The study highlights that the large-scale offshore wind farms can entail “serious environmental risks to the seafloors
A scientific team on marine sciences and geography of the University of Barcelona, the University of Girona (UdG), the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC) and the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) recommends excluding and moving offshore wind farms from the protected areas in the Mediterranean due to the serious negative impacts these facilities can cause on the marine biodiversity and the landscape. This is one of the main conclusions of the paper, published in the journal Science for the Total Environment by the team, which counts on the participation of the lecturer Jordi Solé, from the Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics of the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the UB.
The study presents a first evaluation of the potential environmental impacts of the wind farms in the Mediterranean, and specially, in areas with a great ecological fragility and a high landscape value. As a study case, it analyses the large-scale offshore wind farm in Cap de Creus and in the Gulf of Roses, where there are eight protected marine areas. The team reviewed nearly 150 papers from around the world. This diagnosis aims to be useful in other Mediterranean areas and other seas and oceans of the world which feature a high diversity, the existence of protected marine areas, a valuable landscape, and important fishing and tourist activities at a local scale.
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