Mapping seabird vulnerability to offshore wind farms in Norwegian waters

Abstract

Introduction: Offshore wind energy development (OWED) has been identified as a major contributor to the aspired growth in Norwegian renewable energy production. Spatially explicit vulnerability assessments are necessary to select sites that minimize the harm to biodiversity, including seabird populations. Distributional data of seabirds in remote areas are scarce, and to identify vulnerable areas, species, and seasons it is necessary to combine data sets and knowledge from different sources. Methods: In this study, we combined seabird tracking data, data from dedicated coastal and seabird at-sea surveys, and presence-only data from citizen science databases to develop habitat suitability maps for 55 seabird species in four seasons throughout the Norwegian exclusive economic zone; in total 1 million km2 in the Northeast Atlantic. The habitat suitability maps were combined with species-specific vulnerability indicators to yield maps of seabird vulnerability to offshore wind farms (OWFs). The resulting map product can be used to identify the relative vulnerability of areas prospected for OWED with respect to seabird collision and habitat displacement. More detailed assessments can be done by splitting the spatial indicators into seasonal and species-specific components. Results and discussion: Associated with higher diversity of seabirds near the coast, the cumulative vulnerability indicator showed a strong declining gradient from the coast to offshore waters while the differences in vulnerability between ocean areas and seasons were negligible. Although the present map product represents the best currently available knowledge, the indicators are associated with complex uncertainties related to known and unknown sampling biases. The indicators should therefore be used cautiously, they should be updated regularly as more data become available, and we recommend that more detailed environmental impact assessments based on dedicated seabird surveys, tracking of birds from potentially affected populations and population viability analyses are conducted in areas ultimately selected for OWED. seabirds, offshore wind farms, species distribution models (SDM), collision, displacement, marine spatial planning, strategic environmental assessment.