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Achievement of energy security and the UK's 2020 carbon targets economy depends upon a mix of new offshore oil and gas and renewable energy developments, but concern that seismic survey and construction noise could pose an unacceptable risk to marine mammals threatens to delay these plans.
University of Aberdeen ecologists, under the direction of Paul Thompson, have developed long-term studies of marine mammal population dynamics that now underpin frameworks for assessing and mitigating the impacts of such developments on marine mammals in EU protected areas.
The specific impact on commerce and the environment is that this assessment process has been adopted by industry within their consent applications. As a result of academic consultancy in industry, planning decisions have been informed by the research, and the management of environmental risks has changed. This has reduced the consenting risk for industry and provided an assessment framework that allows regulators to ensure that they are implementing current government policy within international legal frameworks for environmental protection.
A step change reduction in tidal energy costs has been achieved through the development of the novel Contra Rotating Marine Turbine `CoRMaT' tidal energy technology. The internationally patent-protected CoRMaT system reduces capital, operational and maintenance costs while increasing the extractable tidal energy resource by harnessing flows in deeper waters and from less energetic sites, which were previously considered to be uneconomic. A University spin-out company, Nautricity Ltd, was formed in 2010 to commercialise this technology. The development of this technology has changed both Scottish and UK Government policy via their introduction of programmes which demonstrate a step change reduction in the costs of marine renewables.
The impact is in the ERPE design of protocols which are subsequently used for evaluation and comparison of the performance of tidal energy converter designs. Researchers within the UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER) at ERPE have led much of the fundamental and applied research that has supported the commercialisation of tidal energy technologies through the establishment of new international test standards and protocols.
ERPE researchers have regularly provided evidence which has influenced policy change in marine energy development in the UK and internationally with many ERPE graduating PhD's, subsequently employed in the marine energy sector.
There is a potential conflict between the expansion of marine renewable energy developments, such as offshore wind farms, and seabird conservation. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must be carried out before planning permission can be granted for such projects. Working with environmental consultancies and key statutory bodies, Professor Furness at the University of Glasgow developed a clear, systematic and widely accepted framework for assessing the impact of wind, wave and tidal projects on seabird populations. This framework has expedited the project development process and lessened potential risks to seabirds, meeting conservation requirements while benefiting all those involved in renewable energy projects by reducing the risk of misjudgements in the impact assessment process.
This impact study deals with the development and implementation of an internationally recognised, statistically-based sampling regime for marine sediment hydrocarbon contamination. Its Economic and Environmental impacts include a reduction in sampling and analysis costs to operators while maintaining a statistically robust monitoring procedure to protect and enhance the environment (including valuable fisheries) and support oil and gas exploration/production. This regime was initially adopted by the UK Government in the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy in 2009. These statistical-based sampling protocols have subsequently passed into wider environmental policy and the Random Stratified Statistical Sampling Regime represents the accepted standard for marine monitoring in the £22 billion oil exploration and production industry in the UK Continental Shelf. This regime has now been taken-up internationally by the other 14 countries bordering/discharging to the North East Atlantic through the OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic.
The research resulted in primary legislation and provided government with the evidence used when implementing the measures set out within legislation. Specifically, this concerned:
This work, together with connected public outreach, was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2011 for excellence in research supporting better governance of the ocean.
Wave power research at Queen's has led directly to the development of two types of convertor by Aquamarine Power Ltd (Edinburgh) and Voith Hydro Wavegen (Inverness). Direct employment totalling 400 person years has resulted along with hundreds of people in other companies delivering the different phases of the prototype machines. Financed by over £60 million from both the public but mainly the private sectors, this represents 20% of the total investment in wave power worldwide during this period. Internationally recognised success in wave power has led to the establishment of the Queen's team in tidal stream energy and environmental monitoring of marine renewable systems.
Bangor Research since 1998 has pioneered, through experimental, comparative and modelling studies and industry collaborations, quantification of the wider ecosystem effects of fishing, specifically on seabed habitats. Novel findings gave policy and economic benefits to the fishing industry and led to the sustainable, continued profitable development of the UK's largest blue mussel fishery and Isle of Man scallop fishery, with a combined value of £22M. It directly led to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of these fisheries and underpinned certification of dozens of other demersal fisheries. Additionally, the research has influenced UK retailer policies on sustainable fish sourcing, providing direct environmental and commercial benefits and improving public knowledge and sustainable consumption.
Research on the status, distribution and ecology of sea turtles at the University of Exeter has driven national and international conservation policy, engaged millions of people worldwide and raised substantial funding for conservation. Governments including the UK, Cayman Islands, Cyprus and Gabon have used this research in making legislation and multi-million pound management decisions. Development of open-access animal tracking tools has facilitated a global network of over 135 countries, with more than 300 projects tracking thousands of animals from 118 species. The ability to adopt tracked animals online has attracted millions of visitors and raised funding for conservation projects world-wide.
The UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), led by the Institute of Zoology, first identified accidental entrapment in commercial fisheries (by-catch) as the cause of mass mortality of UK common dolphins. Those by-catch diagnostic criteria are still widely used (UK and overseas). CSIP cetacean mass stranding investigations led to a successful ban on naval exercises around the Canary Islands and modification of Royal Navy exercises to reduce harm to cetaceans. CSIP research on brominated flame retardants in porpoises led to an EU-wide ban; follow-up work during the REF period verified the success of the ban by demonstrating declining chemical concentrations.