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Resolving issues with environmental impact assessment of marine renewable energy installations

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Grecia_2014_FMS_ResolvingIssues_CC.pdf (312.1Kb)
Date
16/12/2014
Author
Maclean, Ilya M. D.
Inger, Richard
Benson, David
Booth, Cormac G.
Embling, Clare B.
Grecian, W. James
Heymans, Johanna J.
Plummer, Kate E.
Shackshaft, Michael
Sparling, Carol E.
Wilson, Ben
Wright, Lucy J.
Bradbury, Gareth
Christen, Nadja
Godley, Brendan J.
Jackson, Angus C.
McCluskie, Aly
Nicholls-Lee, Rachel
Bearhop, Stuart
Keywords
Ecological impact assessment
Environmental impacts
Marine biodiversity
Marine protected areas
Offshore wind
United Kingdom
Wind farm
Wind power
QH301 Biology
GC Oceanography
Oceanography
Global and Planetary Change
Water Science and Technology
Ocean Engineering
Aquatic Science
Metadata
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Abstract
Growing concerns about climate change and energy security have fueled a rapid increase in the development of marine renewable energy installations (MREIs). The potential ecological consequences of increased use of these devices emphasizes the need for high quality environmental impact assessment (EIA). We demonstrate that these processes are hampered severely, primarily because ambiguities in the legislation and lack of clear implementation guidance are such that they do not ensure robust assessment of the significance of impacts and cumulative effects. We highlight why the regulatory framework leads to conceptual ambiguities and propose changes which, for the most part, do not require major adjustments to standard practice. We emphasize the importance of determining the degree of confidence in impacts to permit the likelihood as well as magnitude of impacts to be quantified and propose ways in which assessment of population-level impacts could be incorporated into the EIA process. Overall, however, we argue that, instead of trying to ascertain which particular developments are responsible for tipping an already heavily degraded marine environment into an undesirable state, emphasis should be placed on better strategic assessment.
Citation
Maclean , I M D , Inger , R , Benson , D , Booth , C G , Embling , C B , Grecian , W J , Heymans , J J , Plummer , K E , Shackshaft , M , Sparling , C E , Wilson , B , Wright , L J , Bradbury , G , Christen , N , Godley , B J , Jackson , A C , McCluskie , A , Nicholls-Lee , R & Bearhop , S 2014 , ' Resolving issues with environmental impact assessment of marine renewable energy installations ' Frontiers in Marine Science , vol 1 , 75 . DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2014.00075
Publication
Frontiers in Marine Science
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2014.00075
ISSN
2296-7745
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2014 Maclean, Inger, Benson, Booth, Embling, Grecian, Heymans, Plummer, Shackshaft, Sparling, Wilson, Wright, Bradbury, Christen, Godley, Jackson, McCluskie, Nicholls-Lee and Bearhop. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Collections
  • NERC Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) Research
  • Biology Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/10776

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