Harbour porpoises exhibit localized evasion of a tidal turbine

Douglas Michael Gillespie; Laura Eve Palmer; Jamie Donald John MacAulay; Carol Elizabeth Sparling; Gordon Drummond Hastie

doi:10.1002/aqc.3660

Harbour porpoises exhibit localized evasion of a tidal turbine

Douglas Michael Gillespie, Laura Eve Palmer, Jamie Donald John MacAulay, Carol Elizabeth Sparling, Gordon Drummond Hastie

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

1. Tidal energy generators have the potential to injure or kill marine animals, including small cetaceans, through collisions with moving turbine parts. Information on the fine scale behaviour of animals close to operational turbines is required to inform regulators of the likely impact of these new technologies.
2. Harbour porpoise movements were monitored in three dimensions around a tidal turbine for 451 days between October 2017 and April 2019 with a 12-channel hydrophone array.
3. Echolocation clicks from 344 porpoise events were localized close to the turbine. The data show that porpoises effectively avoid the turbine rotors, with only a single animal clearly passing through the rotor swept area while the rotors were stationary, and none passing through while rotating.
4. The results indicate that the risk of collisions between the tidal turbine and porpoises is low; this has important implications for the potential effects and the sustainable development of the tidal energy industry.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2459-2468
Number of pages	10
Journal	Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems
Volume	31
Issue number	9
Early online date	8 Jul 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3660
Publication status	Published - Sept 2021

Keywords

Behaviour
Coastal
Distribution
Environmental impact assessment
Mammals
Renewable energy

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1002/aqc.3660Licence: CC BY

Gillespie_2021_AC-MFE_Habour-porpoises_CC
Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 2.4 MBLicence: CC BY

NERC NC National Public Good 2018 - 2023: Sea Mammal Research Unit NC-NPG activities to fulfill NERC's statutory duties.
Sparling, C. E. (PI) & Hall, A. J. (CoI)
1/04/18 → 31/03/23
Project: Standard
HiCUP: Development of a standardised marine mammal monitoring system for the tidal energy industry
Hastie, G. D. (PI) & Gillespie, D. M. (CoI)
NERC
1/01/18 → 30/06/20
Project: Standard

Harbour porpoises exhibit localized evasion of a tidal turbine (dataset)
Gillespie, D. M. (Creator), Palmer, L. E. (Creator), MacAulay, J. D. J. (Creator), Sparling, C. E. (Creator) & Hastie, G. D. (Creator), University of St Andrews, 31 May 2021
DOI: 10.17630/c3daebc2-0dfb-4702-941a-3a4e038951de
Dataset

File
PAMGuard Version 2.02.06
Gillespie, D. M. (Creator) & MacAulay, J. D. J. (Creator), GitHub, 16 Nov 2022
https://github.com/PAMGuard/PAMGuard/tree/V2.02.06 and one more link, http://www.pamguard.org/download.php?id=121 (show fewer)
Dataset: Software
PAMGuard Software: PAMGuard Beta release 2.02.02
Gillespie, D. M. (Creator) & MacAulay, J. D. J. (Creator), PAMGUARD, 2021
http://www.pamguard.org/download.php?id=115
Dataset: Software

Cite this

@article{8ee723619fea4f6d835d64e610dcc89c,

title = "Harbour porpoises exhibit localized evasion of a tidal turbine",

abstract = "1. Tidal energy generators have the potential to injure or kill marine animals, including small cetaceans, through collisions with moving turbine parts. Information on the fine scale behaviour of animals close to operational turbines is required to inform regulators of the likely impact of these new technologies.2. Harbour porpoise movements were monitored in three dimensions around a tidal turbine for 451 days between October 2017 and April 2019 with a 12-channel hydrophone array.3. Echolocation clicks from 344 porpoise events were localized close to the turbine. The data show that porpoises effectively avoid the turbine rotors, with only a single animal clearly passing through the rotor swept area while the rotors were stationary, and none passing through while rotating.4. The results indicate that the risk of collisions between the tidal turbine and porpoises is low; this has important implications for the potential effects and the sustainable development of the tidal energy industry.",

keywords = "Behaviour, Coastal, Distribution, Environmental impact assessment, Mammals, Renewable energy",

author = "Gillespie, {Douglas Michael} and Palmer, {Laura Eve} and MacAulay, {Jamie Donald John} and Sparling, {Carol Elizabeth} and Hastie, {Gordon Drummond}",

note = "Funding: Scottish Government (Grant Number(s): Marine Mammal Scientific Support Program MMSS/002/); Natural Environment Research Council (Grant Number(s): NE/R014639/1, NE/R015007/1).",

year = "2021",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1002/aqc.3660",

language = "English",

volume = "31",

pages = "2459--2468",

journal = "Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems",

issn = "1052-7613",

publisher = "Wiley",

number = "9",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Harbour porpoises exhibit localized evasion of a tidal turbine

AU - Gillespie, Douglas Michael

AU - Palmer, Laura Eve

AU - MacAulay, Jamie Donald John

AU - Sparling, Carol Elizabeth

AU - Hastie, Gordon Drummond

N1 - Funding: Scottish Government (Grant Number(s): Marine Mammal Scientific Support Program MMSS/002/); Natural Environment Research Council (Grant Number(s): NE/R014639/1, NE/R015007/1).

PY - 2021/9

Y1 - 2021/9

N2 - 1. Tidal energy generators have the potential to injure or kill marine animals, including small cetaceans, through collisions with moving turbine parts. Information on the fine scale behaviour of animals close to operational turbines is required to inform regulators of the likely impact of these new technologies.2. Harbour porpoise movements were monitored in three dimensions around a tidal turbine for 451 days between October 2017 and April 2019 with a 12-channel hydrophone array.3. Echolocation clicks from 344 porpoise events were localized close to the turbine. The data show that porpoises effectively avoid the turbine rotors, with only a single animal clearly passing through the rotor swept area while the rotors were stationary, and none passing through while rotating.4. The results indicate that the risk of collisions between the tidal turbine and porpoises is low; this has important implications for the potential effects and the sustainable development of the tidal energy industry.

AB - 1. Tidal energy generators have the potential to injure or kill marine animals, including small cetaceans, through collisions with moving turbine parts. Information on the fine scale behaviour of animals close to operational turbines is required to inform regulators of the likely impact of these new technologies.2. Harbour porpoise movements were monitored in three dimensions around a tidal turbine for 451 days between October 2017 and April 2019 with a 12-channel hydrophone array.3. Echolocation clicks from 344 porpoise events were localized close to the turbine. The data show that porpoises effectively avoid the turbine rotors, with only a single animal clearly passing through the rotor swept area while the rotors were stationary, and none passing through while rotating.4. The results indicate that the risk of collisions between the tidal turbine and porpoises is low; this has important implications for the potential effects and the sustainable development of the tidal energy industry.

KW - Behaviour

KW - Coastal

KW - Distribution

KW - Environmental impact assessment

KW - Mammals

KW - Renewable energy

U2 - 10.1002/aqc.3660

DO - 10.1002/aqc.3660

M3 - Article

SN - 1052-7613

VL - 31

SP - 2459

EP - 2468

JO - Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems

JF - Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems

IS - 9

ER -

Harbour porpoises exhibit localized evasion of a tidal turbine

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

NERC NC National Public Good 2018 - 2023: Sea Mammal Research Unit NC-NPG activities to fulfill NERC's statutory duties.

HiCUP: Development of a standardised marine mammal monitoring system for the tidal energy industry

Datasets

Harbour porpoises exhibit localized evasion of a tidal turbine (dataset)

PAMGuard Version 2.02.06

PAMGuard Software: PAMGuard Beta release 2.02.02

Cite this