Old Town osprey: oar sockets removable?

I have tried emailing Old Town directly but can get no response.
Please, can anyone tell me whether the oar sockets on the Old Town
Osprey boats are removable? We expect to paddle most of the time and
worry about catching things (branches,people etc) on the projecting
sockets.

With a traditional rowing boat you can usually lift out the rowlocks;
I hope the same it true for these.

Here in the UK these boats cost about double what they do in the USA :-
(

Robert