14 DAY TRIAL // As it turns out, it's not just greenheads who absolutely love and adore offshore wind farms. Seals too appear to have taken quite a liking to turbines installed off one coastline or another, researchers argue.
In a recent paper, specialists with the University of St. Andrews in the UK explain that, according to evidence at hand, seals probably visit offshore wind farms on a regular basis, Business Green reports.
The animals are believed to swim all the way up to offshore turbines looking to feed on fish inhabiting the coral reefs that come to form around their foundations, the same source explains.
Thus, data obtained while monitoring seals in the North Sea with the help of GPS technology indicates that the marine mammals swimming in these waters often visit offshore wind farms and go looking for food in their proximity.
“Although marine mammals have previously been observed in the vicinity of offshore man-made structures such as wind farms, as far as we know this is the first time it has been demonstrated that some individuals have an affinity with the structures themselves.”
“The study showed that operational wind farms can provide foraging opportunities for some individuals,” study leader Dr. Deborah Russell commented on the outcome of this research project in a recent interview with the press.
As encouraging as these findings might be, Dr. Deborah Russell and colleagues warn that, all things considered, offshore wind farms might not in the least be marine wildlife-friendly during their construction phase.