Abstract
The offshore wind (OW) sector is set to expand significantly to meet ambitious Government targets under Clean Power by 2030 and achieving net zero. It is recognised that the scale and location of future OW developments will mean that the derogation process is increasingly likely to be triggered, hence there is a need for industry-scale consideration of how future-proof compensation will be delivered. Strategic compensation has been identified as a potential solution for addressing some of these issues and could help streamline consenting timelines and deliver improved environmental outcomes at a seascape scale.
The Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC)-led Strategic Compensation Studies (SCS) project, funded by the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change (OWEC) programme, within which this piece of work is being delivered, aims to investigate the effectiveness of certain potential strategic compensation measures through desk-based studies and practical pilots to increase confidence in measures, and provide compensation options for OW plans and projects.
This report forms part of the SCS predator reduction work package and aims to review the current evidence around the effectiveness of different predator reduction methods. This report considers whether certain interventions are more effective than others in reducing predator numbers and seeks to identify if there are opportunities to test novel or alternative predator reduction techniques; for example, different types of nest protections or fence types, or options to trial existing techniques on species for which evidence is currently limited. Ensuring the most effective methods are used (when feasible) could result in improved performance of predator reduction as a strategic compensation measure and reduce the need for adaptive management in the future.
The report concludes that given both mammalian predator eradication on islands, and predator control and exclusion on inshore islands, mainland sites, or on parts of larger islands are already approved as strategic compensation measures for seabirds in the UK, and there is considerable scientific evidence of the effectiveness of both these methods as a means of controlling/eliminating predator numbers (and thereby increasing breeding success in seabirds) it is not recommended that any further work to test or trial additional techniques be taken forward under the SCS project.
Although there are some additional control measures for which evidence of effectiveness is either lacking or less robust, the literature suggests these need to be considered on a species and location specific basis. Many of the control measures would also be difficult to deliver at the scale required to be considered as strategic measures. As such, these are not seen as a priority for additional work at this time, in relation to mammalian predators. These measures could be explored through avenues outside the SCS project.
It is noted that several of the control methods are more suited to controlling avian predators. Recommendations for work in this area have been outlined in a separate report created by the SCS project in relation to reducing the pressures from avian predators – OWEC SCS Report No. 01 (OWIC, 2025).