COWRIE is pleased to announce the release of the above report, prepared by Ichthys Marine Ecological Consultancy Ltd.The project was proposed because of the potential for fishermen to lose access to fishing grounds within offshore windfarms. The aim was to develop a list of possible mitigation options which would be of use to fishermen, developers, regulatory and statutory bodies and marine resource managers in discussions related to fishing and windfarm developments. In brief, the aim of the project could be summarised as "identifying ways to keep fishermen fishing".In total, the project identified 26 different possible mitigation options, across four themes. Five pre-construction options were identified with the aim of minimizing impacts, five more options were focused on enhancing stocks of targeted species and associated habitats, twelve other options were based around supporting existing fishing activities, and the final four options were identified for developing new fisheries or other activities. Dr. Rob Blyth-Skyrme, Director of Ichthys Marine said " An expert advisory group that included representatives of the fishing industry provided hugely valuable input to the project. Although it may not be an exhaustive list of mitigation options, we believe the report will be a useful starting point for fishermen and developers in discussions relating to offshore windfarms and the potential loss of fishing grounds that could result."

The full report can be downloaded here. 

A summary report can be downloaded here. 

A brief one-page summary of report findings can be downloaded here.  

As an output of the second stakeholder workshop, two proposals were produced for projects to further investigate the potential for fisheries mitigation with windfarms. These can be found here.