A wind farm in the North Sea has had a positive overall impact on fauna, claims a new study. The OWEZ offshore wind farm, off the Dutch coast near Egmond aan Zee, provided a new natural habitat for organisms living on the sea bed such as mussels, anemones, and crabs.
Prof. Han Lindeboom said that the farm could even provide an oasis of calm in a relatively busy coastal area for fish and marine mammals. The wind farm seems to shelter cod, while porpoises were also heard more often inside the wind farm than outside it. Seagulls also didn’t seem to be bothered by the turbines, while other species like the gannet just avoid the wind farm.
The team of Dutch researchers from IMARES, the Bureau Waardenburg and Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) were looking at the short-term ecological effects of a wind farm.
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