Changes in the occurrence of harbour porpoises following the construction of Moray Firth offshore windfarms

Iorio-Merlo, V., Fernandez-Betelu, O., Benhemma-Le Gall, A., Graham, I. M., Thompson, P.M. (2023). Task 4.2. Work Package 4 – Changes in the occurrence of harbour porpoises following the construction of Moray Firth offshore windfarms. PrePARED Report, No. 002. March 2024.

@techreport{Iorio-Merlo-2024-,
author = {Iorio-Merlo, V and Fernandez-Betelu, O and Benhemma-Le Gall, A and Graham, IM and Thompson, PM},
title = {Changes in the occurrence of harbour porpoises following the construction of Moray Firth offshore windfarms},
institution = {University of Aberdeen},
year = {2024},
month = {mar},
url = {https://owecprepared.org/outputs/},
keywords = {Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Habitat Change, Marine Mammals, Pinnipeds},
}

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TY - RPRT
TI - Changes in the occurrence of harbour porpoises following the construction of Moray Firth offshore windfarms
AU - Iorio-Merlo, V
AU - Fernandez-Betelu, O
AU - Benhemma-Le Gall, A
AU - Graham, IM
AU - Thompson, PM
AB - • This report presents harbour porpoise post-construction monitoring data that were collected under the industry funded Moray Firth Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme. These data also underpin studies of reef effects being conducted through the OWEC funded PrePARED Project. • Throughout August 2022, an array of 68 echolocation detectors (CPODs) recorded harbour porpoise occurrence and foraging activity across constructed windfarms at Beatrice and Moray East, and reference sites within Moray West where no structures are yet present.• Our aims were: (1) to relate these data to pre-construction data collected >10 years earlier to assess whether there have been broad-scale changes in the occurrence of porpoises in relation to the operational windfarms; (2) to assess if there was evidence of finer-scale reef effects around jacket structures within constructed windfarms. • Analyses of data from CPODs confirmed that porpoises were detected regularly, for between 6 and 19 hours a day, throughout the study area in August 2022.• Comparison with pre-construction data from 2009-2011 suggested that, on average, occurrence was slightly lower (~17.7%) in constructed windfarms, but this was largely driven by high occurrence within Beatrice in two of three baseline 2 | Page years. Comparison of pairs of CPODs at turbine structures and in the corridors between turbines found no evidence of finer-scale reef effects within the constructed windfarms. • These results are discussed in relation to findings from other windfarms and artificial structures in the North Sea. Further analyses will now relate these data to information on spatio-temporal variation in prey being gathered through the PrePARED Project.
DA - 2024/03//
PY - 2024
PB - University of Aberdeen
UR - https://owecprepared.org/outputs/
LA - English
KW - Wind Energy
KW - Fixed Offshore Wind
KW - Habitat Change
KW - Marine Mammals
KW - Pinnipeds
ER -

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Abstract

•   This report presents harbour porpoise post-construction monitoring data that were collected under the industry funded Moray Firth Marine Mammal Monitoring Programme. These data also underpin studies of reef effects being conducted through the OWEC funded PrePARED Project.
•   Throughout August 2022, an array of 68 echolocation detectors (CPODs) recorded harbour porpoise occurrence and foraging activity across constructed windfarms at Beatrice and Moray East, and reference sites within Moray West where no structures are yet present.
•   Our aims were: (1) to relate these data to pre-construction data collected >10 years earlier to assess whether there have been broad-scale changes in the occurrence of porpoises in relation to the operational windfarms; (2) to assess if there was evidence of finer-scale reef effects around jacket structures within constructed windfarms.
•   Analyses of data from CPODs confirmed that porpoises were detected regularly, for between 6 and 19 hours a day, throughout the study area in August 2022.
•   Comparison with pre-construction data from 2009-2011 suggested that, on average, occurrence was slightly lower (~17.7%) in constructed windfarms, but this was largely driven by high occurrence within Beatrice in two of three baseline 2 | Page years. Comparison of pairs of CPODs at turbine structures and in the corridors between turbines found no evidence of finer-scale reef effects within the constructed windfarms.
•   These results are discussed in relation to findings from other windfarms and artificial structures in the North Sea. Further analyses will now relate these data to information on spatio-temporal variation in prey being gathered through the PrePARED Project.