Impacts of floating offshore wind infrastructure on the distribution and behaviour of fish and marine mammals: IFLOW

随着全球沿海陆架海洋城市化的加速，系泊的海上浮动基础设施（如可再生能源、碳氢化合物开采、制氢、水产养殖）的范围和程度将显著扩大。与海上风力涡轮机相关的系泊浮动结构可能会部署在更广泛的区域，包括增加深度和距离海岸的距离。因此，浮动风电场越来越有可能部署在对许多广泛迁徙物种（包括底栖鱼类及其捕食者（海洋哺乳动物、海鸟、板鳃目））具有重要意义的高产陆架地区。就对流动物种的影响而言，这种结构的生态意义仍然知之甚少，但根据目前对现有静态海上结构（如石油和天然气平台）吸引和留住鱼类群落的能力的了解，这种结构的生态意义可能很大。在（亚）热带水域，鱼类被漂浮物吸引是众所周知的，并通过使用鱼类吸引装置（FADs;[2]）得到了广泛的利用。然而，人们对高纬度地区漂浮结构的类似影响知之甚少。如果在漂浮的海上风电场或类似的基础设施周围形成持续的鱼类聚集，这可能会影响其他捕食者的分布，包括苏格兰优先海洋特征，如海洋哺乳动物、海鸟和板鳃动物，带来未知的保护后果。这项研究与ScotMER的知识差距有关，包括海鸟和浮动海上风之间的重叠（以及这种重叠的驱动因素），海洋哺乳动物在适合可再生能源开发地点的行为，可再生能源对觅食行为的影响和猎物分布的变化，以及因此对种群水平的潜在影响，特别确定了珊瑚礁/聚集效应。该项目旨在了解陆架海中鱼类的时空分布，以响应系泊漂浮的近海结构，并澄清这些结构是否代表了顶级捕食者（发声鲸目动物）的有吸引力的觅食地点。

Moored offshore floating infrastructure (e.g. renewable energy, hydrocarbon exploitation, hydrogen production, aquaculture) will expand significantly in scope and extent, as urbanisation of coastal shelf seas accelerates globally. Moored floating structures associated with offshore wind turbines are likely to be deployed across wide areas, including increasing depths and distances from shore. Floating windfarms are therefore increasingly likely to be deployed within highly productive shelf areas important for many wide-ranging migratory species including benthopelagic fish and their predators (marine mammals, seabirds, elasmobranchs). Ecological significance of such structures, in terms of influence on mobile species, remains poorly understood but could be substantial based on current knowledge about the ability of existing static offshore structures (e.g. oil & gas platforms) to attract and retain fish communities [1]. Attraction of fish to floating objects in (sub-)tropical waters is well known and widely exploited through use of Fish Attracting Devices (FADs; [2]). However, much less is known about comparable effects of floating structures at higher latitudes. If persistent fish aggregations develop around floating offshore windfarms or similar infrastructure, this could influence the distribution of other predators, including Scottish Priority Marine Features such as marine mammals, seabirds and elasmobranchs, with unknown conservation consequences. This research links to ScotMER knowledge gaps surrounding overlap between seabirds and floating offshore wind (and drivers of this overlap), behaviour of marine mammals in locations suitable for renewable energy developments, effects of renewables on foraging behaviour and changes to prey distribution, and thus potential for population-level impacts, with reef/aggregation effects specifically identified. This project seeks to develop understanding of spatiotemporal distribution of fish in shelf seas in response to moored floating offshore structures, and clarify whether such structures represent attractive foraging locations for top predators (vocalising cetaceans).