused studies to a "big picture" research endeavor, designed to feed into addressing large social challenges and illustrate how marine science can underpin the provision of wide-ranging benefits to society. The research will involve the collection and analysis of large amounts of information concerning the effects of man-made structures in the sea. Results from analyses will be combined with state-of-the-art ecosystem models to examine how different approaches to decommissioning lead to different outcomes, and what those outcomes mean for people.