The following blog post was originally written for ORCA and posted on https://www.orcaweb.org.uk/. All blog posts I write while working for ORCA will firstly be posted on the ORCA website. If you want more updates than just these blog posts, follow both me (Trails of the sea) and ORCA on Twitter ,Instagram and Facebook!
What a first rotation! I had to wait two years to start, but on March 20th I boarded the DFDS King Seaways in IJmuiden the Netherlands. I was eager to start, but also quite nervous. What would happen in the next 19 days? Will I see many cetaceans? Will there be many passengers on the ship? As it turned out these first 19 days not to many people boarded the ship at the most 500 on a ship that could have 1400 passengers. I was really blessed with the weather during my first week, hardly any wind led to calm seas, which then let too many harbour porpoise sightings!
Harbour porpoise party
My first crossing didn’t have that much action yet. And the observation deck wasn’t open on the first crossing, so I decided to stay on one of the sides of the king seaways and do my observations. Here I already had plenty on conversations with interested passengers and did spot one harbour porpoise in the wind farm. On my second day leaving the harbour of North Shields the observation deck had been opened and I was able to start my observations from the front of the ship. Deck watches that really stood out to me are the 23rd , 24th of march with both 14 harbour porpoise sightings, the 25th with 21 harbour porpoises and 2 white-beaked dolphins and the 26th of March with 26 harbour porpoise sightings. This week we hadn’t gone into daylight savings time zone, and thus I was able to do early morning observations which gave the most sightings on either side of the North Sea. And it was great to see how enthusiastic the passengers were who also managed to see and help me observe for the porpoises.
This was something I was curious about as well, how passengers would react on ORCA being on the ship again. Not many people came to the front of the ship to talk with me but those who did, I had amazing conversations with. With the passengers asking many different questions and being really keen to learn more. A frequently asked question is about wind farms and their effects on marine life in the North Sea.
Wind farms and the effect on marine life
I mostly get these questions when we are travelling to and from the port of IJmuiden, as wind farms can be seen from the coast and the King sails through these two wind farms. When you leave the harbour of IJmuiden the wind farm on the right is the first you come across, this is wind farm Egmond aan Zee and is actually the very first wind farm of the Netherlands. About half an hour later the king passes the second wind farm located on the left which is named after the Dutch Princes Amalia. While passing these wind farms passengers ask me if these wind farms have a bad effect on the marine life and marine mammals in particular. And actually wind farms are very interesting and the effect of them are strangely enough both negative and positive. During the construction of the wind farm the effects are definitely negative. Research has shown that harbour porpoises avoid the area by at least 20km. And they do this because of the Noise pollution. Harbour porpoise like any other marine mammal uses sound to feed, communicate and navigation to name a few. And the noise of the construction masks these sounds on which the porpoises rely on. The loud noises could lead to temporal deafness for marine mammals. However, after construction is finished, something amazing happens. Live finds its way to the wind farm. The foundation of the wind turbines can act as artificial reef which in the first couple years attracts species like barnacles, muscles and anemones. These species in turn attract crustaceans and fishes, and they in turn attract sea birds and marine mammals like the harbour porpoise. And on the Dutch side I definitely have seen quite a few harbour porpoises in the vicinity of the wind farm. Another positive about these wind farms is that shipping and fishing activities aren’t allowed in the wind farms, which means that the new habitat that has established itself in the wind farms can thrive without to much disturbance. Of course the wind turbine still produce some noise but the disturbance is far less then during construction, and less noise than the passing of ship. Which could mean that marine mammals also use the wind farm as a little safe haven of all the noise that we humans produce in our seas and oceans.
Hopes for future crossings
I am really looking forward to see what this season will bring! I would love to see a lot of bottlenose dolphins, white-beaked dolphins and minke whales. It has been many years since I last saw bottlenose dolphins, they are high on my list. But I am also really curious if we will see any more uncommon species that might venture into the North Sea like Atlantic white-sided dolphins or common dolphins, and who knows maybe something even rarer. Wouldn’t that be amazing! I am really looking forward to my next rotations and what they will bring regarding both sightings and interactions with passengers. Hopefully I can help many passengers observing cetaceans and enlighten them about these amazing creatures in the North Sea.
Ocean Conservationist Mathilde (North Sea)
Sources:
Harbour porpoise occurrence in relation to the Prinses Amaliawindpark. Polanen Petel,T. van., Geelhoed, S. & Meesters, E. (2012) https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/harbour-porpoise-occurrence-in-relation-to-the-prinses-amaliawind
Negative long term effects on harbour porpoises from a large scale offshore wind farm in the Baltic—evidence of slow recovery. Teilmann, J. & Carstensen. J. (2012) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/045101
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and wind farms: A case study in the Dutch North Sea. Scheidat, M. et al. (2011) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228110128_Harbour_porpoises_Phocoena_phocoena_and_wind_farms_A_case_study_in_the_Dutch_North_Sea
Offshore Wind Farm Artificial Reefs Affect Ecosystem Structure and Functioning: A Synthesis. Degrager, S. et al. (2020) https://tos.org/oceanography/article/offshore-wind-farm-artificial-reefs-affect-ecosystem-structure-and-functioning-a-synthesis
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