Massive increase in porpoise deaths raises deep concerns over offshore wind farms
Marine mammals are dying - while North Sea wind farms continue to expand…
- 2,713 marine mammals washed up on Dutch beaches in just one year
- 18,000 Harbour porpoises stranded in the Netherlands since 2000
- 1693% increase in porpoise deaths
“why worry about ‘disturbance and mortality’? — it’s only an entire ecosystem at risk.”
The Netherlands: More than 18,000 Harbour Porpoises stranded since 2000
There were 18,399 harbour porpoises washed up on Netherlands beaches between 2000 and 2024 (to August). Compare that figure to the previous 24 year period (1975 to 1999) when a total of 1,026 were recorded.
That’s a 1693% increase.
In 2021, in just one year, 1,245 Harbour porpoises were stranded along the Dutch coast. Back in 1991 that figure was only 34.
Indeed, the Netherlands logged its highest ever number of marine mammal strandings (across all species) in 2021, when a shocking 2,713 animals were reportedly washed up on Dutch beaches, including seals, harbour porpoise and other cetacean species. On the other side of the North Sea, the UK recorded its own highest ever levels of cetacean mortality in 2020 (this being the most recent year for which UK data is currently available).
The steadily increasing threat to marine mammals is clear, but the warning signs are being ignored as industrialisation of their habitat is accelerating at alarming levels.
Offshore wind farms - the Dutch dilemma
The Netherlands, and other countries bordering the North Sea, clearly have a serious problem.
What is killing all the animals? And crucially what has caused the significant and rapid increase in deaths since the start of the 21st century? We know that there are many threats to marine mammals in our oceans, including pollution, shipping and artificial (manmade) noise. These each pose a risk, and each of these risks is intensifying as human impact increases in marine environments.
But if we focus on the North Sea, where we are witnessing an alarming rise in the number of cetacean deaths, there is a disturbing pattern emerging. There are already around fifty offshore wind farms operating in the North Sea, literally thousands of turbines, nearly all of them built since 2000. Many more are either in progress or planned. It is astonishingly reckless.
Dutch government acknowledges the problem
A revealing report by the Dutch government, which examined the impact from offshore wind farm development in the North Sea, included a section on the shocking number of harbour porpoise deaths and noted that “the number of strandings has increased significantly since 2004 in the southern North Sea, while remaining stable in the other regions.” They stopped short of suggesting a cause for the upturn however, saying that “it was not possible to draw conclusions from the data about the underlying causes of the increase in strandings. It is therefore still unclear whether the general increase was simply due to an increase in local abundance, to elevated mortality levels or even to increased monitoring on the coasts.” Hmm. Well, read on…
Birds, bats, entire ecosystems - “disturbance and mortality”
It’s not just cetaceans that are affected of course, we all know about the serious threat to birds from offshore wind farms, and the less studied but significant effects on bats, crustacea and other organisms. The Dutch government openly admits that “uncertainties persist about how wind farms affect the North Sea ecosystem”; they say that “offshore wind farms can affect animals that live in the sea or migrate over the sea,” and they add that “there may be negative effects such as disturbance and mortality.”
This tallies with the British government’s acknowledgement that impulsive noise, including that associated with wind farm construction, has the ‘potential to kill’ marine life. (see my article here)
Still, it seems that governments are happy to push on with plans to increase offshore wind capacity, even though “uncertainties persist” and in spite of the “potential to kill”.
After all, why worry about “disturbance and mortality”? It’s only an entire ecosystem at risk.
Morally and ethically wrong
With regard to the Dutch porpoise deaths, we know that many authorities will point to the usual suspects - ship strike, entanglement, some vague association with climate change - but let’s keep focused on the high density of offshore wind turbines in the North Sea - there are thousands of them already, a number which is about to increase dramatically as countries attempt to reach those obsessive ‘climate targets’. This has to be bad news for the fauna of the region, already very clearly under great stress.
We know the problems we face as the human race continues to plunder the earth’s natural resources, and we acknowledge that we have to address issues of climate change and over-consumption, but it’s morally and ethically wrong if this is accomplished at the expense of other species.
Many of us have already voiced concerns over the impact on wildlife from placing more and more giant wind turbines in the midst of important wildlife habitat, yet in spite of studies and ecological assessments urging caution, these concerns seem to have been swept aside and ignored as countries bordering the North Sea are committed to expanding wind energy off their coasts.
Desperately pushing the fallacy that wind farms are ‘green’, the Dutch government wants us to believe that constructing industrial estates in the sea can be good for the environment, “there can sometimes be positive effects - new habitats due to the introduction of hard substrate - for some species,” they say. Peddling that illusion no doubt makes them feel better - but it’s nonsense to suggest that industrialising natural habitats can somehow be beneficial - and claiming that there can be ‘positive effects’ for wildlife is really misleading.
Dutch data
To it’s great credit, the Dutch government does openly provide up to date, publicly accessible, data relating to cetacean strandings, so we can see the extent of the problem, unlike the UK which seems unable or unwilling to share information, and where cetacean stranding data is hidden for years, in spite of Defra (the UK department for the environment) ‘aiming’ to publish annual reports. At the time of writing, the UK’s ‘annual’ reports are running three years late, despite the UK government funding a national stranding investigation project to the tune of millions of pounds.
Meanwhile other countries remain nervous about the environmental effects from offshore wind, while still planning new projects. For example Belgium, another country bordering the North Sea, is very worried about the impact of wind farms on marine mammals, last year voicing serious concerns to the organisation Ascobans* over the “future construction of wind turbines in an area frequented by harbour porpoises, with possible underwater noise issues,” which it described as a ‘burning issue’.
Mitigating measures adding to the problem?
To compound the problem, mitigating measures intended to deter marine mammals from danger, might be actively driving them towards other perils. Some efforts to deter animals from areas where wind farm construction is taking place may actually be disorienting the animals so much that they cannot navigate away from other dangers, such as fishing boats - and entanglement - like they normally would.
Yes, you read that right: mitigating measures, intended to deter the animals from danger, might be actively driving them towards other perils. For example Acoustic Harassment Devices (AHDs), sometimes known as Acoustic Deterrent Devices, have been widely used to deter marine mammals from pile driving operations that may cause hearing damage. However, as a study published in 2023 suggests, comparatively little is known about the behavioural and physiological effects of these deterrents, which according to the study can cause harbour porpoises to ‘startle and flee’ - placing them in further potential danger. The report says that “harbour porpoises responded to the AHD exposure at initial distances up to ~ 7 km, and at initial received levels down to 98 dB re 1 µPa (rms). A combination of increased swimming effort and speed with decreased echolocation output could increase the risk of entanglement in fishing gear.” That point is very important because entanglement in fishing gear is often cited as a major cause of cetacean mortality, the blame conveniently shifting from wind farms to the fishing industry.
Ponder that point for a moment - mammals so distressed by noise from wind farm construction and/or acoustic harassment devices that they become startled and flee, making them more vulnerable to other perils that they might otherwise avoid.
The study used sensors attached to a group of porpoises in order to observe their response to AHDs. The results showed a range of possible detrimental effects on the cetaceans; the tagged porpoises displayed a variety of responses that included a decrease in echolocation click rates and ‘transient, but dramatic increases in heart rate’. The study pointed out that “very little is known about how wild marine mammals respond physiologically to acoustic stressors.”
These quite significant findings prove how little we still know about the effects of man-made noise, including that from wind farm construction, on the delicate and sensitive mechanisms that cetaceans need to survive.
Here’s a novel idea, why don’t we stop industrialising the ocean until such time as we know what the hell we’re doing? Until such time as we have more of a clue about the consequences?
The truth is that we just don’t know enough about noise levels and their effects on living organisms. The extent of current knowledge surrounding low frequency noise and how it impacts life, especially marine life, is still minimal. This is the kind of infrasound noise that emanates from wind turbines. Recent research suggests that the damage being done might be much more serious and harmful than we ever realised. If that’s the case, then there is potential for a major catastrophe.
“…An immense threat to life…”
This shocking prospect has been brought into sharp focus by Dr Ursula Bellut-Staeck, a physician and freelance scientist, who has thoroughly researched the issues of low frequency noise in our environment, through peer reviewed studies; she has warned that those pushing for more renewables really might not understand the profound damage they could be doing to biodiversity. She says she can prove that very low levels of infrasound have the potential to cause microcirculatory disorders in all organisms, from insects through to humans, with devastating consequences. Low frequencies, she says “can exert a stressor effect at the cellular level.” This has been noted in human beings says Dr Bellut-Staeck, “Noise-exposed citizens, who live near infrastructures such as biogas installations, heat pumps, block-type thermal power stations, and bigger industrial wind turbines (IWT’s), show worldwide mainly a symptomatology associated with microcirculatory disorder.”
“I am sure they are suffering…”
With regard to marine ecosystems, and including cetaceans, she says “Marine ecosystems, but also insects, appear to be particularly at risk from increasing emissions of very low frequencies. There is evidence for the increasing incompatibility of ever lower frequencies for all organisms and therefore for whole biodiversity.” Dr Bellut-Staeck says that “Noise from infrasound and vibration […] becomes an immense threat to life, especially whales and dolphins.” Dr Bellut-Staeck told me that she believes the noise is desperately affecting whales and causing them great distress, “I am sure they are suffering…” she says.
So why aren’t the authorities listening? Perhaps it comes down to money. So much invested and so many set to gain from the profits and/or subsidies on offer. There seems to be a lot of money sloshing around the seas of Europe - it must be benefitting someone, but it’s not the consumer or the wildlife.
Something else that’s sloshing around in our seas is pollution from the wind farms themselves. An example of that - and a warning to us all - was the recent malfunction of just one single turbine blade from a US offshore turbine, which broke into pieces resulting in shards of fibreglass and large pieces of debris washing up on local beaches. The beaches had to be closed for a major clean-up operation. Multiply that fail by several thousand and you can see the potential problems that doubtless lie ahead. But don’t worry, remember it’s all ‘environmentally friendly’ and ‘green’.
Much more research is clearly needed, but still industrial wind farm development continues apace, regardless of the consequences.
I think we can conclude that the rapid expansion of the North Sea wind industry will cause massive damage to wildlife and will have the potential to decimate some species. And that is just through the initial impacts from construction and operation of the vast wind farms. Add to that the great risk of pollution from placing toxic materials in our oceans, materials like fibreglass and resins that won’t break down naturally, and you have the perfect recipe for disaster on an unprecedented scale.
On land too, enormous swathes of countryside, including areas of natural beauty and irreplaceable wildlife habitat, are being earmarked for industrial scale destruction in the name of renewable energy.
This is not saving the planet. This is a money making hustle that will benefit the few, while causing devastating harm to the environment.
(* Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas)
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