Alert from the Cousteau Foundation on the danger to biodiversity of the marine wind farm in the Gulf of Roses

GironaWhat are the real effects of electromagnetic fields on the marine environment? This is the main question that the Philippe Cousteau Foundation puts on the table in a report where it shows its “concern” about the “danger” that the installation of a park can pose to the environment, fauna and marine flora marine wind farm in the Gulf of Roses. The Stop Macro Parc Eòlic Marí Association has found in this foundation dedicated to the conservation of marine biodiversity – and which will build its world headquarters in l’Estartit – a new ally to demand rigorous environmental studies on the impact that the installation of windmills on the Costa Brava.

In conversation with ARA, Roger Figueras, patron and planning director of the Philippe Cousteau Foundation, points out that the current studies of marine windmills on the Danish coast are not applicable to the Gulf of Roses, an area where there are three parks natural ones – that of Cap de Creus, that of the Aiguamolls de l’Empordà and that of Montgrí–. Mainly because we are talking about floating wind turbines and not moored to the ground, as is the case in northern Europe. The cables can hardly be buried because it is an area of ​​great depth.

“Honestly, we are not concerned about the aesthetic impact – Figueras points out -. We see the problem mainly in the effects of electromagnetic fields”. He explains that seawater is more conductive than air and fresh water and that this can produce many more vibrations in the sea that affect, especially, cetaceans such as dolphins, which communicate by electromagnetic impulses. “There is a lack of studies”, adds Figueras. That is why the Costeau Foundation has already begun to prepare a more comprehensive report based on laboratory experiments from the network of 190 universities around the world affiliated to its institution.

Specifically, the Cousteau Foundation points out that it is not opposed to marine wind energy, but asks that it be done with “face and eyes”. And that if it goes ahead, maximum insulation of the wiring is guaranteed to avoid electromagnetic fields.

Eight marine protected areas

In the same line, a study published in Science of the Total Environment and signed by nine scientists from the University of Girona (UdG), the Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) and the University of Barcelona (UB). After reviewing 150 works from around the world on marine wind power, he came to the conclusion that it was necessary to distance and exclude this type of parks from the protected areas of the Mediterranean. Up to eight protected marine areas meet at Cap de Creus and the Gulf of Roses.

The precedent of the Portuguese coast

The first offshore wind farm with floating wind turbines was inaugurated in 2020 in Portugal, in an area very close to Galicia. Located 20 km from the coast, the Windfloat Atlantic park – formed by a consortium of four companies that includes Repsol – compensated the fishermen with 1.2 million euros. However, the confraternities of the Viana de Castelo area have reported that the fish have disappeared in closer areas and attribute it to the sound of the mills.