North Sea oil and gas extraction can cause pollution to spike by more than 10,000% within half a kilometer around off-shore sites, a study has found.

The University of Essex, Natural History Museum and Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) research has uncovered the true impact on Britain's seabed life—with the number of species plummeting nearly 30% near platforms.

The findings, published in Science of The Total Environment, come in the face of continued global fossil fuel exploration.

The study discovered pollutants such as hydrocarbons were up to 10,613% higher within 500 m of the platforms than unimpacted, farther away sites.

And heavy metals—such as lead, copper, and nickel—were 455% higher within the same distance.