Source: MULTIFRAME
Introduction
This case study has been identified through the MULTI-FRAME project. It is run by “The Rich North Sea” (De Rijke Noordzee), a programme initiated by NGOs Stichting de Noordzee (The North Sea Foundation) and Natuur & Milieu (Dutch Nature and Environment foundation).
Flat oyster reefs have almost completely disappeared in the Dutch North Sea due to human activities such as trawling and overfishing. At the same time, the strong development of offshore wind farms in the Dutch North Sea offer opportunities to enhance biodiversity by acting as artificial reefs and offering the possibility to add hard substrate, giving both soft sediment habitats and hard substrate communities the opportunity to develop.
This project is composed of several pilot sites, the first one being located in the Eneco Luchterduinen offshore wind farm, 23 kilometers off the coast at Noordwijk aan Zee where cages with flat oysters and reef balls were installed. This process has since been duplicated in five other projects in offshore windfarms, ranging from nature-inclusive designs to placing artificial reefs or flat oysters.
The ‘Rich North Sea’ programme plays a central role in establishing collaboration with industry partners such as wind farm owners, developers and offshore installation companies. Other actors such as NGOs, commercial companies and governmental bodies are also involved in nature enhancement within offshore wind farms. The willingness to cooperate is high and projects costs are usually shared by all partners.
Regulations in the offshore wind sector are not perfectly aligned with nature enhancement. Safety requirements can hamper the location, design and monitoring of offshore projects. Regulatory restrictions around offshore wind farms may limit enhancement projects or entirely prohibit certain measures. For example, the prohibition of diving in offshore wind farms in the Netherlands makes monitoring of enhancement measures harder and more dependent on technology and sampling.
Lessons learnt
The effects of nature enhancement measures are highly dependent on the location and the type of structure on which the measures are taken.
Relevant links
This page is based on the Ocean Multi-use blueprint collection published by the MULTI-FRAME project.
Platte oesters in windpark Eneco Luchterduinen
Natuurversterking in windparken op zee Bureaustudie MONS project 51