Hello again everyone!

Today’s post will be a continuation of last week’s, where I will be looking at other environmental impacts of offshore wind farms.

Building on last weeks post, when I said that seabirds could be more attracted to the turbines because they could find more food there, more prey may be found at the base of the wind turbines as the hard material of the base can become an artificial reef. Fish, mussels and other filter feeders are all examples of animals that may be attracted to the turbine bases. The measures taken to prevent the seabed from eroding around wind turbines, called scour protection, can also help to change the habitat. Placing artificial fronds around the base can help to trap the sediment, but these fronds can act in the same way as seagrass beds, providing a habitat for animals like seahorses and sea dragons who hang on to seagrass to stop themselves from drifting away. However, these could change the local biodiversity drastically as a previously unavailable habitat is suddenly present and ready to be colonised, possibly by invasive species. I think that this could still count as a possible benefit as there is a chance that the fishes attracted could be protected from fishing and maybe experience more population and biomass growth. This could lead to a possible replenishing of fish stocks and also more prey for seabirds like I mentioned last week. Wouldn’t it be great if offshore wind farms could provide clean energy and a new home for marine life? They could be helping the environment in more than one way!

Another possible factor affecting marine biodiversity is the electromagnetic fields that are formed by cables which transport the electricity to land. Animals which use electric or magnetic fields like we use GPS or maps could be affected in their hunting and identifying their position. However, currently, it cannot be concluded if there is a serious impact as there is not enough research or evidence. Still, I think that the cables used should be properly constructed and placed to protect these animals, just in case.  Hopefully, there will be more research or more conclusive evidence found in the future, so that we can be more sure when planning new wind farms!

I hope that these two posts have helped show that the environment can be affected by the presence of offshore wind farms, but depending on the location and how they are built and managed, they should still be able to bring many benefits to us.

Until next time!

~Rayzel