Assessing the influence of offshore wind turbine noise on seasonal fish chorusing

Abstract

Offshore wind farms have recently emerged as a renewable energy solution. However, the long-term impacts of wind turbine noise on fish chorusing phenology are largely unknown. We deployed a hydrophone 10 m from a foremost turbine in Taiwan situated at the Miaoli offshore wind farm (Taiwan Strait) for two years to investigate sound levels and assess the potential influence of turbine noise on seasonal fish chorusing patterns during 2017 and 2018. Wind turbine noise (measured in the 20–250 Hz frequency band) was significantly higher in autumn and winter (mean SPL: 138–143 dB re 1 μPa) and was highly correlated with wind speed (r = 0.76, P < 0.001). During both years, fish chorusing exhibited a consistent trend, that is, beginning in spring, peaking in summer, decreasing in autumn, and absent in winter. Our results show the noise from a single turbine during the two-year monitoring period did not influence the seasonal fish chorusing (r = −0.17, P ≈ 1). Since the offshore wind farm installations are growing in magnitude and capacity across the Taiwan Strait, this study for the first time provides baseline operational sound levels and an understanding of the fish seasonal vocalization behavior at the foremost turbine of the first wind farm in Taiwan. The results presented here provide useful insights for policymakers and constitute a reference starting point for advancing knowledge on the possible effects of wind turbines on fish chorusing in the studied area.