More than 20 parties have come forward with bids to either recycle four Royal Navy frigates or turn some of them into artificialreefs, the BBC has learned.
Instead, these researchers claim, it would be both cheaper for oil companies and better for the environment if decommissioned offshore oil rigs were allowed to remain and be transformed into artificialreefs.
To explore the potential for using the reef as part of the coast protection, the council has asked New Zealand-based consultants, Artificial Surfing Reefs Ltd (ASR) to carry out the study.