Abstract
Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are a source of renewable energy, providing a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. In the Dutch North Sea OWFs are rapidly expanding, taking up space traditionally used for fishing. To address this concern, the concept of co-use of passive fisheries in offshore wind farms has emerged as a solution for part of the fishers. Passive crab-pot-fisheries (gear code FPO) was considered to be a viable option of co-use in OWFs by fishers and government. To this extent an option was created to enable an experiment in the OWF Prinses Amalia Wind Park (PAWP). Topconsortium voor Kennis en Innovatie Wind op Zee (TKI) issued a grant programme on co-use and financed the Win-Wind project proposal. The goal of the Win-Wind project was to research the possibilities for co-use of offshore wind farms, through a pilot project with passive low-impact fisheries in casu European lobster (Homarus gammarus) and brown crab (Cancer pagurus) fisheries. The pilot yielded insights in ecological and economic implications. It investigated safe working in order to reduce and mitigate the risks of fishing in offshore wind farms. It created a framework for co-use of wind farms and how to support the transition of the fishery sector. This particular study investigated catches in PAWP and evaluated the operational aspects and risks involved with passive fisheries in OWFs and the work method statement that was established in cooperation between the OWF operator and the Win-Wind project.