Ecological sampling at Scottish Offshore Wind Farms

The Marine Directorate (MD) has a requirement for an external provider to undertake marine sampling for a selection of target species across a range of functional groups (e.g. fish, benthic and plankton) at four offshore wind farm sites and adjacent control areas, on the east coast of Scotland. Sampling will be carried out across 3 phases: winter 2025-spring 2026 , summer 2026 and autumn 2026. This sampling work will contribute to the ECOCHANGE Project (Consequences of Changes to Habitats and implications for a Net Gain Energy approach), led by the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate, alongside the University of Liverpool the University of Glasgow SUERC and funded by The Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Evidence and Change programme. The samples collected through this work will be analysed through a subsequent workstream (not included in the scope of this contract) and the data will ultimately provide insight into the food web structure within the North Sea marine ecosystem and how food webs may be impacted by OWF infrastructure. Understanding this relationship is crucial with the increase in development of OWFs to reach Net Zero targets. This work will shed light on the effect of OWF infrastructure on marine biodiversity which will inform Marine Enhancement and Nature Positive policies.