Harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are a small and abundant cetacean species. Found throughout the temperate and subarctic waters of the northern hemisphere, they prefer shallow, coastal waters, and feed near the bottom on small fish, squid, and crustaceans. Most concerns about offshore wind energy and Harbor porpoises are associated with construction activities, particularly if pile driving is required to install turbine foundations. This summary represents a general overview of the research, produced by WREN under IEA Wind.
Short Science Summary: Harbor Porpoises and Offshore Wind Energy
The table below contains the literature relevant to this summary document and will continue to be updated as new literature is added to Tethys.
| Title | Author | Date Sort ascending | Content Type | Technology | Stressor | Receptor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harbour porpoise population response to windfarm construction, service traffic, and changes in prey availability | Weller, F., Cordier, A., Frankish, C., Gallagher, C., Benhemma-Le Gall, A. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Cumulative impacts of offshore wind and commercial vessels on harbour porpoise populations in Danish waters | Gallagher, C., Frankish, C., Teilmann, J., Cordier, A., Weller, F., Nabe-Nielsen, J. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Avoidance, Displacement, Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Technical brief – update of harbour porpoise summer distribution in the Belt Sea | Gilles, A., Pigeault, R., Benoit, V., Ramirez-Martinez, N. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | ||
| A Porpoise-Driven Approach: Using Agent-Based Models to Predict Population Consequences of Offshore Wind Noises on Gulf of Maine Harbor Porpoises | Pridonoff, B. | Thesis | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Evidence review of harbour porpoise disturbance ranges in the context of the assessment and management of impulsive noise in Special Areas of Conservation: unexploded ordnance clearance, explosives for decommissioning, seismic (airgun) survey, etc. | Majewska, K., Brown, A., Charish, R., Quinn, M., Matei, M. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Evidence review of harbour porpoise disturbance ranges in the context of the assessment and management of impulsive noise in Special Areas of Conservation: impact piling | Brown, A., Majewska, K., Benhemma-Le Gall, A., Sinclair, R., Haber, I., Ogilvy, C. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Updated Effective Deterrent Ranges (EDRs) for assessing the significance of noise disturbance in harbour porpoise Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) | Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Predicted and observed responses of harbour porpoises to pile driving noise at Moray West Offshore Wind Farm | Thompson, P., Benhemma-Le Gall, A., Lee, R., Stephenson, S., Mason, T., Abad Oliva, N. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Harbour porpoise trends and offshore wind farm effects in the German Bight North Sea | Rose, A., Braasch, A., Diederichs, A., Freund, A., Michalik, A., Moick, M., Schubert, A., Schultz, M., Vob, J., Wahl, V. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Avoidance, Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Spatial models of cetacean density in European Atlantic waters based on SCANS-IV summer 2022 survey data | Gilles, A., Authier, M., Pigeault, R., Ramirez-Martinez, N., Benoit, V., Carlström, J., Eira, C., Geelhoed, S., Laran, S., Sequeira, M., Sveegaard, S., Taylor, N., Saavedra, C., Vázquez-Bonales, J., Hammond, P. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | ||
| Underwater Noise Conflict Resolution: Framework Report | Xodus Group | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans, Human Dimensions, Legal & Policy | |
| Evaluating Tools and Technologies for Monitoring Baleen Whales During Offshore Wind Foundation Installation | Szesciorka, A., Severy, M., Ampela, K., Hein, C., Richlen, M., Haxel, J., Clerc, J. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| A deep learning model for detecting and classifying multiple marine mammal species from passive acoustic data | Hamard, Q., Pham, M-T., Cazau, D., Heerah, K. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | ||
| Methodology for Combining Digital Aerial Survey Data and Passive Acoustic Baseline Data | Harris, D., Chudzinska, M., Jacobson, E., Brown, A., Burt, L., Macleod, K., Marques, T., Marshall, L., Oedekoven, C., Scott-Hayward, L., Thomas, L. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Attraction, Avoidance, Displacement | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Analysis of the effects on harbour porpoises from the underwater sound during the construction of the Borssele and Gemini offshore wind farms | de Jong, C., Lam, F., von Benda-Beckmann, A., Oud, T., Geelhoed, S., Vallina, T., Wilkes, T., Brinkkemper, J., Snoek, R. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Avoidance, Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Adapting the iPCoD Framework for Harbour Porpoises to Utilise a Dynamic Energy Budget Model in Modelling the Effects of Disturbance – Final Report | Harwood, J., Chudzinska, M., Hin, V., Wilder, F., Marwood, E., Booth, C. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Avoidance, Displacement, Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Spatial Impact of Wind Farm Construction on Harbor Porpoise Detectability | van Geel, N., Benjamins, S., Marmo, B., Nabe-Nielsen, J., Wittich, A., Risch, D., Jameson, D., Todd, V., Todd, I., Cox, S., Wilson, B. | Book Chapter | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Cetacean passive acoustic network in the Belgian part of the North sea | Calonge, A., Gonzalez, P., Mortelmans, J., Deneudt, K., Hernandez, F., Debusschere, E. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | ||
| Harbour porpoise responses to the installation of XXL monopiles without noise abatement; implications for noise management in the Southern North Sea | Benhemma-Le Gall, A., Hastie, G., Brown, A., Booth, C., Graham, I.M., Fernandez-Betelu, O., Iorio-Merlo, V., Bashford, R., Swanson, H., Cheney, B.J., Abad Oliva, N., Thompson, P.M. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Observations of harbour porpoises in offshore wind farms Final report | Leemans, J., Fijn, R. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Avoidance | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| How bubble curtains protect porpoises from wind farm noise | Hardach, S. | Magazine Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Acoustic ecology of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) between two U.S. offshore wind energy areas | Holdman, A., Tregenza, N., Van Parijs, S., DeAngelis, A. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Displacement, Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Estimates of cetacean abundance in European Atlantic waters in summer 2022 from the SCANS-IV aerial and shipboard surveys | Gilles, A., Authier, M., Ramirez-Martinez, N., Araújo, H., Blanchard, A., Carlström, J., Eira, C., Doremus, G., Fernández-Maldonado, C., Geelhoed, S., Kyhn, L., Laran, S., Nachtsheim, D., Panigada, S., Pigeault, R., Sequeira, M., Sveegaard, S., Taylor, N., Owen, K., Saavedra, C., Vázquez-Bonales, J., Unger, B., Hammond, P. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | ||
| Wozep Ecological Programme: Update Wozep 2023 | Offshore Wind Ecological Programme (Wozep) | Presentation | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Changes in Flow, Noise | Birds, Ecosystem Processes, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals, Cetaceans, Pinnipeds, Physical Environment, Sediment Transport | |
| Directional hydrophone clusters reveal evasive responses of small cetaceans to disturbance during construction at offshore windfarms | Graham, I., Gillespie, D., Gkikopoulou, K., Hastie, G., Thompson, P. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Avoidance, Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Environmental Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms in the Belgian Part of the North Sea: Progressive Insights in Changing Species Distribution Patterns Informing Marine Management | Degraer, S., Brabant, R., Rumes, B., Vigin, L. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Collision, Displacement, Habitat Change | Birds, Seabirds, Fish, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Environmental Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms in the Belgian Part of the North Sea: Getting ready for offshore wind farm expansion in the North Sea | Degraer, S., Brabant, R., Rumes, B., Vigin, L. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Collision, Habitat Change, Noise | Birds, Seabirds, Fish, Invertebrates, Marine Mammals, Cetaceans, Physical Environment, Human Dimensions, Marine Spatial Planning | |
| High definition bird and marine mammal aerial survey image collection in Borssele | Collier, M., Middelveld, R., van Bemmelen, R., Weiß, F., Irwin, C., Fijn, R. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Displacement | Birds, Seabirds, Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Reef effect of offshore structures on the occurrence and foraging activity of harbour porpoises | Fernandez-Betelu, O., Graham, I., Thompson, P. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Attraction, Habitat Change | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Comparing distribution of harbour porpoise using generalized additive models and hierarchical Bayesian models with integrated nested laplace approximation | Williamson, L., Scott, B., Laxton, M., Illian, J., Todd, V., Miller, P., Brookes, K. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | ||
| Thames Estuary Harbour Porpoise Survey Report 2022 | Zoological Society of London, Marine Conservation Research | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans, Pinnipeds | ||
| Masking release at 4 kHz in harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) associated with sinusoidal amplitude-modulated masking noise | Kastelein, R., Helder-Hoek, L., Covi, J., Terhune, J., Klump, G. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Underwater sound measurements During the installation of the Borssele OWF | Brinkkemper, J., Geelhoed, S., Berges, B., Noort, C., Nieuwendijk, D., Verdaat, J. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Broad-Scale Responses of Harbor Porpoises to Pile-Driving and Vessel Activities During Offshore Windfarm Construction | Benhemma-Le Gall, A., Graham, I., Merchant, N., Thompson, P. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans, Human Dimensions | |
| Response of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena L., 1758) to the FaunaGuard and subsequent piling during the construction of offshore wind farms | Voß, J. | Thesis | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Balancing risks of injury and disturbance to marine mammals when pile driving at offshore windfarms | Thompson, P., Graham, I., Cheney, B., Barton, T., Farcas, A, Merchant, N. | Journal Article | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Habitat-based density estimates for cetaceans in the California Current Ecosystem based on 1991–2018 survey data | Becker, E., Forney, K., Miller, D., Fiedler, P., Barlow, J,, Moore, J. | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind, Floating Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | ||
| Review Of Demographic Parameters And Sensitivity Analysis To Inform Inputs And Outputs Of Population Consequences Of Disturbance Assessments For Marine Mammals | Sinclair, R., Sparling, C., Harwood, J. | Report | Marine Energy, Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans, Pinnipeds | ||
| Guidance for assessing the significance of noise disturbance against Conservation Objectives of harbour porpoise SACs | JNCC, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Natural England | Guidance | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans | |
| Background to the advice on noise management within harbour porpoise SACs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland | JNCC | Report | Wind Energy, Fixed Offshore Wind | Noise | Marine Mammals, Cetaceans |