Abstract
SeaGen was installed in April 2008 and achieved 1.2 MW capacities in December 2008. It has been quite successful, reaching almost 4000 hours in operation. Its location has been in Strangford and has had to follow an important environmental monitoring plan. For monitoring marine mammals and sharks, there are 66 months of sightings data and 54 months of porpoise activity data. Ariel surveys suggested an abundance of seals during moult and breeding season. GPS tracking outputs found changes in the routes taken by seals through the narrows.
Bird species that could theoretically interact with the turbine include the gannets, merganser, black guillemot, common guillemots and razorbills, eider ducks, and terns (common, sandwich, and arctic). Other surveys include benthic monitoring and ecological assessments (footprint). Marine Mammal observations were used to make recordings of marine mammals in relation to the device. The result of the studies found no adverse impacts on SAC features, but did find changes in porpoise behavior during installation.