Short Science Summary 2024: Displacement

As the marine renewable energy (MRE) industry expands and more devices are deployed in the water, animals may be displaced from their preferred or critical habitats due to the physical presence of the devices or other aspects of the projects. Displacement is triggered by an animal’s response to one or more stressors acting as a disturbance, with various consequences ranging from individual- to population-level effects. Migratory animals might be moved off their normal pathways while benthic organisms may be kept from their preferred habitats. Animals could respond to stressors from MRE arrays in a variety of ways: attraction (going toward), avoidance (going around), and exclusion (going away from). Marine animals may be vulnerable to displacement from MRE arrays at different life stages and during different project phases (i.e., construction, operation, or decommissioning). Displacement responses may be very species-specific and depend on maneuverability and migration patterns of each species. These effects could be severe enough to result in impacts on populations.

This short science summary for Displacement was developed based on the OES-Environmental 2024 State of the Science Report: Environmental Effects of Marine Renewable Energy Development Around the World, specifically Chapter 3: Marine Renewable Energy: Stressor-Receptor Interactions.

Title	Author	Date Sort ascending	Content Type	Technology	Stressor	Receptor
Examining potential effects of marine renewable energy developments on top predators	Philpott, E.	November 2013	Thesis	Marine Energy, Tidal	Attraction, Avoidance, Collision, Displacement, Habitat Change	Birds, Ecosystem Processes, Cetaceans, Physical Environment
Assessing the Sensitivity of Seabird Populations to Adverse Effects from Tidal Stream Turbines and Wave Energy Devices	Furness, R., Wade, H., Robbins, A., Masden, E.	September 2012	Journal Article	Marine Energy, Tidal, Wave	Attraction, Collision, Displacement, Habitat Change	Birds, Seabirds
Effects of Displacement from Marine Renewable Development on Seabirds Breeding at SPAs: A Proof of Concept Model of Common Guillemots Breeding on the Isle of May	McDonald, C., Searle, K., Wanless, S., Daunt, F.	May 2012	Report	Marine Energy	Displacement	Seabirds, Birds
Assessment of Risk to Marine Mammals from Underwater Marine Renewable Devices in Welsh Waters: Phase 1 - Desktop Review of Marine Mammals and Risks from Underwater Marine Renewable Devices in Welsh Waters	Wilson, B., Gordon, J.	March 2011	Report	Marine Energy, Tidal, Wave	Attraction, Avoidance, Changes in Flow, Collision, Displacement	Marine Mammals
Tidal Barrages and Birds	Clark, N.	March 2006	Journal Article	Tidal, Marine Energy	Habitat Change, Displacement	Birds