Marine mammals and windfarms: Effects of alpha ventus on harbour porpoises

Offshore windfarms have the potential to affect marine mammal populations. For harbour porpoises, the threat considered most important is the influence of noise during the construction phase. Effects of the operational period that need to be considered can be either noise effects or effects due to alteration to the habitat where foundations were erected. Visual surveys and stationary acoustic monitoring showed a strong avoidance reaction during pile-driving while during the operational period results were inconclusive. In future, these impacts must be seen in a larger framework to predict the biological significance of cumulative effects.

[1]  U. Siebert,et al.  Modelling harbour porpoise seasonal density as a function of the German Bight environment: implications for management , 2011 .

[2]  L. Miller,et al.  Underwater noise from three types of offshore wind turbines: estimation of impact zones for harbor porpoises and harbor seals. , 2009, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[3]  Jakob Tougaard,et al.  From echolocation clicks to animal density--acoustic sampling of harbor porpoises with static dataloggers. , 2012, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[4]  K. Betke,et al.  Responses of harbour porpoises to pile driving at the Horns Rev II offshore wind farm in the Danish North Sea , 2011 .

[5]  U. Siebert,et al.  Seals at sea: modelling seal distribution in the German bight based on aerial survey data , 2009 .

[6]  M. Dähne,et al.  Determining the detection thresholds for harbor porpoise clicks of autonomous data loggers, the Timing Porpoise Detectors. , 2013, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[7]  David L. Borchers,et al.  Cetacean abundance and distribution in European Atlantic shelf waters to inform conservation and management , 2013 .

[8]  Ursula Siebert,et al.  Seasonal distribution of harbour porpoises and possible interference of offshore wind farms in the German North Sea , 2009 .

[9]  M. Scheidat,et al.  Using aerial surveys to estimate density and distribution of harbour porpoises in Dutch waters , 2012 .

[10]  U. Siebert,et al.  Temporary shift in masked hearing thresholds in a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) after exposure to seismic airgun stimuli. , 2009, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[11]  J. Teilmann,et al.  Pile driving zone of responsiveness extends beyond 20 km for harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena (L.)). , 2009, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[12]  Len Thomas,et al.  Distance software: design and analysis of distance sampling surveys for estimating population size , 2009, The Journal of applied ecology.

[13]  K. Betke,et al.  Far‐reaching effects of a seal scarer on harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena , 2013 .

[14]  Jacob Carstensen,et al.  Negative long term effects on harbour porpoises from a large scale offshore wind farm in the Baltic—evidence of slow recovery , 2012 .

[15]  R. Rigby,et al.  Generalized additive models for location, scale and shape , 2005 .

[16]  T. V. P. Petel,et al.  Harbour porpoise occurrence in relation to the Prinses Amaliawindpark , 2012 .

[17]  Michael Dähne,et al.  Methodology and results of calibration of tonal click detectors for small odontocetes (C-PODs). , 2013, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[18]  J. Tougaard,et al.  Wind turbine underwater noise and marine mammals: implications of current knowledge and data needs , 2006 .

[19]  J. Teilmann,et al.  Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: a case study in the Dutch North Sea , 2011 .

[20]  U. Siebert,et al.  Use of static passive acoustic monitoring to assess the status of the 'Critically Endangered' Baltic harbour porpoise in German waters , 2012 .

[21]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[22]  K. Betke,et al.  Seal scarers as a tool to deter harbour porpoises from offshore construction sites , 2013 .

[23]  David L. Borchers,et al.  Abundance of harbour porpoise and other cetaceans in the North Sea and adjacent waters , 2002 .

[24]  U. Siebert,et al.  Effects of pile-driving on harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) at the first offshore wind farm in Germany , 2013 .