Effects of Belgian wind farms on the epibenthos and fish of the soft sediment

This chapter focuses on the changes in epibenthos and demersal fish of the soft substrates in and around the C-Power and Belwind wind farm. The time series graphs from Vandendriessche et al. (2015) were extended and scanned for non-parallelisms between reference and wind farm trend lines. Also size distribution graphs were drawn and analysed. The analyses showed differences between wind farm and reference areas for the period 2013-2014. The positive short-term effects from Vandendriessche et al. (2015) seemed to be a reaction of opportunistic species (i.e. common starfish (Asterias rubens), gr... Mehr ...