Bird Station
Zoelie Millereau Dubesset
As Urban refers to «worldwide conditions in which political economic relations are enmeshed» the occupation of the sea by the oil and gas industry can also be seen as a form of urbanisation offshore. Beside the fact that we know how bad the environmental impact of the oil and gas industry can be on a large scale, the oil rigs and the activities onboard, at a smaller scale, also contribute to the end of the «wilderness» by disturbing sea life. On the other hand, the presence of these structures offshore create new habitats, and in that sense, represent a good opportunity to correct the disturbance they have created before.
Bird Station is a fiction given through the eyes of a bird, mainly impacted in this oil rigs system and decommissioning. This story envisages the beginning of the reuse of a closed down platform in the North Sea, Gyda, as a bird sanctuary, bird-watching and science center. Close to 70 other oil platforms like Gyda have been closed down in the last few years and are now waiting for decommissioning all over the north sea. Within the next ten years, hundreds more will follow. Since the oil age is not about to be done soon, abandoned rigs have to be seen as an opportunity to provide solutions for biodiversity preservation in interaction with the oil and gas industry. Considering the decline of fish resources by the coast, the current sea level rise and therefore the submersion of stepping stones, crucial for the survival of migrating birds, finding safe reefs in the open ocean has become a necessity for bird preservation. In that sense the case of Gyda should be considered within a larger scale in space and in time by being part of a whole network of bird station rigs that will increase over time.
