Oil Rigs May Be Fit For Porpoise

摘要

Deep-sea oil rigs are havens for wildlife, according to a survey of porpoises visiting a rig in the North Sea. If confirmed, the findings may prompt a rethink of current regulations governing the fate of platforms in the north-east Atlantic and Europe.rnPreviously, researchers had shown that coral, plankton and fish thrive on and around ocean platforms like oil rigs, largely because they provide shelter from the open sea and are no-go zones for fishing boats. Now it looks as though they may also support cetaceans.rnVictoria Todd of Ocean Science Engineering, a UK-based consultancy in Dunbar, East Lothian, and her colleagues placed microphones designed to record the patterns of porpoise clicks around an oil rig near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea to listen forrnharbour porpoises, a threatened species. Over 525 days, they recorded 2479 harbour porpoise visits, almost all of which happened at night.