The Offshore Wind Industry Council has welcomed plans to fund a new environmentally-friendly method of catching scallops – using underwater LED lights.
It is one of five projects announced by the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme (OWEC) as part of its 2024 funding round, and the aim is to enable more diversified fishing around offshore wind farms.
The 18-month project will explore ways to co-locate scallop fisheries and offshore wind farms together, using alternative fishing methods to the traditional practice of dredging along the seabed which disturbs marine habitats and species.
The LED lights, which use the same technology as disco lights, are placed into modified lobster and crab pots.
Early trials showed that scallops are drawn towards them, leading to an increase in the catch of up to 500%.
These will now be rolled out at a regional level by fishing crews in Scarborough, Bridlington and Whitby who fish around and within offshore windfarms.
The OWEC is a £50m initiative funding nature-positive acceleration of offshore wind development.
The team working on the LED lights project includes the Offshore Wind Industry Council, Ørsted and the University of Exeter, as well as Fishtek Marine, based in Devon, which was nominated for the Earthshot Prize this year for devising a way to minimise the number of sharks being caught unintentionally during tuna fishing.
Funding has also come from Natural England and the Fishmongers Guild.
RenewableUK’s Consents and Environment Assistant Manager Oscar Wilkie, who leads on this work for the Offshore Wind Industry Council, said: “As the offshore wind sector expands, it’s increasingly important that we find ways to work together with other industries at sea such as commercial fishing.
“We’re keen to ensure that the sea continues to be a shared space which benefits everyone, including nature and industry.
“We hope that this project will show that innovative environmentally-friendly fishing methods can be used to enable us to use the same areas of seabed.
“We’re very grateful to our partners in the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme for helping to fund this important work.”