Data from: Empirical determination of severe trauma in seals from collisions with tidal turbine blades ...

• Main Authors: Onoufriou, Joe, Brownlow, Andrew, Moss, Simon, Hastie, Gordon, Thompson, Dave
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2019
• Subjects: Seals; Marine mammals; Pinnipeds; Halichoerus grypus; Collision risk; Renewable energy; Marine spatial planning; Tidal turbines; Phoca vitulina
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8gb1n31; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.8gb1n31

1. Tidal energy converters (turbines) are being developed in many countries as part of attempts to reduce reliance on hydrocarbon fuels. However, the moving blades of tidal turbines pose potential collision risks for marine animals. Accurate assessment of mortality risk as a result of collisions is essential for risk management during planning and consenting processes for marine energy developments. In the absence of information on the physical consequences of such collisions, predicting likely risks relies on theoretical collision risk models. The application of these at a population level usually assumes that all collisions result in mortality. This is unlikely and the approach therefore produces upwardly biased estimates of population consequences. 2. In this study, we estimate the pathological consequences of direct collisions with tidal turbines using seal carcasses and physical models of tidal turbine blades. We quantify severe trauma at a range of impact speeds and to different areas of seal ... : Post-trial scansThese images show the post-trial, 3-dimensional scans of the seal skeletons which were used for analysis. Some images are focussed on points of interest to show the important injuries identified for that individual. Relation back to collision speeds and morphometric data can be made through the published manuscript which details collision speeds for each individual and a full list of pathological indicators of mortality which were identified. ...