Quantifying benefits and impacts of fishing exclusion zones around Marine Renewable Energy Installations
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Biosciences
Publications
Bicknell A
(2016)
Camera technology for monitoring marine biodiversity and human impact
in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Bicknell AWJ
(2019)
Assessing the impact of introduced infrastructure at sea with cameras: A case study for spatial scale, time and statistical power.
in Marine environmental research
Chadwick H
(2023)
Insights obtained from a multidecadal citizen science scheme: grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) strandings in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (2000-2020)
in Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
Fossette S
(2014)
Pan-atlantic analysis of the overlap of a highly migratory species, the leatherback turtle, with pelagic longline fisheries.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Greaves D
(2016)
Environmental Impact Assessment: Gathering experiences from wave energy test centres in Europe
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Merchant ND
(2016)
Underwater noise levels in UK waters.
in Scientific reports
Metcalfe K
(2018)
Using satellite AIS to improve our understanding of shipping and fill gaps in ocean observation data to support marine spatial planning
in Journal of Applied Ecology
Nelms S
(2016)
Seismic surveys and marine turtles: An underestimated global threat?
in Biological Conservation
Omeyer L
(2019)
The importance of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags for measuring life-history traits of sea turtles
in Biological Conservation
Pikesley S
(2018)
A novel approach to estimate the distribution, density and at-sea risks of a centrally-placed mobile marine vertebrate
in Biological Conservation
| Description | We have built a unique multi-taxon view of the marine biodiversity inside and outside the Wave Hub marine renewable energy site. We have assessed the utility of novel and existing survey and monitoring methods in the process, providing knowledge of techniques and associated challenges. The natural variation in marine communities found around the site illustrates the importance of long-term monitoring to be able to provide baseline data that can be used to identify effects/change cause by introduced infrastructure and/or energy devices. |
| Exploitation Route | The dataset should be continued beyond the infrastructure installation stage (current) and used as baseline data for environmental assessment of renewable energy devices and arrays at Wave Hub (future). The project findings illustrate the significant natural spatial and temporal (annual) variation found in marine communities that needs consideration by the marine renewables community when thinking about and/or implementing impact studies. |
| Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Education Energy Environment Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Transport |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8ORL4r99yk&list=PL868210A42F3C27E1 |
| Description | UoE have recently completed and delivered a detailed analysis of all seabirds detected at the Wave Hub site (n = 29 surveys; commenced 2009, with almost no data collection in 2011). This report was commissioned by Wave Hub and the environmental consultants Halcrow to assist in future environmental impact assessment studies at the Wave Hub site for the planned installation of floating wind technology, to be funded by ETI. The Univ. of Exeter dataset provides the most detailed and comprehensive assessment of seabirds at the site and will no doubt be used to aid the decision-making processing relating to environmental consenting by UK statutory consultees. The report has been shaped following detailed dialogue with Natural England by Halcrow. Environmental report on the impact of floating wind renewables on seabirds. The baseline environmental data acquired by UoE during the project has been important leverage in a successful European funding (H2020) consortium bid to develop, test and assess a wave energy device and array at the Wave Hub site. A world first, this is an important step in moving towards commercial application of this energy generation concept and technology. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
| Sector | Education,Energy,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Policy & public services |
| Title | Baseline Ecological dataset at the Wave Hub test facility |
| Description | Multi year (2-5 year) ecological baseline dataset of abundance, diversity, distribution and composition of marine species and communities. Including passive and active acoustic, video, catch and observational data. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Used as leverage to acquire funding to assess the environmental impact of a wave energy device and array. |
| Title | Data from: Using satellite AIS to improve our understanding of shipping and fill gaps in ocean observation data to support marine spatial planning |
| Description | 1. A key stage underpinning marine spatial planning (MSP) involves mapping the spatial distribution of ecological processes and biological features, as well the social and economic interests of different user groups. One sector, merchant shipping (vessels that transport cargo or passengers), however, is often poorly represented in MSP due to a perceived lack of fine-scale spatially explicit data to support decision making processes. 2. Here, using the Republic of Congo as an example, we show how publicly accessible satellite derived Automatic Identification System (S-AIS) data can address gaps in ocean observation data for shipping at a national scale. We also demonstrate how fine-scale (0.05 km2 resolution) spatial data layers derived from S-AIS (intensity, occupancy) can be used to generate maps of vessel pressure to provide an indication of patterns of impact on the marine environment and potential for conflict with other ocean-user groups. 3. We reveal that passenger vessels, offshore service vessels, bulk carrier and cargo vessels and tankers account for 93.7% of all vessels and vessel traffic annually, and that these sectors operate in a combined area equivalent to 92% of Congo's exclusive economic zone(EEZ) - far exceeding the areas allocated for other user-groups (conservation, fisheries and petrochemicals). We also show that the shallow coastal waters and habitats of the continental shelf are subject to more persistent pressure associated with shipping; and that the potential for conflict among user groups is likely to be greater with fisheries, whose zones are subject to the highest vessel pressure scores than with conservation or petrochemical sectors. 4. Synthesis and applications. Shipping dominates ocean use, and so excluding this sector from decision making could lead to increased conflict among user groups, poor compliance and negative environmental impacts. This study demonstrates how Satellite derived Automatic Identification System data can provide a comprehensive mechanism to fill gaps in ocean observation data and visualise patterns of vessel behaviour and potential threats to better support marine spatial planning at national scales.13-Feb-2018 |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.6373nd6 |
| Title | Simulation of leatherback turtle hatchling dispersion patterns in the Gulf of Guinea |
| Description | This data set describes the location of virtual floats representing turtle hatchlings throughout 60 modeled years. Floats were constrained to remain within depths of 0-6 m due to the positive buoyancy of hatchlings. Floats were first assigned to one of 20,000 random release locations within a large release area 125-400 km offshore from nesting beaches throughout the Republic/Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea spanning latitudes of c. 6°S to 3.5°N. For each month over the 4-month long hatching season (January-April), each of the 20,000 floats was assigned a random release day and drift simulations ran every year during the period 1960-2007 resulting in drift trajectories of approx. 4 million virtual floats. See Scott et al., 2017, Spatio-temporal variation in ocean current-driven hatchling dispersion: Implications for the world's largest leatherback sea turtle nesting region. Diversity Distrib, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111%2Fddi.12554 for details as to the model parameters.Each data set consists of data on the float ID (number 1,2,3 etc..) and its trajectory attributes (latitude/longitude) at each time step. Data are also provided on the temperature, salinity and density of the float at its respective position/time step.Data sets are sorted by float release date, and contain one data file for each year. Each data file has 11 columns, which contain the following data: float id, longitude, latitude, depth, time step, temperature, salinity, density, no time steps since start, distance to start point, bearing from start point |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.875004 |
| Description | The work led to biodiversity assessment work in Mynmar with WCS. Funded |
| Organisation | Wildlife Conservation Society |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | All members became involved. Post Doc Bicknell is now consulting in the region. Our input were techniques we had developed in QBEX. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funding, guidance and publicity, |
| Impact | We have produced a Biodiversity Atlas and associated press |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Title | Web-based data discovery tool being populated with boundary, locations, audio and videos from NERC (and other) data sampling campaigns. |
| Description | Web based portal |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Impact | just launched |
| URL | https://expl.ore.exeter.ac.uk/explore |