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

• Published in: Journal of Applied Ecology
• Main Authors: Philip S. Hammond, Esther Lane Jones, Bernie J. McConnell, David R. Thompson, Gordon D. Hastie, Debbie J. F. Russell, Jason Matthiopoulos, Vincent M. Janik, Lindesay A. S. Scott-Hayward
• Other Authors: 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: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
• Subjects: Standard Paper; Special Profile: Wildlife and renewable energy; 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; QH301; Ecology; envir; demo; Phoca vitulina
• Online Access: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/8856/1/Russell_2016_JoAE_WindFarms_CC.pdf; http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5111737; https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12678; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2F1365-2664.12678; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12678/fullpdf; https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/1365-2664.12678; https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12678; https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2664.12678; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27867217/; https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/8856; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12678/full; https://core.ac.uk/display/41979716; http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/132259/; https://www.openchannels.org/literature/14746; https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2406300967

Summary 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.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.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.There was no significant displacement during construction as a whole. However, during piling, seal usage (abundance) was significantly reduced up to 25 km from the piling activity; within 25 km of the centre of the wind farm, there was a 19 to 83% (95% confidence intervals) decrease in usage compared to during breaks in piling, equating to a mean estimated displacement of 440 individuals. This amounts to significant displacement starting from predicted received levels of between 166 and 178 dB re 1 μPa(p‐p). Displacement was limited to piling activity; within 2 h of cessation of pile driving, seals were distributed as per the non‐piling scenario. Synthesis and ...