Distribution of fish species for the generic Appropriate Assessment for the construction of offshore wind farms

The Dutch government aims at the production of 450 MW of electricity by offshore wind farms by 2010 and 6000 MW by 2020. Possibly the construction, exploitation and dismantlement of the wind farms will influence fish in the North Sea, which are protected under the European Habitat Directive or are considered as prey for other Habitat Directive species such as marine mammals. Deltares will use this study as input for the generic ‘Appropriate Assessment’ (environmental impact study) for the building of offshore wind farms, as required by the Habitat Directive. In this study we have provided an overview of relevant information for a number of important fish species in the North Sea in relation to coastal Natura 2000 areas and future wind farms.