Fugro has been contracted by Cefas, the scientific advisor to the Marine Management Organisation, to undertake a review of post-consent monitoring at nineteen UK offshore wind farms and selected foreign sites.
The review, published by the Marine Management Organisation, makes recommendations that will improve monitoring for the protection of the environment, address concerns of stakeholders and fit real world issues experienced by developers. The project looked at the core environmental monitoring topics of physical processes, underwater noise, benthic ecology, fish and shellfish ecology, marine mammals and birds. Fugro worked with other organisations (National Physical Laboratory (noise), SMRU Marine (marine mammals) and British Trust for Ornithology (birds)) to form a project team with experience of environmental monitoring and consenting. The review of the monitoring conditions, reports and data resulted in recommendations being made across all topic areas. Improvements to monitoring systems will be achieved through better knowledge exchange, the integration and co-ordination of monitoring and improving review processes. Formatting conditions and reports, re-evaluation of what can be achieved by post-consent monitoring and better links between industry sectors also emerged as key factors.
