The importance of marine wind farms, as artificial hard substrates, on the North Sea bottom for the ecology of the ichthyofauna
Reubens, J.; Degraer, S.; Vincx, M. (2009). The importance of marine wind farms, as artificial hard substrates, on the North Sea bottom for the ecology of the ichthyofauna, in: Degraer, S. et al.Offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea: State of the art after two years of environmental monitoring. pp. 53-60
In: Degraer, S.; Brabant, R. (2009). Offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea: State of the art after two years of environmental monitoring. Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models, Marine Ecosystem Management Unit/Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences: Brussel. 287 + annexes pp.
The foundations of windmills act as secondary artificial reefs, attracting different kind of fish species. This monitoring aims to determine attraction and/or net production of the ichthyofauna on the artificial hard substrates of the wind turbines placed at the Thorntonbank. By answering specific research questions and integrating the results, the principal question “ Do the secondary artificial reefs only attract fishes or do they produce them? “ can be tackled. A wide fan of technologies will be used in this research. The ichthyofauna associated with the artificial reefs will be quantified using visual and destructive methods, for instance visual census with scuba divers, ROV underwater camera, hook and lines, gill nets and trammel nets. The functional relations between the ichthyofauna and the reef habitat have their influence on growth patterns and productivity. By integrating the techniques and linking the results it will be possible to (partly) unravel and visualize the attraction/production at the artificial reefs in the BPNS.
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