Targeted monitoring in offshore wind farms
The need to understand
cause-effect relationships in the marine benthos
Degraer S., Dannheim J., Gutow L., Birchenough S., Boon A., Brey T., Coates D., Dauvin J.-C., de Roton G., Derweduwen J., Gill A.B.,
Janas U., Kerckhof F., Krone R., Lozach S., Martin G., Mohn C., Reichert K., Reubens J., Robertson M., Rostin L., Steen H. & Wilhelmsson D.
participants at the
ICES Workshop on Effects of Offshore Wind Farms on Marine Benthos (WKEOMB)
Facilitating a closer international collaboration throughout the North Atlantic Region
A two-track monitoring strategy needed…
Disentangling possible cause-effect
relationships…
Offshore wind farm monitoring should ideally
comprise two parallel and complementary
monitoring tracks.
Natural substrate
Artificial hard substrate
Pre-installation
activity
Habitat morphology,
Habitat morphology,
heterogeneity
and
Heterogeneity & complexity
complexity
Construction phase
Dredging & disposal
Targeted monitoring
Cable laying
Direct mortality/
Physical damage
Non-indigenous species
Foundation
construction
Baseline monitoring
Biotic effects
Abiotic effects
Activity
Propagule settlement
& survival
Fouling &
megafauna
Fouling/ megafauna
Hydrodynamics
Behaviour
Granulometry
• Focus on a posteriori resultant
effect quantification
• Focus on cause-effect relationships
of selected, a priori defined impacts
Artificial
Artificial
structures
structures
Operational
phase
Vibration
Noise
Temperature/EMF
Food
availability
• Understanding rather than
observing impacts
• Basis for mitigating activities
Population
demography
Food availability
Resuspension
Shipping
• Basis for halting activities
Distribution patterns
Primary production
Cables
• Observing rather than
understanding impacts
Habitat extent
All phases
Nutrient
Nutrientfluxes
fluxes &and
Biogeochemical cycles
biogeochemical
cycles
Community
Oxygen depletion
& H2S
Community
structure
and
structure
& function
Collision
• Spatial area-specific
• Most often mandatory
function
• Spatially generic
• Most often not mandatory
Fisheries cessation &
displacement
Targeted monitoring: Major challenges…
How to identify key issues?
• Not all cause-effect relationships are expected to have an equal weight.
• International discussion fora, combined with a real-time knowledge sharing
facilitate the selection of the most relevant issues to be researched.
Not dealt with in this presentation
Zooming into targeted monitoring:
An example…
Next to the baseline monitoring, the targeted monitoring aims at
unravelling and hence understanding the underlying causes of a
selected set of priority effects, such as the reef effect of offshore
wind farms.
How to include flexibility within mandatory monitoring
programmes?
•
•
•
•
Biofouling
Detritus
Mandatory monitoring programmes generally focused on baseline monitoring
Yet, flexibility in scientific scope should be granted
•
To be dealt with at the legal foundations of the monitoring
programmes
How to avoid duplication of work?
Monitoring programmes are dealt with at a national level.
International scientific interaction should glue national monitoring
programmes
•
To be taken care of in organisations such as ICES
Bio-accumulation
Contamination
Bib
Plaice
Dragonet
Fish larvae
How to ensure a proper knowledge sharing?
•
•
The wind farm industry often treats monitoring data as trade secrets.
Yet, knowledge should be shared to the maximum as to ensure steady
progress within science
•
To be dealt with at the legal foundations of the monitoring
programmes
Management support...
Macrobenthos
Artificial hard
substrate
Eggs
The understanding of alterations is inevitable for future predictions of ecological implications in the benthic
system. The integrative approach of targeted combined with baseline monitoring will lead to scientifically sound advices for possible mitigating
measures for existing, but also future offshore wind farms.
 Steven.Degraer@MUMM.ac.be,  MUMM, Gulledelle 100, 1200 Brussels, Belgium  int32 2 7732103