Offshore Wind Power Projects in the Great Lakes - Ministry of ...

Offshore wind power projects in the Great Lakes: Background information and science considerations for fish and fish habitat
Table 3. Key knowledge gaps related to the effects of offshore wind power projects on fish and fish habitat in the Great Lakes. This
list is not exhaustive. Priority levels are relative to other gaps in this table and depend on severity of effect, uncertainty level, and
difficulty of conducting research to reduce uncertainty.
Knowledge gap
What are the sensitivities
of individual Great Lakes
fish species to loud noise?
What is the effect of
electromagnetic fields on
fish distribution and
behaviour?
What is the effect of
operational noise on fish
distribution and behaviour?
To what extent will fish
become acclimatized to
noise from wind power
projects?
Priority Justification for
level priority level
High Magnitude of effect
could be high; will
enable prediction of
severity of noise
effects from
construction to key
species
High Large uncertainty as
to magnitude of
effect; potential to
affect Great Lakes
species at risk
Medium Uncertainty as to
magnitude of effect
Medium Will determine the
long-term
consequences and
severity of
operational noise
effects
Approaches for reducing
uncertainty
• Laboratory experiments
• In situ cage or mesocosm
experiments
• Before/after impact studies
throughout project area
• Testing the sensitivity and
response of individual Great
Lakes species to EMFs in
the laboratory
• Gradient studies for existing
power cables
• Laboratory studies of the
effects of low frequency and
low intensity noise on fish
behaviour
• Before/after impact studies
throughout project area
• Mesocosm studies to
examine in situ impacts of
similar types of noise
• In situ tracking experiments
• Before/after impact studies
throughout project area
• Laboratory studies to assess
potential for habituation to
similar types of noise
Challenges State of knowledge
• Representative
species from many
taxa will need to be
studied for a
comprehensive
catalogue
• Disentangling from
effects of operational
noise or artificial reef
effect in the field
• Challenging to
measure EMF
strength at cable
surface along lake
bottom
• Disentangling from
effects of EMFs or
artificial reef effect in
the field
• Longer-term study
potentially required
• Most laboratory studies have focused on
marine fish; some Great Lakes fish have
been studied, but many more remain to
be studied
• Many freshwater fish species can detect
and respond to electric and/or magnetic
fields
• Fish particularly sensitive to electric
and or magnetic fields include
American eel, lake sturgeon, and
salmonids
• EMFs can interfere with early
development and embryogenesis in
some fish species
• Operational noise emitted into aquatic
environment is higher than background
noise levels and can be detected by fish
up to tens of kilometres away
• Anthropogenic noise can interfere with
fish communication
• Fish can acclimatize to sound, however
almost nothing known specifically
about long-term effects of wind power
project noise
Aquatic Research and Development Section 89