Potential use of population viability analysis to assess the impact of offshore windfarms on bird populations - report published (November 2007)

COWRIE is pleased to announce the release of the above report prepared by the British Trust for Ornithology.

Offshore windfarms are likely to become one of Europe's most extensive technical interventions in marine habitats. European inshore coastal and offshore marine waters support globally significant numbers of seabirds and the UK Government has legal obligations to monitor the effects coastal developments will have on populations of these species.

Although conventional impact assessments allow estimates of the number of birds that might collide with or be displaced by windfarms, such methods do not allow the overall effect on bird populations to be established. This report determines whether sufficient demographic information is available to carry out population viability analysis: one method of determining the impacts of offshore windfarms on bird populations.

The report can be downloaded here