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Vessels have traveled waterways throughout history for trade, fishing, transportation, military applications, recreation, and tourism. The installation of offshore wind and marine renewable energy devices may create new constraints for existing vessel routes, increase risk of collision between vessels, and result in limited access to previously navigable areas. Similarly, land-based wind and offshore wind turbines may alter or restrict flight paths for aircrafts flying at low heights. For navigational safety, lighting is currently required on all wind energy turbines, but artificial lighting comes with its own environmental consequences. Coordinated, multisectoral planning (i.e. marine spatial planning) may best balance existing uses of the ocean with the growth of the wind energy and marine renewable energy industries.