Seahorse sanctuary threatened by oil-drilling plan

Campaigners warn that the impact could destroy the UK’S largest colony of the vulnerable spiny species

THE country’s most important seahorse colony is under threat from plans to drill for oil, conservation campaigners have said.

The species, which experts say could face extinction in a matter of decades, has already survived threats from boats mooring off the Dorset coast but now plans have been submitted to create an oil platform.

Campaigners say the protected species could be destroyed by the impact of the drilling.

Neil Garrick-maidment, executive director of the Seahorse Trust, said: “This is the most important site for seahorses in the British Isles. There is a very high concentration.

“They have decided to drill right in the centre of a crucial site. It will disturb their environment, they are fragile creatures. The latest seahorse sighting was just half a mile from where they are planning to drill, another was just under a mile in another direction and a third was two miles away from it.

“Within five miles we have hundreds of sightings. They are very slow moving and territorial and will be greatly affected by this. The seahorse population worldwide is dropping very rapidly, it is so crucial we protect them.”

The species gained protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in 2008, which prevents them being killed, injured or taken from the sea.

In 2008, around 40 spiny seahorses were recorded in Studland Bay, but last year only 14 of the UK’S spiny and short snouted species were recorded.

Corallian Energy, the oil company, has submitted a bid to drill an exploratory well four and half miles out from Studland Bay and it is now being considered by the Government.

If agreed, the well would be 1,900 yards long, drilled vertically into an area dubbed the “Colter Prospect” by a jack-up rig roughly 100 yards above the water at its highest point. It would remain in place for several weeks.

A consultation is under way until Feb 19, after which a decision is expected from the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

A spokesman for the department said “There is no set time-frame for a decision, it depends on whether more information is needed. It is likely to be months rather than weeks.”

The Oil and Gas Authority said the firm had recently extended its licence for P1918 – a swath of seabed extending eastwards from the Purbeck peninsula.

Mr Garrick-maidment said the grass pastures which the tiny seahorses need to survive are already being wiped out by pollution and human disturbances such as speedboats and trawling.

Studland Bay is the only site in the UK where both spiny and shortsnouted seahorses are breeding, according to Dorset Wildlife Trust.

It is also home to endangered undulate rays.