Interactions between offshore wind farms and fisheries in European waters. Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) has published a new report examining interactions between fisheries and offshore wind farms (OWFs) across European waters, contributing to evidence-based marine spatial planning under Ireland’s National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF).
The NMPF requires that OWF development avoids, minimises, or mitigates significant impacts on fisheries and promotes coexistence, defined as multiple activities operating in the same area or at the same time.
Drawing on a 12-year dataset covering 88 OWFs, BIM and Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Galway applied a spatiotemporal modelling framework to assess how fishing effort responds to OWF development and associated policies.
The findings indicate modest reductions in static-gear fishing effort in regions where such fishing is permitted, suggesting some scope for coexistence under current OWF designs. However, uncertainties remain regarding smaller vessels and potential ecological impacts on commercial fish species.
In contrast, substantial reductions in towed-gear fishing effort were observed across all countries, including those without mandatory exclusion zones suggesting that new infrastructure approaches may be required to enable meaningful coexistence. The report does demonstrate, however, increases in fishing effort in some UK OWF and these certainly warrant follow up research and collaboration between sectors around potential coexistence opportunities. Emerging codesign initiatives in the US and France may also offer pathways to improved coexistence.
The BIM study findings are consistent with two recent peer-reviewed publications on sectoral interactions. This underscores the need for evidence-based policy development to support sustainable coexistence between offshore renewable energy and fisheries.
The full report is available at www.bim.ie/publications/fisheries. We would like to thank and acknowledge the IT team and Rory Campbell from BIM for their support; Dr Deirdre Brophy from ATU Galway for ideas on data analysis. This work was funded by the Government of Ireland and part-financed by the European Union through the EMFAF Operational Programme 2021 – 2027.
Image: Bob Brewer on Unsplash