Modeling Fish Interactions with Tidal Turbines

Ocean Energy Systems-Environmental and Acadia University hosted a workshop as part of the Environmental Interactions of Marine Renewables (EIMR) 2024 conference on 19th April on "Modeling Fish Interactions with Tidal Turbines". The workshop aimed to discuss the applicability of existing marine animal-turbine interaction approaches to fish, through numerical modeling.

Consenting around tidal energy projects has been slowed in some jurisdictions by concerns about the risk to fish from tidal energy turbines, particularly the likelihood and potential consequence of collision risk. Concerns are emphasized for fish species of conservation concern and those that are commercially and recreationally important, and of cultural relevance to indigenous communities (e.g., salmonids, sturgeons). Obtaining high-quality, in situ data around operational devices in tidal channels and developing numerical models can help answer uncertainties that remain around fish-turbine interactions.

This workshop sought to bring together expertise on encounter rate and collision risk modeling to identify current approaches, knowledge gaps, challenges, and potential solutions for applying these techniques to fish-turbine interactions in a collaborative environment. The workshop consisted of a series of presentations that provided context on collision risk, collision risk and encounter rate models, and data around fish spatiotemporal distribution, and breakout groups with guided discussions that allowed workshop participants to engage and share their thoughts about models and data gaps.

Agenda

• Anna Redden – Introduction to collision risk
• Lysel Garavelli – Overview of known encounter rate and collision risk models
• Charles Bangley and Richard Karsten – Using passive acoustic tracking to build fish distribution maps and calculate encounter probability
• Jezella Peraza – Using an agent-based model to examine the effects of avoidance and behavior on fish-turbine interactions
• Nicholas Horne – Comprehensive collision risk assessments with a simulation-based model

Workshop Summary