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Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video

Ross A. Griffin, Gary J. Robinson, Ashley West, Ian T. Gloyne-Phillips, Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

PLOS ONE, Volume: 11, Issue: 3, Start page: e0149701

Swansea University Author: Richard Unsworth Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1371/journal.pone.0149701

Abstract

There remains limited knowledge of how offshore windfarm developments influence fish assemblages, particularly at a local scale around the turbine structures. Considering the existing levels of anthropogenic pressures on coastal fish populations it is becoming increasingly important for developers a...

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Published in: PLOS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016
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spelling 2020-10-22T19:10:02.1916192 v2 26531 2016-03-01 Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f 0000-0003-0036-9724 Richard Unsworth Richard Unsworth true false 2016-03-01 SBI There remains limited knowledge of how offshore windfarm developments influence fish assemblages, particularly at a local scale around the turbine structures. Considering the existing levels of anthropogenic pressures on coastal fish populations it is becoming increasingly important for developers and environmental regulators to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing fish assemblages. Improving our ability to assess such fish populations in close proximity to structures will assist in increasing this knowledge. In the present study we provide the first trial use of Baited Remote Underwater Stereo-Video systems (stereo BRUVs) for the quantification of motile fauna in close proximity to offshore wind turbines. The study was conducted in the Irish Sea and finds the technique to be a viable means of assessing the motile fauna of such environments. The present study found a mixture of species including bottom dwellers, motile crustaceans and large predatory fish. The majority of taxa observed were found to be immature individuals with few adult individuals recorded. The most abundant species were the angular crab (Goneplax rhomboides) and the small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula). Of note in this study was the generally low abundance and diversity of taxa recorded across all samples, we hypothesise that this reflects the generally poor state of the local fauna of the Irish Sea. The faunal assemblages sampled in close proximity to turbines were observed to alter with increasing distance from the structure, species more characteristic of hard bottom environments were in abundance at the turbines (e.g. Homarus gammarus, Cancer pagarus, Scyliorhinus spp.) and those further away more characteristic of soft bottoms (e.g. Norwegian Lobster). This study highlights the need for the environmental impacts of offshore renewables on motile fauna to be assessed using targeted and appropriate tools. Stereo BRUVs provide one of those tools, but like the majority of methods for sampling marine biota, they have limitations. We conclude our paper by providing a discussion of the benefits and limitations of using this BRUV technique for assessing fauna within areas close to offshore windfarms. Journal Article PLOS ONE 11 3 e0149701 Public Library of Science (PLoS) 1932-6203 BRUV, stereo, underwater, offshore windfarm, turbine 31 3 2016 2016-03-31 10.1371/journal.pone.0149701 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University 2020-10-22T19:10:02.1916192 2016-03-01T13:57:24.4555024 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Ross A. Griffin 1 Gary J. Robinson 2 Ashley West 3 Ian T. Gloyne-Phillips 4 Richard Unsworth 0000-0003-0036-9724 5 0026531-25102016163738.pdf GriffinPLoSOneBRUV.pdf 2016-10-25T16:37:38.5970000 Output 1778718 application/pdf Version of Record true 2016-10-25T00:00:00.0000000 Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) Licence. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video
spellingShingle Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video
Richard Unsworth
title_short Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video
title_full Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video
title_fullStr Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video
title_full_unstemmed Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video
title_sort Assessing Fish and Motile Fauna around Offshore Windfarms Using Stereo Baited Video
author_id_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f
author_id_fullname_str_mv b0f33acd13a3ab541cf2aaea27f4fc2f_***_Richard Unsworth
author Richard Unsworth
author2 Ross A. Griffin
Gary J. Robinson
Ashley West
Ian T. Gloyne-Phillips
Richard Unsworth
format Journal article
container_title PLOS ONE
container_volume 11
container_issue 3
container_start_page e0149701
publishDate 2016
institution Swansea University
issn 1932-6203
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pone.0149701
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description There remains limited knowledge of how offshore windfarm developments influence fish assemblages, particularly at a local scale around the turbine structures. Considering the existing levels of anthropogenic pressures on coastal fish populations it is becoming increasingly important for developers and environmental regulators to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing fish assemblages. Improving our ability to assess such fish populations in close proximity to structures will assist in increasing this knowledge. In the present study we provide the first trial use of Baited Remote Underwater Stereo-Video systems (stereo BRUVs) for the quantification of motile fauna in close proximity to offshore wind turbines. The study was conducted in the Irish Sea and finds the technique to be a viable means of assessing the motile fauna of such environments. The present study found a mixture of species including bottom dwellers, motile crustaceans and large predatory fish. The majority of taxa observed were found to be immature individuals with few adult individuals recorded. The most abundant species were the angular crab (Goneplax rhomboides) and the small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula). Of note in this study was the generally low abundance and diversity of taxa recorded across all samples, we hypothesise that this reflects the generally poor state of the local fauna of the Irish Sea. The faunal assemblages sampled in close proximity to turbines were observed to alter with increasing distance from the structure, species more characteristic of hard bottom environments were in abundance at the turbines (e.g. Homarus gammarus, Cancer pagarus, Scyliorhinus spp.) and those further away more characteristic of soft bottoms (e.g. Norwegian Lobster). This study highlights the need for the environmental impacts of offshore renewables on motile fauna to be assessed using targeted and appropriate tools. Stereo BRUVs provide one of those tools, but like the majority of methods for sampling marine biota, they have limitations. We conclude our paper by providing a discussion of the benefits and limitations of using this BRUV technique for assessing fauna within areas close to offshore windfarms.
published_date 2016-03-31T03:31:50Z
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