Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea
The rapid increase in development of offshore wind energy in European waters has raised concern for the possible environmental impacts of wind farms. We studied whether harbour porpoise occurrence has been affected by the presence of the Dutch offshore wind farm Egmond aan Zee. This was done by stud...
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/410471 2024-02-04T10:01:00+01:00 Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea Scheidat, M. Tougaard, J. Brasseur, S.M.J.M. Carstensen, J. van Polanen Petel, T. Teilmann, J. Reijnders, P.J.H. 2011 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/harbour-porpoises-phocoena-phocoena-and-wind-farms-a-case-study-i https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/025102 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/180271 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/harbour-porpoises-phocoena-phocoena-and-wind-farms-a-case-study-i doi:10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/025102 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Wageningen University & Research Environmental Research Letters 6 (2011) 2 ISSN: 1748-9326 behavior echolocation activity impact t-pods turbines underwater noise waters info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2011 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/025102 2024-01-10T23:22:18Z The rapid increase in development of offshore wind energy in European waters has raised concern for the possible environmental impacts of wind farms. We studied whether harbour porpoise occurrence has been affected by the presence of the Dutch offshore wind farm Egmond aan Zee. This was done by studying acoustic activity of porpoises in the wind farm and in two reference areas using stationary acoustic monitoring (with T-PODs) prior to construction (baseline: June 2003 to June 2004) and during normal operation of the wind farm (operation: April 2007 to April 2009). The results show a strong seasonal pattern, with more activity recorded during winter months. There was also an overall increase in acoustic activity from baseline to operation, in line with a general increase in porpoise abundance in Dutch waters over the last decade. The acoustic activity was significantly higher inside the wind farm than in the reference areas, indicating that the occurrence of porpoises in this area increased as well. The reasons of this apparent preference for the wind farm area are not clear. Two possible causes are discussed: an increased food availability inside the wind farm (reef effect) and/or the absence of vessels in an otherwise heavily trafficked part of the North Sea (sheltering effect) Article in Journal/Newspaper Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Environmental Research Letters 6 2 025102 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
behavior echolocation activity impact t-pods turbines underwater noise waters |
spellingShingle |
behavior echolocation activity impact t-pods turbines underwater noise waters Scheidat, M. Tougaard, J. Brasseur, S.M.J.M. Carstensen, J. van Polanen Petel, T. Teilmann, J. Reijnders, P.J.H. Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea |
topic_facet |
behavior echolocation activity impact t-pods turbines underwater noise waters |
description |
The rapid increase in development of offshore wind energy in European waters has raised concern for the possible environmental impacts of wind farms. We studied whether harbour porpoise occurrence has been affected by the presence of the Dutch offshore wind farm Egmond aan Zee. This was done by studying acoustic activity of porpoises in the wind farm and in two reference areas using stationary acoustic monitoring (with T-PODs) prior to construction (baseline: June 2003 to June 2004) and during normal operation of the wind farm (operation: April 2007 to April 2009). The results show a strong seasonal pattern, with more activity recorded during winter months. There was also an overall increase in acoustic activity from baseline to operation, in line with a general increase in porpoise abundance in Dutch waters over the last decade. The acoustic activity was significantly higher inside the wind farm than in the reference areas, indicating that the occurrence of porpoises in this area increased as well. The reasons of this apparent preference for the wind farm area are not clear. Two possible causes are discussed: an increased food availability inside the wind farm (reef effect) and/or the absence of vessels in an otherwise heavily trafficked part of the North Sea (sheltering effect) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Scheidat, M. Tougaard, J. Brasseur, S.M.J.M. Carstensen, J. van Polanen Petel, T. Teilmann, J. Reijnders, P.J.H. |
author_facet |
Scheidat, M. Tougaard, J. Brasseur, S.M.J.M. Carstensen, J. van Polanen Petel, T. Teilmann, J. Reijnders, P.J.H. |
author_sort |
Scheidat, M. |
title |
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea |
title_short |
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea |
title_full |
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea |
title_fullStr |
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea |
title_sort |
harbour porpoises (phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the dutch north sea |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/harbour-porpoises-phocoena-phocoena-and-wind-farms-a-case-study-i https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/025102 |
genre |
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena |
genre_facet |
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters 6 (2011) 2 ISSN: 1748-9326 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/180271 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/harbour-porpoises-phocoena-phocoena-and-wind-farms-a-case-study-i doi:10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/025102 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/025102 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
025102 |
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1789966610015977472 |