Avoidance of wind farms by harbour seals is limited to pile driving activities

• Published in: Journal of Applied Ecology
• Main Authors: Russell, Deborah J. F., Hastie, Gordon D., Thompson, David, Janik, Vincent M., Hammond, Philip S., Scott-Hayward, Lindesay A. S., Matthiopoulos, Jason, Jones, Esther L., McConnell, Bernie J.
• Other Authors: NERC, University of St Andrews. School of Biology, University of St Andrews. Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland, University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews. Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modelling, University of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences, University of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolution, University of St Andrews. Bioacoustics group, University of St Andrews. Statistics, University of St Andrews. School of Mathematics and Statistics
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Complex Region Spatial Smoother; Disturbance; Marine renewables; Marine spatial planning; Pinnipeds; Renewable energy; Spatially Adaptive Local Smoothing Algorithm; Spatially adaptive smoothing; Underwater noise; QH301 Biology; DAS; NERC; BEIS/DECC; Scottish Government; BDC; R2C; SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy; SDG 14 - Life Below Water; QH301; Phoca vitulina
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10023/8856; https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12678

DJFR, GH, VMJ and BM were funded by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as part of their Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. DT and GH were also funded by NERC/Defra EBAO NE/J004243/1. ELJ was funded under Scottish Government grant MMSS001/01. This work was also supported by National Capability funding from the Natural Environment Research Council to SMRU (grant no. SMRU1001). Tags and their deployment in the Thames in 2006 and The Wash were funded by DECC. Tags and their deployment in the Thames in 2012 were commissioned by Zoological Society London, with funding from BBC Wildlife Fund and Sita Trust. 1. As part of global efforts to reduce dependence on carbon-based energy sources there has been a rapid increase in the installation of renewable energy devices. The installation and operation of these devices can result in conflicts with wildlife. In the marine environment, mammals may avoid wind farms that are under construction or operating. Such avoidance may lead to more time spent travelling or displacement from key habitats. A paucity of data on at-sea movements of marine mammals around wind farms limits our understanding of the nature of their potential impacts. 2. Here, we present the results of a telemetry study on harbour seals Phoca vitulina in The Wash, south-east England, an area where wind farms are being constructed using impact pile driving. We investigated whether seals avoid wind farms during operation, construction in its entirety, or during piling activity. The study was carried out using historical telemetry data collected prior to any wind farm development and telemetry data collected in 2012 during the construction of one wind farm and the operation of another. 3. Within an operational wind farm, there was a close-to-significant increase in seal usage compared to prior to wind farm development. However, the wind farm was at the edge of a large area of increased usage, so the presence of the wind farm was unlikely to be the cause. 4. There was no ...