Potential for Animals to be Injured by Turbines: Collision Risk
The presence of marine renewable energy (MRE) devices—particularly the rotating blades of tidal and river turbines—is thought to pose a risk to marine animals. Animals might come into close contact with turbine blades in the course of their natural movements, because they are attracted to the device for purposes of feeding, shelter, or out of curiosity, or because they are not strong enough to avoid currents that might sweep them into the blades.
The concern is that a collision with moving device parts (e.g., turbine blades), a moving device (e.g., tidal kite), or perhaps the stationary part of a device (e.g., foundation) could cause irrevocable injury or death. For animal populations that are under stress for other reasons, such as climate change or other human activities, loss of even a few members due to collision might affect the survivability of the population. The greatest concerns are for marine mammals, especially those in protected or declining populations; commercially and recreationally important fish species; and endangered seabirds.
This Short Science Summary was developed based on the OES-Environmental 2020 State of the Science Report: Environmental Effects of Marine Renewable Energy Development Around the World, specifically Chapter 3: Collision Risk for Animals around Turbines.