Predator and Prey Around Renewable Energy Developments (PrePARED)

This is the OBIS extraction of the Ocean Tracking Network and Marine Scotland Science (MSS) PrePARED, consisting of the release tagging metadata, i.e. the location and date when the tagged animal was released, and summarized detection events of tagged individuals. If readers are interested in the source dataset they may also inquire with the project PIs as listed here or on the OTN web site (https://members.oceantrack.org/project?ccode=V2LPREP).

Abstract:The PrePARED project aims to improve our understanding of predator-prey interactions around offshore wind farms to reduce uncertainty in impact assessments and improve models of seabird, marine mammal, and fish distribution. This collaborative project involves nine organisations and focuses on prey availability (fish) as a key factor in predator distribution around wind farm infrastructure. Between 2022-2025, telemetry studies, using gadoid fish (including Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), whiting (Merlangius merlangus) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus)) are being carried out in the Moray Firth. The project focuses on prey distribution, abundance, diversity and biomass investigating "reef effects" caused by offshore wind farms and their potential to support fish biomass aggregation or production. Marine mammal distribution and behaviour is also monitored alongside fish data, assessing how the construction and operation of wind farms and environmental factors influence predator spatial distribution.

Citation: Stainer, P., Bicknell, A., Witt, M., Main, R. 2022. Predator and Prey Around Renewable Energy Developments (PrePARED) will focus on how the dynamic balance of both predators and prey and how each varie around renewable energy developments. Fish aggregation around new installations, while not novel, is a phenomenon worth investigating at newly constructed windfarm sites particularly where it may lead to an increase in top predators foraging there.. Accessed via the Ocean Tracking Network OBIS IPT on INSERT DATE

Published: June 15, 2026 at 18:39

First registration: June 15, 2026 at 18:43

License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

URL: https://members.oceantrack.org/ipt/resource?r=otnmssprepared