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2017 Conference

del 21 al 24 de June del 2017

Tuscon, AZ

AESS 2017 Draft Conference Session Schedule

Environmental Impact of Offshore Wind Farms on Black Sea Bass Population in Maryland Coastal Region

jueves, el 22 de junio de 2017 a las 16:00–17:30 MDT
ENR2 S 225
Abstract

Environmental Impact of Offshore Wind Farms on Black Sea Bass Population in Maryland Coastal Region

Chunlei Fan1, Kelton Clark1, Shobha Sriharan2, and Gulnihal Ozbay3

 

1Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD

2Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA

3Delaware State University, Dover, DA

The number of offshore wind farms is increasing rapidly all over the world, raising some concerns on wildlife activities and livelihood and if and how such structures interfere and impact wildlife. On the other hand, it is widely accepted that offshore wind farms can serve as artificial reefs and benefit fish populations by creating shade, a surface for growth of food sources and refuge form larger predators. We developed a two-patch age-structured model to evaluate the potential benefits of a proposed wind farm on black sea bass in the Maryland coastal region and simulate population size in the wind farm patch and no wind farm patches. Results suggest that wind farm can attract fish juveniles, and increase age-specific survival, potentionally causing higher abundance around the wind farm area. In the absence of wind farm, population is increasing at a rate 1.01; in the presence of wind farm, the black seabass population shows faster growth (1.09) than the no wind farm patch population. In addition to the effects from the wind farm, water depth and water column temperature also have significant effects on population size of black sea bass in our study. These three environmental factors play important role in regulating spatial distribution of black seabass population. Overall, the proposed wind farm can act as a new type of suitable habitat, a possibly increased use of the area by black seabass population.

Primary Contact

[photo]
Dr chunlei fan, Morgan State University

Presenters

[photo]
Gulnihal Ozbay
Title of paper

Environmental Impact of Offshore Wind Farms on Black Sea Bass Population in Maryland Coastal Region

Co-Authors

[photo]
Shobha Sriharan, Ms., Ph.D., Virginia State University
Title of paper

Environmental Impact of Offshore Wind Farms on Black Sea Bass Population in Maryland Coastal Region

[photo]
Gulnihal Ozbay, Delaware State University
Title of paper

Environmental Impact of Offshore Wind Farms on Black Sea Bass Population in Maryland Coastal Region

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