Recherche & Développement
Projet
In France, the first offshore wind farm should be operational by 2022 and will require full-scale experimentation and monitoring of fish communities to detect and quantify the potential effects of such installations. Multi-gear experimental fishing, which is traditionally used in regulatory impact assessment of offshore wind farms on fish, is not sufficient to achieve this objective and address societal concerns. Site access regulations and offshore wind farm specificities will also limit the capacity to implement certain monitoring methods. There is therefore a need for the development of effective methodological strategies to monitor fish populations. Advanced indirect approaches, such as acoustic telemetry, associated with a robust sampling design, provide an alternative to traditional monitoring surveys for offshore wind farm projects.
FISHOWF has demonstrated the relevance of acoustic telemetry for monitoring the effects of offshore wind farms on fish and fill important gaps on ecological knowledge of studied species. The project also highlighted the value of using complementary methods to monitor the reef effect of offshore wind farms on fish populations.
This project is led by France Energies Marines
This project receives French State funding managed by the National Research Agency under the France 2030 investment plan (ANR-10-IEED-0006-34). It also receives financial support from Université de Bretagne Occidentale, SUD Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region and Bretagne region.
This project has been certified by the maritime cluster Pôle Mer Méditerranée.
