Table of contents
1 Introduction. 3
2 Environmental Impact. 4
2.1 Environmental Impact Assessment 4
2.2 Biological impacts. 5
2.2.1 Birds 6
2.2.2 Sea mammals 11
2.2.3 Fish . 12
2.2.4 Seabed and benthos 13
2.2.5 Hydrography, sea currents and water quality. 14
2.3 Effects from accidents 14
2.4 Visual effect. 16
2.5 Noise and vibration effects 20
2.5.1 Airborne noise . 20
2.5.2 Underwater noise and vibrations 20
3 Conflicts of Interest 23
3.1 Traffic . 23
3.1.1 Ships 23
3.1.2 Air traffic . 24
3.1.3 Painting and illumination/marking lights 24
3.2 Defence . 25
3.2.1 Radar and radio signals 25
3.3 Fish . 26
3.4 Birds 27
3.5 Other conflicts of interest 27
3.5.1 Raw material deposits 27
3.5.2 Marine archaeology . 27
3.6 Conflicts of interest - general conclusions 28
4 Social Acceptance. 29
5 National Policies. 32
5.1 General attitude. 32
5.2 Planning rules. 32
5.3 Incentives. 37
5.4 Conclusions 42
6 Ongoing Research Projects 43
7 General Conclusions 44
7.1 Identification of problem areas 44
7.2 Recommendations for RTD programmes 46
7.3 General recommendations for offshore wind projects 48
8 Selected References 49
9 General References 51