CoastalFutures-2: Scenarios to Promote Sustainable Futures of Contested Marine Areas

Subprojekt F at the ITAW: Szenarios for marine mammals
Project description

The habitat of marine mammals is strongly characterised by anthropogenic use in the North and Baltic Seas. Marine mammals are sensitive to Stressors such as maritime traffic, offshore wind energy development, pollution and fishing. These activities can lead to habitat degradation for marine mammals, as habitat loss or fragmentation often occurs.
The interdisciplinary and cross-scale end-to-end (E2E) modelling System developed in the first phase of CoastalFutures will be extended in phase II to model the occurrence of marine mammals under different future scenarios. This novel tool now offers the possibility to analyse the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on indicator species by generating a virtual environment. For the first time, simulations on the effectiveness of various management measures for the protection and Conservation of marine mammal populations can be carried out in phase II, thus providing Knowledge for action for the implementation of political decisions. The impact of underwater noise on harbour seals as a result of the expansion of offshore wind energy is estimated at population level using a multifactorial assessment. Animal movement models are extended to include aspects of animal physiology so that effects on the energy budget can be integrated, while the effects of other Stressors and management measures are also considered, taking future climate conditions into account. In addition, potential impacts, such as the role of OWFs as artificial reefs and noise impacts on marine mammals, will be analysed and assessed to explore negative and positive effects. This in turn leads to a quantitative assessment of the food and habitat base for marine mammals and the exposure to Stressors in the marine protected areas.

CoastalFutures Website (entire consortium)