Abagold WEC BAR - Anchor Environmental

A.1. POTENTIAL IMPACTS TO MARINE BIOTA: HABITAT DISTURBANCE (Alternatives 3)Nature of impact The construction of Alternative 3 will result in severe disturbance of therocky intertidal and infratidal surfaces and associated macrofauna andflora will probably experience high levels of mortality. This will be moresignificant than Alternative 1 and 2 due to the larger area involved. Theloss of biota within the footprint of the site was recognised as an impactduring the project planning phase. The construction plans presented toAnchor Environmental Consultants by Abagold at the outset of theproject included a step to remove and relocate certain fauna from thefootprint of the site as a means to reduce this impact. The intertidalrocky habitat adjacent to the proposed site is not particularly importantin terms of biodiversity conservation for rocky intertidal biota. It is likelythat rocky intertidal biota will re-establish in the WEC ponds and on thewalls of the WECs. No mitigation measures have been identified for thethree alternatives provided the applicant applies the proposed step torelocate marine fauna.StatusExtentDurationIntensityProbability ofoccurrenceCumulative impactprior to mitigationSignificance prior tomitigationDegree to which impactcan be mitigatedProposed mitigationProbability ofoccurrence withmitigationCumulative impact withmitigationSignificance withmitigationNegativeLocalMedium termMediumDefiniteMediumMediumNot possible or necessaryN/AN/AN/AN/A52