Management Measures Tool for Marine Renewable Energy
Exploring Management Measures that support Deployment of Wave and Tidal Devices
As the MRE industry moves beyond deployment of individual wave and tidal devices towards arrays, there continue to be onerous monitoring requirements placed on developers. Certain risks of MRE devices on the marine environment are not sufficiently well resolved to allow smooth transitions towards a commercial industry. A good example is found in the potential collision of animals with single tidal turbines; the risk of this interaction has not been adequately determined to allay fears of stakeholders and regulators in many jurisdictions.
In consultation with the research and regulatory communities, it was determined that having a set of robust management measures might act as safeguards for marine animals and habitats until such time as definitive monitoring data become available to determine the level of risk from turbines and WECs. At that point, mitigation measures could be dialed back or removed, if warranted.
With the input of the researchers, regulators, and developers at a workshop held May 9th 2017 in Glasgow UK, the following criteria were used to develop the management measures tool shown here:
• Ensure common understanding of all parameters that describe management measures proposed for collision risk, EMF, noise, and benthic disturbance;
• Evaluate each measure for effectiveness in addressing the risk for which it is intended;
• Determine the feasibility and practicality of each measure;
• Facilitate the development of a toolbox of management measures that can be made broadly available, as they are needed
• Consider the use of the tool to guide initial discussions between project proponents and regulators.
The tool can be explored using the following steps:
| Technology Type |
Management Measure Category |
Phase of Project | Stressor | Receptor | Specific Receptor | Interaction | Specific Management Measures | Implications of Measure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Ensure standard notifications of loss of fishing gear in region notified to operators. Reporting of entanglement events. | Good practice for emergency preparedness. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Would remove/reduce risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Would remove/reduce risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Would remove/reduce risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Would remove/reduce risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Would remove/reduce risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Ensure standard notifications of loss of fishing gear in region notified to operators. Reporting of entanglement events. | Good practice for emergency preparedness. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Would remove/reduce risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Decommissioning | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Compliance | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Compliance with all relevant guidance (including IMO guidelines) regarding ballast water management and transfer of non-native species. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Compliance | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Strategic use of rock placement/other cable protection | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | Fish, Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed due to scour or siltation around devices and associated moorings, support structures and export cables. | Micrositing of export cables and infrastructure to minimize the impact on sensitive habitats and species. Best practice techniques for cable installation, burial and protection. | Reduces, limits or offsets potential impacts on sensitive habitats and species. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Minimise footprint of anchors / foundations. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats, however may impact technical considerations. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Maintain taut mooring lines. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement, however mooring design driven by technical and commercial consideration. Entanglement records are a useful way to track events. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Avoid the introduction of hard bottom substrate into a soft bottom habitat. | Ensures the efficient recovery of species native to the surrounding habitat. May have technical implications. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors. | Reduce the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Could result in there being less redundancy in the system and potential commercial and technical feasibility issues. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Maintain taut mooring lines. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement, however mooring design is driven by technical and economic consideration. An entanglement record is a good way to track events. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Strategic use of rock placement/other cable protection. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | Benthic species | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive littoral habitat due to devices and associated moorings, support structures or landfall cables. | Micrositing of landfall cables and infrastructure to minimise the impact on sensitive habitats and species. Best practice techniques for cable installation, burial and protection. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish; Elasmobranchs | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Install cable protection/ armour/ rock placement/ other cable protection. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Reduces 'snagging risk' for vessels and may create habitat for species. Potential for adverse impacts on surrounding benthic habitats and sensitive species, e.g. from smothering. This measure forms part of normal project design. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables. | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects, however there are potential commercial and technical feasibility issues surrounding the specific project requirements as well as some disagreement as to the efficacy of this measure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats and minimize footprint. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and can often be done with little additional cost. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Install tension sensors on mooring lines. | Informs of problem with mooring lines allowing rectification, however this comes at an additional cost and control system integration requirement. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Lighting | Birds | Seabirds | Potential for lighting to adversely affect nocturnal and migratory species. | Consider type, colour and use of lighting during design and consultation with navigational stakeholders. | A targeted lighting plan may have the potential to reduce impacts on sensitive species but navigational safety takes precedence. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Loss of habitat | Habitat | Intertidal ecology | Direct loss of protected or sensitive intertidal communities from changes in hydrodynamics due to nearshore WECs. | Micrositing of nearshore WECs to minimise the impact on sensitive habitats and species. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Cable protection management measures to ensure that any rock placement that is required will be kept to a minimum to reduce seabed disturbance. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | Fish, Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed due to scour or siltation around devices and associated moorings, support structures and export cables. | Micrositing of export cables and infrastructure to minimize the impact on sensitive habitats and species. Best practice techniques for cable installation, burial and protection. | Reduces, limits or offsets potential impacts on sensitive habitats and species. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Cable design with maximum bend radius. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement, however cable design driven by technical and commercial consideration. Entanglement records are a useful way to track events. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Avoid the introduction of hard bottom substrate into a soft bottom habitat. | Ensures the efficient recovery of species native to the surrounding habitat. May have technical implications. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Lay cables in natural crevices | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Elasmobranchs | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors. | Reduce the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Could result in there being less redundancy in the system and potential commercial and technical feasibility issues. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Maintain taut mooring lines. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement, however mooring design is driven by technical and economic consideration. An entanglement record is a good way to track events. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Maintain taut mooring lines. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement, however mooring design driven by technical and commercial consideration. Entanglement records are a useful way to track events. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Strategic use of rock placement/other cable protection. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Install cable protection/armor | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables. | Reduce the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Potential commercial and technical feasibility issues some disagreement as to efficacy of this measure. Additionally, the cables used will largely depend upon the project requirements. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects, however there is potential for less redundancy in the system together with potential commercial and technical feasibility issues. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats and minimize footprint. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and can often be done with little additional cost. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Install acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs). | This could potentially reduce likelihood of collision with moving blades although the efficacy of ADDs in these environments is unknown. Constant deterring means habituation is likely. This is a simpler system than detect (efficiently) and deter, however would still be expensive to implement. It would also come with an additional noise impact which must also be considered in project assessments. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Lighting | Birds | Seabirds | Potential for lighting to adversely affect nocturnal and migratory species. | Consider type, colour and use of lighting during design and consultation with navigational stakeholders. | A targeted lighting plan may have the potential to reduce impacts on sensitive species but navigational safety takes precedence. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Habitat | Intertidal ecology | Loss of intertidal habitat from trenching for cable landfall. | Pre-construction cable route surveys to avoid sensitive habitats. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Minimize footprint of anchors / foundations. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats, however the size of anchors/foundations likely to be that which is suitable for the safe and optimal operation of devices. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Cable protection management measures to ensure that any rock placement that is required will be kept to a minimum to reduce seabed disturbance. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Maintain taut mooring lines. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement, however mooring design tends to be driven by technical and commercial consideration. An entanglement record is a useful way to track events. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Cable design with maximum bend radius. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement, however cable design driven by technical and commercial consideration. Entanglement records are a useful way to track events. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Lay cables in natural crevices | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Elasmobranchs | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors. | Reduce the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Could result in there being less redundancy in the system and potential commercial and technical feasibility issues. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Maintain taut mooring lines. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement, however mooring design driven by technical and commercial consideration. Entanglement records are a useful way to track events. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Install cable protection/armor | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables. | Reduce the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Potential commercial and technical feasibility issues some disagreement as to efficacy of this measure. Additionally, the cables used will largely depend upon the project requirements. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects, however there is potential for less redundancy in the system together with potential commercial and technical feasibility issues. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Lay cables in natural crevices. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and can often be done with little additional costs. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Habitat | Intertidal ecology | Loss of intertidal habitat from trenching for cable landfall. | Pre-construction cable route surveys to avoid sensitive habitats. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Minimize footprint of anchors / foundations. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats, however the size of anchors/foundations likely to be that which is suitable for the safe and optimal operation of devices. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Cable protection management measures to ensure that any rock placement that is required will be kept to a minimum to reduce seabed disturbance. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Bury cables where possible and viable | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Install cable protection/armour. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bury or HDD cables where possible and viable. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Reduces 'snagging risk' for vessels. Potential for adverse impacts on surrounding benthic habitats and sensitive species, e.g. from smothering. This measure forms part of normal project design. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Install tension sensors on mooring lines. | Informs of problem with mooring lines allowing rectification, however their implementation would come at an additional cost and would require control system integration. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Maintain taut mooring lines. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement, however mooring design tends to be driven by technical and commercial consideration. An entanglement record is a useful way to track events. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Maximize length of any drilled boreholes | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Fishing debris detected during routine inspections of mooring lines and cables will be removed. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost measure, implemented as part of standard O&M procedures. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors. | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Minimise footprint of anchors / foundations. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats, however may impact technical considerations. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Limit cable voltage | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Elasmobranchs | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables. | Reduce the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Potential commercial and technical feasibility issues some disagreement as to efficacy of this measure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Micrositing to avoid sensitive habitats & minimise footprint. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bury or HDD cables where possible and viable. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects, however the implementation of this measure may have an impact on surrounding benthic habitats and sensitive species. Also reduces 'snagging risk' for vessels. This measure forms part of normal project design. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Lay cables in natural crevices. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and can often be done with little additional costs. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Install cable protection/ armor/ rock placement/ other cable protection. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Reduces 'snagging risk' for vessels and may create habitat for species. May have Habitat Creation implications Potential for adverse impacts on surrounding benthic habitats and sensitive species, e.g. from smothering. This measure forms part of normal project design. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Cable protection management measures to ensure that any rock placement that is required will be kept to a minimum to reduce seabed disturbance. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Minimize footprint of anchors / foundations. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats, however the size of anchors/foundations likely to be that which is suitable for the safe and optimal operation of devices. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Cable protection management measures to ensure that any rock placement that is required will be kept to a minimum to reduce seabed disturbance. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Bury cables where possible and viable | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Install cable protection/armour. | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Maximize length of any drilled boreholes | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bury or HDD cables where possible and viable. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Reduces 'snagging risk' for vessels. Potential for adverse impacts on surrounding benthic habitats and sensitive species, e.g. from smothering. This measure forms part of normal project design. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Install tension sensors on mooring lines. | Informs of problem with mooring lines allowing rectification, however their implementation would come at an additional cost and would require control system integration. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Cable design with maximum bend radius. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement, however cable design tends to be driven by technical and commercial consideration. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Install a 'detect and shut-down' system using active sonar and other appropriate monitoring equipment. | This could reduce/remove risk of collision with moving blades and enable a route through the consenting process, particulalrly at high sensitivity locations. However, this could affect power production, is expensive to implement and does not help to reduce scientific uncertainty regarding the risk. The reductions in power production, although small, would bring about uncertainty in the investment process and there are questions around impacts of sonar on sensitive species. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | Fish, Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed due to scour or siltation around devices and associated moorings, support structures and export cables. | Micrositing of export cables and infrastructure to minimize the impact on sensitive habitats and species. Best practice techniques for cable installation, burial and protection. | Reduces, limits or offsets potential impacts on sensitive habitats and species. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Fishing debris detected during routine inspections of mooring lines and cables will be removed. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost measure, implemented as part of standard O&M procedures. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Bury cables where possible and viable. | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Minimise footprint of anchors / foundations. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats, however may impact technical considerations. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Lighting | Fish | Fish | Potential for lighting to adversely affect nocturnal and migratory species. | Consider type, colour and use of lighting during design and consultation with navigational stakeholders. | A targeted lighting plan may have the potential to reduce impacts on sensitive species but navigational safety takes precedence. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Limit cable voltage | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Elasmobranchs | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables. | Reduce the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Potential commercial and technical feasibility issues some disagreement as to efficacy of this measure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bury or HDD cables where possible and viable. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects, however the implementation of this measure may have an impact on surrounding benthic habitats and sensitive species. Also reduces 'snagging risk' for vessels. This measure forms part of normal project design. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Avoid the introduction of hard bottom substrate into a soft bottom habitat. | Ensures the efficient recovery of species native to the surrounding habitat. May have technical implications. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Micrositing to avoid sensitive habitats & minimise footprint. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Maximise length of any drilled boreholes. | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and can often be done with little additional costs. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Limit cable voltage. | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Install cable protection/ armor/ rock placement/ other cable protection. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Reduces 'snagging risk' for vessels and may create habitat for species. May have Habitat Creation implications Potential for adverse impacts on surrounding benthic habitats and sensitive species, e.g. from smothering. This measure forms part of normal project design. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Cable protection management measures to ensure that any rock placement that is required will be kept to a minimum to reduce seabed disturbance. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Minimize footprint of anchors / foundations. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats, however the size of anchors/foundations likely to be that which is suitable for the safe and optimal operation of devices. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Strategic use of rock placement/other cable protection | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Cable design with maximum bend radius. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement, however cable design tends to be driven by technical and commercial consideration. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | Fish, Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed due to scour or siltation around devices and associated moorings, support structures and export cables. | Micrositing of export cables and infrastructure to minimize the impact on sensitive habitats and species. Best practice techniques for cable installation, burial and protection. | Reduces, limits or offsets potential impacts on sensitive habitats and species. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Bury cables where possible and viable. | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Minimise footprint of anchors / foundations. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats, however may impact technical considerations. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Maintain taut mooring lines. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement, however mooring design driven by technical and commercial consideration. Entanglement records are a useful way to track events. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Fish | Demersal fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Lighting | Fish | Fish | Potential for lighting to adversely affect nocturnal and migratory species. | Consider type, colour and use of lighting during design and consultation with navigational stakeholders. | A targeted lighting plan may have the potential to reduce impacts on sensitive species but navigational safety takes precedence. |
| Wave | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Bundle cables together to reduce field vectors. | Reduce the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Could result in there being less redundancy in the system and potential commercial and technical feasibility issues. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Micrositing of offshore infrastructure to avoid sensitive habitats. | This could reduce/remove effects on sensitive habitats and can often be done with little additional costs. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Avoid the introduction of hard bottom substrate into a soft bottom habitat. | Ensures the efficient recovery of species native to the surrounding habitat. May have technical implications. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | Benthic species | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive littoral habitat due to devices and associated moorings, support structures or landfall cables. | Micrositing of landfall cables and infrastructure to minimise the impact on sensitive habitats and species. Best practice techniques for cable installation, burial and protection. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Maximise length of any drilled boreholes. | |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Demersal fish | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from landfall cables on sensitive species. | Limit cable voltage. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Use of 3-phase cables instead of DC cables. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects, however there are potential commercial and technical feasibility issues surrounding the specific project requirements as well as some disagreement as to the efficacy of this measure. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Cable protection management measures to ensure that any rock placement that is required will be kept to a minimum to reduce seabed disturbance. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Cable protection management measures to ensure that any rock placement that is required will be kept to a minimum to reduce seabed disturbance. | This could reduce effects on sensitive habitats. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | EMF and thermal pressure | Fish | Migratory fish; Elasmobranchs | Impacts of electromagnetic fields from subsea cables on sensitive species. | Install cable protection/ armour/ rock placement/ other cable protection. | Reduces the level of EMF to surrounding water column and therefore any potential effects. Reduces 'snagging risk' for vessels and may create habitat for species. Potential for adverse impacts on surrounding benthic habitats and sensitive species, e.g. from smothering. This measure forms part of normal project design. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Install a 'detect and deter' system using a combination of active sonar and acoustic deterrent device (ADD). | This could reduce likelihood of collision with moving blades although the efficacy of ADDs in these environments is unknown and habituation to ADDs is known to occur in other industries. Could enable a route through the consenting process. This measure is expensive to implement and it is still unknown if deterrent systems will help reduce risk. There are also questions around the effects of ADDs on sensitive species. Their addition adds another noise impact which must also be considered in any project assessments. Would rely on well proven and reliable 'detect and deter' systems. Also, mitigation against collision may prevent discovering whether or not it is a real issue. Further research around ADDs which deter specific groups or species, is underway. This could be useful in deterring specific sensitive species or species groups, at a particular site. For example, University of St Andrews is seveloping an ADD which deter seals, but which don't effect cetaceans. |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Tidal | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Physical Containment systems including bulk heads, closed circuit systems, pressure relief systems. | Reduces risk of contamination escaping from structure. |
| Wave | Design feature | Installation | Loss of habitat | Habitat | Intertidal ecology | Direct loss of protected or sensitive intertidal communities from changes in hydrodynamics due to nearshore WECs. | Micrositing of nearshore WECs to minimise the impact on sensitive habitats and species. | |
| Wave | Design feature | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Install tension sensors on mooring lines. | Informs of problem with mooring lines allowing rectification, however this comes at an additional cost and control system integration requirement. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Although, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, the use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issue (e.g. fluuid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Shore-nesting birds | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Avoidance of sensitive shore nesting areas during sensitive periods with appropriate clearance distance. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Fisheries management: Agreement with fishermen not to fish near to the device, warning of the dangers of losing equipment. | Reduces potential for entanglement of fishing gear in mooring lines and thus potential for entanglement of marine animals. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Underwater noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, however may could increase project construction timescales e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Seals | Disturbance at seal haul-out sites from project vessels. | Avoid transiting within 500m of known seal haul outs. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Reptiles | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Fish | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Do not break up or 'flush' rafts of birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Also pertinent to note that the measure is selectively applied to project vessels in context of other vessel operations. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Underwater noise | Fish | Fish | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | All receptors | Reduced visibility from altered water clarity associated with sediment mixing that can impact prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Birds | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Alrhough, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Care will be taken to avoid splitting up groups and mothers and young. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach to marine mammals and birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Can increase the time of operational procedures and thus increase cost. Further monitoring, e.g. defining of approach distances and then comparing these to see which are most effective would validate the efficacy of the measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Loss of seabed habitat | Fish | Fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Use of locally sourced materials, for cable protection, of the same type as the habitat to be disturbed by cable installation. | Minimise impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Underwater noise | Birds | Seabirds | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Reptiles | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Fish | Large fish | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Use smaller vessels for maintenance purposes. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Vessel transit route: defining routes to avoid sensitive sites and to only disturb one route. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Fish | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Install acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs). | This could potentially reduce likelihood of collision with moving blades although the efficacy of ADDs in these environments is unknown. Constant deterring means habituation is likely. This is a simpler system than detect (efficiently) and deter, however would still be expensive to implement. It would also come with an additional noise impact which must also be considered in project assessments. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Airborne noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from airborne noise generated during installation/construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs and important cliff nesting sites, during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, however may could increase project construction timescales e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Fish | Large fish | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel collision | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for collision with project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Seals | Disturbance at seal haul-out sites from project vessels. | Avoid transiting within 500m of known seal haul outs. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Although, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, the use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issue (e.g. fluuid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Shore-nesting birds | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Avoidance of sensitive shore nesting areas during sensitive periods with appropriate clearance distance. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Underwater noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, however may could increase project construction timescales e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Underwater noise | Fish | Fish | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entrapment | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential risk of entrapment within device chambers and mooring arrays. | Release entrapped animal. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Fish | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Do not break up or 'flush' rafts of birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Also pertinent to note that the measure is selectively applied to project vessels in context of other vessel operations. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | All receptors | Reduced visibility from altered water clarity associated with sediment mixing that can impact prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Birds | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Alrhough, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Care will be taken to avoid splitting up groups and mothers and young. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach to marine mammals and birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Can increase the time of operational procedures and thus increase cost. Further monitoring, e.g. defining of approach distances and then comparing these to see which are most effective would validate the efficacy of the measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Loss of seabed habitat | Fish | Fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Use of locally sourced materials, for cable protection, of the same type as the habitat to be disturbed by cable installation. | Minimise impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Underwater noise | Birds | Seabirds | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Reptiles | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Vessel transit route: defining routes to avoid sensitive sites and to only disturb one route. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Airborne noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from airborne noise generated during installation/construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs and important cliff nesting sites, during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, however may could increase project construction timescales e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Fish | Large fish | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel collision | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for collision with project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Seals | Disturbance at seal haul-out sites from project vessels. | Avoid transiting within 500m of known seal haul outs. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Although, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, the use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issue (e.g. fluuid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Shore-nesting birds | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Avoidance of sensitive shore nesting areas during sensitive periods with appropriate clearance distance. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Underwater noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, however may could increase project construction timescales e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Do not break up or 'flush' rafts of birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Also pertinent to note that the measure is selectively applied to project vessels in context of other vessel operations. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Underwater noise | Fish | Fish | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entrapment | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential risk of entrapment within device chambers and mooring arrays. | Release entrapped animal. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Fish | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Install a 'detect and shut-down' system using active sonar and other appropriate monitoring equipment. | This could reduce/remove risk of collision with moving blades and enable a route through the consenting process, particulalrly at high sensitivity locations. However, this could affect power production, is expensive to implement and does not help to reduce scientific uncertainty regarding the risk. The reductions in power production, although small, would bring about uncertainty in the investment process and there are questions around impacts of sonar on sensitive species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Loss of seabed habitat | Fish | Fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Use of locally sourced materials, for cable protection, of the same type as the habitat to be disturbed by cable installation. | Minimise impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | All receptors | Reduced visibility from altered water clarity associated with sediment mixing that can impact prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Birds | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Alrhough, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Care will be taken to avoid splitting up groups and mothers and young. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach to marine mammals and birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Can increase the time of operational procedures and thus increase cost. Further monitoring, e.g. defining of approach distances and then comparing these to see which are most effective would validate the efficacy of the measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Fisheries management: Agreement with fishermen not to fish near to the device, warning of the dangers of losing equipment. | Reduces potential for entanglement of fishing gear in mooring lines and thus potential for entanglement of marine animals. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Airborne noise | Birds | Seabirds | The potential effects from airborne noise generated during installation/construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs and important cliff nesting sites, during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Reptiles | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Use of locally sourced materials, for cable protection, of the same type as the habitat to be disturbed by cable installation. | Minimize impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Fish | Large fish | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel collision | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for collision with project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Do not break up or 'flush' rafts of birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Also pertinent to note that the measure is selectively applied to project vessels in context of other vessel operations. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Vessel transit route: defining routes to avoid sensitive sites and to only disturb one route. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entrapment | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential risk of entrapment within device chambers and mooring arrays. | Release entrapped animal. | Animal may be deceased before it is able to be released. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Lighting | Birds | Seabirds | Potential for light from installation vessels to adversely affect nocturnal and migratory species. | Limit lighting on installation vessels to that safe for navigational purposes only. | Reduce impact on sensitive species. A lot of the light on navigational vessels is superflous so would not detract from their safe operation. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Airborne noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from airborne noise generated during installation/construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs and important cliff nesting sites, during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, however may could increase project construction timescales e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Underwater noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, however may could increase project construction timescales e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Seals | Disturbance at seal haul-out sites from project vessels. | Avoid transiting within 500m of known seal haul outs. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Fish | Fish | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Implement a 'soft start'/cut in speed management approach at sensitive sites, i.e. those where the potential for collisions is high. | Soft start - this could reduce risk by allowing marine mammals time to move away from the turbine and could be done at a relatively low cost. Cut in speed management - this could be used to reduce risk during periods of known higher activity in sensitive sites. It is still unclear whether these offer additional mitigation and to an extent a soft start happens naturally. Implementation of this measure could result in a loss of revenue for the developer. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, the use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issue (e.g. fluuid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Shore-nesting birds | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Avoidance of sensitive shore nesting areas during sensitive periods with appropriate clearance distance. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Do not break up or 'flush' rafts of birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Also pertinent to note that the measure is selectively applied to project vessels in context of other vessel operations. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Selective structural and blade coatings i.e. colours to aide detection. | Unknown - it is possible that this will aid detection of subsea structures and help reduce risk at a low cost. Lack of understanding and further research needed, it may be that certain colours could result in attraction resulting in an increase in collision risk. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Underwater noise | Fish | Fish | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Fish | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach to marine mammals and birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Can increase the time of operational procedures and thus increase cost. Further monitoring, e.g. defining of approach distances and then comparing these to see which are most effective would validate the efficacy of the measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | All receptors | Reduced visibility from altered water clarity associated with sediment mixing that can impact prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Birds | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Use smaller vessels for maintenance purposes. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Alrhough, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Care will be taken to avoid splitting up groups and mothers and young. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Although, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Fisheries management: Agreement with fishermen not to fish near to the device, warning of the dangers of losing equipment. | Reduces potential for entanglement of fishing gear in mooring lines and thus potential for entanglement of marine animals. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Airborne noise | Birds | Seabirds | The potential effects from airborne noise generated during installation/construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs and important cliff nesting sites, during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Reptiles | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Use of locally sourced materials, for cable protection, of the same type as the habitat to be disturbed by cable installation. | Minimize impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Fish | Large fish | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel collision | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for collision with project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Do not break up or 'flush' rafts of birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Also pertinent to note that the measure is selectively applied to project vessels in context of other vessel operations. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Implement a 'soft start'/cut in speed management approach during cut-in at sensitive sites, i.e. those where the potential for collisions is high. | Soft start - this could reduce risk by allowing marine mammals time to move away from the turbine and could be done at a relatively low cost. Cut in speed management - this could be used to reduce risk during periods of known higher activity in sensitive sites. It is still unclear whether these offer additional mitigation and to an extent a soft start happens naturally. Implementation of this measure could result in a loss of revenue for the developer. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Lighting | Birds | Seabirds | Potential for light from installation vessels to adversely affect nocturnal and migratory species. | Limit lighting on installation vessels to that safe for navigational purposes only. | Reduce impact on sensitive species. A lot of the light on navigational vessels is superflous so would not detract from their safe operation. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Seals | Disturbance at seal haul-out sites from project vessels. | Avoid transiting within 500m of known seal haul outs. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entrapment | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential risk of entrapment within device chambers and mooring arrays. | Release entrapped animal. | Animal may be deceased before it is able to be released. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, the use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issue (e.g. fluuid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Vessel transit route: defining routes to avoid sensitive sites and to only disturb one route. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Fisheries management: Agreement with fishermen not to fish near to the device, warning of the dangers of losing equipment. | Reduces potential for entanglement of fishing gear in mooring lines and thus potential for entanglement of sea turtles. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Fish | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Although, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Shore-nesting birds | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Avoidance of sensitive shore nesting areas during sensitive periods with appropriate clearance distance. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Birds | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Use smaller vessels for maintenance purposes. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Use of locally sourced materials, for cable protection, of the same type as the habitat to be disturbed by cable installation. | Minimize impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Alrhough, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Airborne noise | Birds | Seabirds | The potential effects from airborne noise generated during installation/construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs and important cliff nesting sites, during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Reptiles | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Birds | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Fish | Large fish | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Care will be taken to avoid splitting up groups and mothers and young. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach to marine mammals and birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Can increase the time of operational procedures and thus increase cost. Further monitoring, e.g. defining of approach distances and then comparing these to see which are most effective would validate the efficacy of the measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Vessel transit route: defining routes to avoid sensitive sites and to only disturb one route. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Fisheries management: Agreement with fishermen not to fish near to the device, warning of the dangers of losing equipment. | Reduces potential for entanglement of fishing gear in mooring lines and thus potential for entanglement of sea turtles. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Fish | Fish | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Selective structural and blade coatings i.e. colours to aide detection. | Unknown - it is possible that this will aid detection of subsea structures and help reduce risk although further research is needed - certain colours may serve to attract fish and lead to an increase in collision risk. A small one off cost that can be easily planned for at the design stage. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Underwater noise | Birds | Seabirds | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Fish | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Install a 'detect and deter' system using a combination of active sonar and acoustic deterrent device (ADD). | This could reduce likelihood of collision with moving blades although the efficacy of ADDs in these environments is unknown and habituation to ADDs is known to occur in other industries. Could enable a route through the consenting process. This measure is expensive to implement and it is still unknown if deterrent systems will help reduce risk. There are also questions around the effects of ADDs on sensitive species. Their addition adds another noise impact which must also be considered in any project assessments. Would rely on well proven and reliable 'detect and deter' systems. Also, mitigation against collision may prevent discovering whether or not it is a real issue. Further research around ADDs which deter specific groups or species, is underway. This could be useful in deterring specific sensitive species or species groups, at a particular site. For example, University of St Andrews is seveloping an ADD which deter seals, but which don't effect cetaceans. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Fisheries management: Agreement with fishermen not to fish near to the device, warning of the dangers of losing equipment. | Reduces potential for entanglement of fishing gear in mooring lines and thus potential for entanglement of marine animals. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel collision | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for collision with project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Although, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, the use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issue (e.g. fluuid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Shore-nesting birds | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Avoidance of sensitive shore nesting areas during sensitive periods with appropriate clearance distance. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Fisheries management: Agreement with fishermen not to fish near to the device, warning of the dangers of losing equipment. | Reduces potential for entanglement of fishing gear in mooring lines and thus potential for entanglement of marine animals. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Birds | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Seals | Disturbance at seal haul-out sites from project vessels. | Avoid transiting within 500m of known seal haul outs. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Loss of habitat | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Use of locally sourced materials, for cable protection, of the same type as the habitat to be disturbed by cable installation. | Minimize impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Fish | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. Alrhough, use of lower toxicity materials may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Airborne noise | Birds | Seabirds | The potential effects from airborne noise generated during installation/construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs and important cliff nesting sites, during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Reptiles | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Changes in sediment dynamics | Birds | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event, ensures that contingency plans are in place and demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Care will be taken to avoid splitting up groups and mothers and young. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach to marine mammals and birds. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure, however effectiveness of mitigation is unclear. Can increase the time of operational procedures and thus increase cost. Further monitoring, e.g. defining of approach distances and then comparing these to see which are most effective would validate the efficacy of the measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Loss of seabed habitat | Fish | Fish | Direct loss of protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed communities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings or support structures on the seabed. | Use of locally sourced materials, for cable protection, of the same type as the habitat to be disturbed by cable installation. | Minimise impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Management: Establish and implement a Contamination Control Plan / Ship Oil Contamination Emergency Plans (SOPEPs). Compliance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) codes for the prevention of contamination. | Reduces risk of any contamination event and ensures that contingency plans are in place. Demonstrates compliance with environmental management systems. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Selective structural and blade coatings i.e. colours to aide detection. | Unknown - it is possible that this will aid detection of subsea structures and help reduce risk. It can be captured in early project design for a small one-off cost, however further research is needed as there is potential for an increased collision risk through 'attraction'. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Underwater noise | Birds | Seabirds | The potential effects from underwater noise generated during installation/ construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, but could increase project construction timescales and thus costs e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Vessel disturbance | Birds | Birds on water | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Vessel transit route: defining routes to avoid sensitive sites and to only disturb one route. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Reptiles | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel disturbance | Fish | Large fish | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Use smaller vessels for maintenance purposes. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Airborne noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from airborne noise generated during installation/construction (excluding piling). | Avoid/limit 'noisy works' within close proximity to sensitive sites i.e. known seal haul outs and important cliff nesting sites, during sensitive periods, defining appropriate clearance distances where necessary. | This could reduce potential effects on sensitive species during sensitive periods, however may could increase project construction timescales e.g. if continuous drilling time is restricted or specific periods need to be avoided. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Reduced visibility impacting prey detection and obstruction avoidance. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer and settlement of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Contamination | Habitat | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Birds | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Material selection - lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids etc. selected with low ecotoxicity levels and biodegradable. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials which may have escaped structure. However, use of lower toxicity may compromise performance, or impact other technical issues (e.g. fluid changes). |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Installation | Changes in sediment dynamics | Fish | All receptors | Sediment disturbance disrupting water clarity that results in smothering of fish spawning grounds. | Best practice methodologies to reduce resuspension of sediment during cable burial or device foundation / mooring installation. | n/a |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Fisheries management: Agreement with fishermen not to fish near to the device, warning of the dangers of losing equipment. | Reduces potential for entanglement of fishing gear in mooring lines and thus potential for entanglement of marine animals. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Contamination | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for accidental or unplanned events which could lead to contamination of the marine environment. | Where rock placement is used, ensure clean rock is used. | Reduces/removes risk of contamination from materials. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Installation | Vessel disturbance | Fish | Large fish | Potential for disturbance from project vessels. | Reduce speed and maintain steady course when animal is sighted. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Vessel collision | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for collision with project vessels. | Adhere to minimum approach distances for vessels on approach. | Reduces potential effects and is a relatively low cost measure. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Establish and implement a Biofouling Management Plan. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Adhere to appropriate measures when jettisoning ballast water. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Mitigation | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Source vessels locally. | Reduce/remove risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Fish | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours. | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonisation and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications. However, there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Habitat | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours. | Informs understanding of potential for colonisation, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in water flow | Birds | Diving birds | Modifications to tidal flows affect prey distribution and abundance resulting in changes to foraging behaviour. | Observational surveys (including remote sensing) of species (prey availability linked to benthic community). | Reduces scientific uncertainty. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Ensure standard notifications of loss of fishing gear in region notified to operators. Reporting of entanglement events. | Good practice for emergency preparedness. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Fishing debris detected during routine inspections of mooring lines and cables will be removed. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost measure, implemented as part of standard O&M procedures. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Birds | Roosting birds | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide potential roosting habitat. | Monitor use of device as a roosting platform. | Reduces scientific uncertainty around collision risk, displacement and other impacts, however this type of monitoring can be expensive. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Environmental monitoring to detect collision events. | Helps to develop an understanding of avoidance behaviour, nature of interactions and outcome of collision events. However, there are cost implications assocaited with this level of monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in water flow | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Modifications to prey distribution and abundance (to include for other receptors) resulting in changes to foraging behaviour. | Observational surveys (including remote sensing) of bird and marine mammals (prey availability linked to benthic community). | Would result in a reduction of scientific uncertainty around the interaction, however determining impacts against natural variability may be difficult and monitoring expensive. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Marine Mammals | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours . | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonisation and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in water flow | Habitat | Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive littoral habitat due to changes in tidal flow around devices and associated moorings, support structures or landfall cables. | Pre and post installation monitoring of sensitive benthic communities, based on visual surveys. | |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Fishing debris detected during routine inspections of mooring lines and cables will be removed. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost measure, implemented as part of standard O&M procedures. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Install tension sensors on mooring lines. | Informs of problem with mooring lines allowing rectification, however this comes at an additional cost and control system integration requirement. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Environmental monitoring to better understand near-field behaviour and avoidance. | Would reduce scientific uncertainty around the issue, however can be costly to implement. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Benthic | Benthic | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates may generate additional habitat diversity. | Structure colonization and biofouling surveys. | Informs understanding of potential for increased prey availability and ecological diversity which could benefit future project applications, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Fish | Fish | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Environmental monitoring to detect collision events. | Helps to develop an understanding of avoidance behaviour, nature of interactions and outcome of collision events. However, there are cost implications assocaited with this level of monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in water flow | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects on protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed due to removal or alteration of tidal flow arising from devices and moorings or support structures. | Pre and post installation monitoring of sensitive benthic communities, based on diver, drop down, static visual surveys (camera) or grab sampling. | Would result in a reduction of scientific uncertainty, however interpretation of data for statistical purposes may not have power to detect change generated by impact. In addition it may require correlation with detailed Computational Fluid Dynamics studies and physical flow measurements. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Birds | Diving birds | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Would remove/reduce risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Fishing debris detected during routine inspections of mooring lines and cables will be removed. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost measure, implemented as part of standard O&M procedures. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Marine Mammals | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours . | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonisation and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | Fish, Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed due to scour or siltation around devices and associated moorings, support structures and export cables. | Periodic visual monitoring through the use of divers or drop down video, static cameras / remote sensing techniques, benthic grab surveys, geophysical survey to identify scour pits, turbidity measurements. | Implementation of this measure would generate data to quantify level and spatial extent of effect, however there are technical and health and safety risks associated with periodic monitoring in close vicinity of infrastructure. This measure may also require power shut down. Additionally, the associated subsea static monitoring options require O&M which has potential time and cost implications. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Ensure standard notifications of loss of fishing gear in region notified to operators. Reporting of entanglement events. | Good practice for emergency preparedness. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Install tension sensors on mooring lines. | Informs of problem with mooring lines allowing rectification, however this comes at an additional cost and control system integration requirement. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Environmental monitoring to detect collision events. | Understand avoidance behaviour, nature of interactions and outcome of collision events, however effective monitoring is expensive and requires a lot of data analysis. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Dissipation of wave energy | Benthic | Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects on protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed due to removal or alteration of energy flow arising from devices and moorings or support structures. | Standard benthic and intertidal surveys focused on indicator species. | Would result in a reduction of scientific uncertainty around the interaction, however determining impacts against natural variability may be difficult. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Benthic | Benthic | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates may generate additional habitat diversity. | Structure colonization and biofouling surveys. | Informs understanding of potential for increased prey availability and ecological diversity which could benefit future project applications, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Fishing debris detected during routine inspections of mooring lines and cables will be removed. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost measure, implemented as part of standard O&M procedures. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Reptiles | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours. | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonisation and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications. However, there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Install a 'detect and shut-down' system using active sonar and other appropriate monitoring equipment. | This could reduce/remove risk of collision with moving blades and enable a route through the consenting process, particulalrly at high sensitivity locations. However, this could affect power production, is expensive to implement and does not help to reduce scientific uncertainty regarding the risk. The reductions in power production, although small, would bring about uncertainty in the investment process and there are questions around impacts of sonar on sensitive species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in sediment dynamics | Benthic | Fish, Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive sub-littoral seabed due to scour or siltation around devices and associated moorings, support structures and export cables. | Periodic visual monitoring through the use of divers or drop down video, static cameras / remote sensing techniques, benthic grab surveys, geophysical survey to identify scour pits, turbidity measurements. | Implementation of this measure would generate data to quantify level and spatial extent of effect, however there are technical and health and safety risks associated with periodic monitoring in close vicinity of infrastructure. This measure may also require power shut down. Additionally, the associated subsea static monitoring options require O&M which has potential time and cost implications. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | Benthic species | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive littoral habitat due to devices and associated moorings, support structures or landfall cables. | Periodic visual monitoring through the use of divers, drop down video or intertidal shore surveys. | |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Fishing debris detected during routine inspections of mooring lines and cables will be removed. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost measure, implemented as part of standard O&M procedures. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Underwater noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from underwater noise generated by wave and tidal energy converters. | Measure noise generated by device(s) during operation to better understand the potential effects on sensitive species. | Measured noise levels can be correlated with threshold values of relevant species to determine impact and need for adaptive management measures, however this can be complex and costly to undertake this type of monitoring in high energy environments. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Ensure standard notifications of loss of fishing gear in region notified to operators. Reporting of entanglement events. | Good practice for emergency preparedness. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Benthic | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviors . | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonization and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Fish | Fish | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Environmental monitoring to better understand near-field behaviour and avoidance. | This will help reduce scientific uncertainty, however this type of monitoring can be expensive and there are difficulties associated with storing and analysing the data produced. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Ensure standard notifications of loss of fishing gear in region notified to operators. Reporting of entanglement events. | Good practice for emergency preparedness. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Birds | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours. | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonisation and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Underwater noise | Fish | Fish | The potential effects from underwater noise generated by wave and tidal energy converters. | Measure noise generated by device(s) during operation to better understand the potential effects on sensitive species. | Measured noise levels can be correlated with threshold values of relevant species to determine impact and need for adaptive management measures. It can be complex and costly to undertake this type of monitoring in high energy environments. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Reptiles | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours. | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonisation and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications. However, there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Routine inspections of mooring lines. Implement features into existing control systems to detect entanglement events. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost monitoring capability. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Changes in sediment dynamics | Habitat | Benthic species | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive littoral habitat due to devices and associated moorings, support structures or landfall cables. | Periodic visual monitoring through the use of divers, drop down video or intertidal shore surveys. | |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Fishing debris detected during routine inspections of mooring lines and cables will be removed. | Removes/reduces risk of entanglement and is a low cost measure, implemented as part of standard O&M procedures. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Collision risk | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential for collision with turbine blades. | Environmental monitoring to better understand near-field behaviour and avoidance. | This will help reduce scientific uncertainty, however monitoring can be costly. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Underwater noise | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | The potential effects from underwater noise generated by wave and tidal energy converters. | Measure noise generated by device(s) during operation to better understand the potential effects on sensitive species. | Measured noise levels can be correlated with threshold values of relevant species to determine impact and need for adaptive management measures, however this can be complex and costly to undertake this type of monitoring in high energy environments. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Benthic | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviors . | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonization and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Fish | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours. | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonisation and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications. However, there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Reptiles | Sea turtles | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Ensure standard notifications of loss of fishing gear in region notified to operators. Reporting of entanglement events. | Good practice for emergency preparedness. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Birds | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours. | Informs understanding of potential positive impacts from colonisation and use of the project infrastructure which could benefit future project applications, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Underwater noise | Fish | Fish | The potential effects from underwater noise generated by wave and tidal energy converters. | Measure noise generated by device(s) during operation to better understand the potential effects on sensitive species. | Measured noise levels can be correlated with threshold values of relevant species to determine impact and need for adaptive management measures. It can be complex and costly to undertake this type of monitoring in high energy environments. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Install tension sensors on mooring lines. | Informs of problem with mooring lines allowing rectification, however their implementation would come at an additional cost and would require control system integration. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Installation | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Fish | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Habitat | All receptors | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide habitat and artificial refuges. | Monitor near-field behaviours. | Informs understanding of potential for colonisation, however there is a cost implication associated with monitoring. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Decommissioning | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Birds | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Marine Mammals | Cetaceans | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in lost fishing gear or other equipment trapped on infrastructure. | Ensure standard notifications of loss of fishing gear in region notified to operators. Reporting of entanglement events. | Good practice for emergency preparedness. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduces/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Marine Non-Native Species (MNNS) | Benthic | All receptors | Potential for introduction of MNNS which can have an adverse impact on the native species at the site. | Monitoring and reporting of MNNS. | Reduce/removes risk of transfer of non-native species. |
| Wave | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Habitat creation | Birds | Roosting birds | The introduction of infrastructure and artificial substrates will provide potential roosting habitat. | Monitor use of device as a roosting platform. | Reduces scientific uncertainty around collision risk, displacement and other impacts, however this type of monitoring can be expensive. |
| Tidal | Monitoring | Operation & Maintenance | Entanglement | Fish | Basking shark; Large fish | Potential for marine animals to become entangled in device mooring lines and cables. | Install tension sensors on mooring lines. | Informs of problem with mooring lines allowing rectification, however their implementation would come at an additional cost and would require control system integration. |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Marine Mammals | Seals; Cetaceans | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Birds | Birds | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Marine Mammals | Seals; Cetaceans | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Habitat | All receptors | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Displacement | Fish | Basking shark | Potential displacement of essential activities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures | None identified. | n/a |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Dissipation of wave energy | Habitat | Benthic invertebrates | The potential wider or secondary effects (siltation changes or smothering) on protected or sensitive littoral habitat due to devices and associated moorings, support structures or landfall cables. | None identified. | |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Habitat | All receptors | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Displacement | Fish | Basking shark | Potential displacement of essential activities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures | None identified. | n/a |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Fish | Basking shark; Whale shark; Fish | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Displacement | Birds | Seabirds | Potential displacement of essential activities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures. | None identified. | n/a |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Displacement | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential displacement of essential activities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures. | None identified. | n/a |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Fish | Basking shark; Whale shark; Fish | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Marine Mammals | All receptors | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Displacement | Birds | Seabirds | Potential displacement of essential activities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures. | None identified. | n/a |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Displacement | Marine Mammals | Marine Mammals | Potential displacement of essential activities due to the presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures. | None identified. | n/a |
| Tidal | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Reptiles | All receptors | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
| Wave | None identified | Operation & Maintenance | Barrier to movement | Birds | Birds | Potential barrier to movement due to the physical presence of devices and associated moorings / support structures, cables and electrical equipment. | None identified. | n/a |
