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In 2022, the aerial surveillance team of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences realised 244 flight hours over the North Sea. 19 cases of operational marine pollution from ships were observed, two involving oil and 17 other harmful substances. Suspicious sulphur levels were measured in the smoke plumes of 47 ships and suspicious nitrogen levels on 35 ships. The aircraft successfully participated in an internationally coordinated surveillance mission of the offshore oil and gas installations and an international chemical pollution detection mission. Furthermore, two seasonal marine mammal surveys were carried out, and the aircraft realised several ‘on call’ flights that included support to rescue transmigrants at sea. Navigation violations, entering prohibited zones and sailing without the mandatory automatic identification system were reported more in 2022 than before.

As part of the national aerial surveillance programme, 244 hours were flown over the North Sea in 2022. This programme is organised by the Scientific Service MUMM (Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea) of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, in collaboration with Defence.

The majority of flight hours were national flights (220 hours). Of these, 211.5 hours were performed in the context of the Belgian Coast Guard. Pollution control came convincingly first (164 hours), with both monitoring of discharges of oil, other harmful substances and waste into the water (MARPOL Annex I, II and V respectively) and monitoring of sulphur and nitrogen emissions from ships into the air (enforcement of MARPOL Annex VI). Fisheries monitoring was also covered (42.5 hours on behalf of the Flemish Sea Fisheries Service), the aircraft was called up several times to verify marine pollution, to support transmigration rescue operations in French waters, and to locate lost Search-and-Rescue equipment (3 hours), and two hours of air support was provided during pollution control exercises. 8.5 hours were devoted to marine mammal monitoring.

International flights under the Bonn Agreement accounted for 24 flight hours in 2022 (see below: a Tour d’horizon mission and participation in the MANIFESTS Sea Trials).

Spills from ships

In August 2022, a few oil slicks were observed in the UK waters off Ramsgate during several flights, likely from a spill in the fuel tank of an old shipwreck. The case thus qualified as an accidental spill, and several British ships were involved in the clean-up. There was no direct impact on Belgian waters.

Two operational oil spills were identified in 2022, confirming the decreasing trend of the last decade (see graph). The first, very weathered, oil spill was observed at the estuary of the Western Scheldt in Dutch waters. The oil slick was not combatable and could not be linked to a polluter. The second oil slick was more limited and was observed in the Westhinder Anchorage area. It appeared to be linked to a bulk carrier at anchor. However, a check at sea by the Maritime Police revealed no new elements that could confirm the suspicion of infringement.

2022 resulted in no violations against the requirements of Annex V of the MARPOL Convention which covers the discharge of garbage and solid bulk substances. However, as many as 17 cases of operational pollution by noxious liquid substances other than oil (MARPOL Annex II) were observed. One of these could be linked to a ship in UK waters. The case was handed over to the relevant UK authorities for verification and follow-up.

In contrast to oil pollution, other noxious liquid substances are still a common problem, even on a slight upward trend (see graph). Although these are often, but not always, authorised ship discharges in accordance with international discharge standards, stricter discharge standards have been in force since 2021. This is particularly so for so-called ‘persistent floaters’ such as paraffin-like substances. However, no violations were detected on these in 2022.

Three oil slicks were also observed in Belgian ports: two in the port of Antwerp and one in that of Ostend. The two oil slicks in the port of Antwerp were observed during transit flights from Antwerp airport (the home base of the aircraft) to the North Sea. One of these two detections involved a group of three smaller slicks with five different ships in the vicinity. The spots could not be clearly linked to any of these ships. The other slick was spotted at the Antwerp gas terminal during a bunkering operation. The oil slick observed in the port of Ostend concerned a small slick with no polluter and was too limited to combat. All observations were immediately reported to the competent authorities to ensure follow-up.

Monitoring of emissions to the air from ships at sea

By using a sniffer sensor in the aircraft, our country is considered a pioneer in the international fight against the air pollution from ships at sea (monitoring and enforcement of annex VI of the MARPOL convention). The sensor allows the measurement of various air pollutants in the exhaust of ships in real conditions.

The measurement of sulphur emissions has already been part of the programme since 2016. In order to monitor the strict sulphur limits that apply to ship fuel in the North Sea Emission Control Area (ECA), 61 sniffer flights (for a total of 91 hours) were carried out by the aircraft in 2022 over the Belgian monitoring area. Of the 965 ships whose sulphur emissions were measured, 47 had a suspiciously high sulphur content. These ships were duly reported to the relevant maritime inspection services and 13 were subsequently inspected on shore.

Thanks to the successful integration of a NOx sensor in 2020, MUMM’s aircraft can also measure the concentration of nitrogen compounds (NOx) in the exhaust plumes of ships in order to monitor and enforce the stricter limits that apply from 1 January 2021 in the North Sea Emission Control Area. Belgium has thus become the first country ready to monitor these stricter restrictions. Of the 963 ships for which nitrogen emissions were monitored in 2022, 35 suspicious values were reported.

Since 2021, a new sensor has been added to the sniffer set-up, namely the black carbon sensor. This sensor measures the amount of black carbon in the exhaust plumes of ships, which is a measure for the soot concentration. The soot concentration of 182 ships was measured in 2022. When exceptionally high soot concentrations are measured, the competent maritime port authorities are asked to take a sample of the fuel used. In 2023, these fuel samples will be analysed in the OD Nature laboratories in Ostend.

International missions

During the annual international ‘Tour d’Horizon‘ mission to monitor marine pollution from oil rigs in the central North Sea (in Dutch, Danish, British and Norwegian offshore waters), carried out under the Bonn Agreement in September 2022, the surveillance aircraft detected a total of 16 spills, of which 15 were oil spills and 1 was a spill of an unknown substance that could not be visually verified due to a low cloud ceiling. 13 spills could be directly linked to an oil platform. The three remaining slicks were observed without ships or platforms in the vicinity. All these observations were systematically reported to the competent coastal State for further follow-up, in accordance with international procedures.

From 30 May to 2 June, the Belgian air surveillance participated in the international MANIFESTS Sea Trials for the detection of chemical pollution in Brittany (France). Participation in such exercises is crucial as pollution by substances other than oil appears to be increasing in frequency (see above), a large number of different chemicals are transported, each with a specific behaviour at sea, and regulations are very complex. During the MANIFESTS Sea Trials, various sensors on ships and flying units were tested at sea for their ability to identify different substances. The Belgian aerial surveillance aircraft made a constructive contribution, on which scientists can further optimise the sensors to better monitor chemical discharges in the future.

The mission in Brittany was combined with air emission monitoring at the border of the Emission Control Area, located at the entrance to the English Channel. Among other things, ships here have to switch to low-sulphur fuels. Sixty-two were checked, 18 of them in the immediate vicinity of the ECA border. Six of these 18 ships showed suspicious sulphur levels, and two high NOx emissions. These preliminary results illustrate that more monitoring at the ECA border is needed to improve MARPOL Annex VI enforcement.

Monitoring of Marine Mammals

In 2022, the RBINS conducted marine mammals surveys in March and October. Respectively, 235 and 45 harbour porpoises were observed, resulting in average concentrations of 3.3 and 0.8 animals per km² of observed area. This is a lot of harbour porpoises for a surface area similar to that of Belgian waters, yet largely overlapping: over 11,000 in March and over 2,000 in October. A relatively high number of seals were also observed in 2022: 20 in March and 40 in October. There has never been so many.

Extended maritime surveillance in the framework of the Coast Guard

Within the framework of the cooperation within the Belgian Coast Guard, the surveillance aircraft also contributes to broader missions of enforcement of maritime regulations and safety at sea. For example, in 2022, air operators reported 46 navigation violations to the Coast Guard Centre and the Directorate-General of Shipping (FPS Mobility and Transport). These mainly involved vessels ‘ghost sailing’ or anchoring in shipping lanes. As this type of infringement is on the rise, resulting in an increased risk of collisions, DG Shipping has been providing specific legal follow-up since January 2023.

In addition, 11 violations were also reported last year regarding entering areas at sea surrounded by a safety perimeter (e.g. the wind farms). This is also an increasing number, which can be explained, among other things, by the introduction of some new prohibited areas, such as the aquaculture farm (sea farm) off the coast of Nieuwpoort and the calibration area for scientific instruments off Ostend.

Finally, in 2022, no less than 17 ships were also observed sailing without Automatic Identification System (AIS), which, among other things, helps to prevent collisions. 16 of these cases involved fishing vessels. Again, this is a further increase in a regrettable trend.

Offshore wind energy offers many advantages: next to the primary aim of renewable energy production, offshore wind farms also offer multi-use opportunities with nature conservation and aquaculture activities. The environmental impacts of wind farms in the North Sea are being studied in depth, with a great deal of attention already being paid to the introduction of new habitats, underwater noise and the exclusion of fisheries. However, the chemical impact of offshore wind farms remains largely unknown. The new Anemoi project will improve our understanding of this impact by (1) identifying relevant chemical emissions of known and unknown pollutants from offshore wind farms, (2) assessing the impact on the ecosystem and aquaculture activities, (3) reviewing current regulations and (4) proposing sustainable solutions and options to reduce chemical emissions from offshore wind farms.

Chemicals enter the marine environment through numerous land-based sources, related to industry, traffic or households, and activities at sea like shipping, mariculture, dredging and offshore energy.

In the upcoming four years (2023-2027), 11 European institutes will investigate the occurrence and impacts of chemical emissions from offshore wind farms in the North Sea. Wind turbine foundations contain corrosion protection systems, which leach metals such as aluminium or zinc into the sea. Paints on the turbines leach organic compounds into the water, while the paint can crack and flake from the turbines by wave motions, and plastic particles can be torn down from the turbine blades.

Objectives

Within Anemoi, an Interreg North Sea project, the emission, concentration and distribution of known and unknown chemical compounds in the water and sediments will be identified by means of field monitoring and lab experiments (e.g. by mimicking particle distribution in a wave flume system).

Secondly, the impact of chemical leachates from offshore wind farms on marine life and different aquaculture products will be assessed through ecotoxicology studies and risk assessments, and the effects at different trophic levels will be modelled for both single and mixed chemical compounds.

Thirdly, different regulations are currently in place at the national and European levels to limit the impact of chemical emissions from offshore wind farms. To further reduce the potential impact, the different regulations within the North Sea region will be reviewed and an aligned regulatory framework will be proposed. Finally, Anemoi will investigate sustainable and non-harmful solutions (e.g. alternative corrosion protection systems) and optimizations to further reduce chemical emissions from wind farms at sea.

A flying start

The fieldwork has already started. During a campaign at sea in the last week of April 2023, water and sediment samples have been collected at more than 40 locations. The sites sampled were located in and nearby wind farms in the Belgian marine waters as well as in reference areas at a larger distance from the offshore wind farms.

The accompanying photos illustrate the sampling work on board the RV Belgica by collaborators of RBINS and ILVO. Water samples were taken with a “MERCOS” sampler (from BSH) for the analysis of metals and with the “GIMPF” device (Geesthach Inert Microplastics Fractionator, from Helmholtz Centrum Hereon) for the analysis of microplastics.

Sediment samples were taken with a box corer for various analyses: metals, organic compounds and microplastics. Methods are completely harmonised with the work done during the cruise in the German marine waters in May 2023.

RBINS will analyse the quantity of microplastic particles, including paint particles, in the top layer of the sediments to identify the emissions of wind turbines and study the distribution of these particles within and nearby the wind farms.

Cooperation is the key

To reach the project goals, Anemoi will work in close collaboration and interaction with the offshore wind farm sector and with policymakers. A first stakeholder event is foreseen on 30 and 31 May 2023 in Hamburg (Germany), to exchange knowledge on the effects and risks of chemical emissions from OWFs and to discuss potential solutions to further increase the sustainability of offshore wind energy.

The Anemoi project is funded by the Interreg North Sea programme, with co-funding from Provincie West-Vlaanderen (Belgium) and VLAIO (Belgium), and is coordinated by Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO, Belgium). Further information: website & LinkedIn.

Project partners: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS, Belgium); Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH, Germany); Sintef Ocean AS (Norway); French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer, France); Provincial Development Agency West-Flanders (POM-WVl, Belgium); Foundation of Dutch Scientific Research Institutes – The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NWO I – NIOZ, The Netherlands); Helmholtz Centrum Hereon (Hereon, Germany); University of Technology Braunschweig (TU BS, Germany); University of Antwerp (UAntwerp, Belgium); Technical University of Denmark (DTU, Denmark).

In January 2023, the maritime world was rocked by a large-scale ransomware attack on a leading classification society. More than 1,000 ships were affected. That attack is unfortunately not an isolated incident: in recent years, the entire maritime sector, from ports to passenger ships to classification societies, has been the target of cyber attacks on several occasions.  That is why the Cybersecurity Working Group within the European Coast Guard Forum was set up a few years ago. Thanks in part to the knowledge exchanged by member states in the working group on cybersecurity, many attacks can also be avoided every year. This Cybersecurity working group, consisting of 32 experts from the various member states, met from 22 to 24 May in Brussels.  

New insights and developments   

There were seven presentations on the agenda, covering various aspects of cybersecurity. Belgian speakers dealt with the topic of geopolitical impact on coast guard structure and activities and introduced the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium and the brand new Cyber Command, which is part of the Ministry of Defence. Furthermore, the EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) spoke its new “cyber task forc”e and the training that it will set up about cyber security for maritime inspectors, the EFCA (European Fishery Control Agency) in turn made a presentation on the growing concerns about cyber threats in fisheries. Maritime cybersecurity exercises, the latest research on maritime cybersecurity and, finally, the French Maritime Computer Emergency Response Team were also presented.

During the last conference day, Eurocontrol presented how it deals with GNSS interferences for aeronautical domain, in order to learn from each other expertises. Then the working group discussed the possible orientations for the group in the near or mid-term future and elected a new chairman.

Future cybersecurity challenges   

The ongoing threat of cyber attacks necessitates a good exchange of knowledge between different countries. In recent years, the Cybersecurity Working Group has been a valuable platform for consultation. Given current developments, there is likely to be a greater need for closer European cooperation through EMSA in the near future. In this way, the maritime sector will continue to be safeguarded as much as possible from cyber threats in the future.

The Coast Guard is a unique Belgian organisation that pools and coordinates the expertise of 17 partners in the maritime sector to ensure safety and security at sea. Partners also include the Scientific Service ‘Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea (MUMM)’, part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS).

In 2022-2023, the Belgian Coast Guard chairs the European Coast Guard Functions Forum (ECGFF). Together with the European agencies FRONTEX, EMSA and EFCA, it will organise a number of workshops during the year. In cooperation with DG Mare of the European Commission, it will also organise a Cybersecurity Working Group and the summit taking place at the end of September 2023.

Although the Belgian part of the North Sea only represents 0.5 % of the North Sea surface, it is situated in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and combines a large number of human activities on a limited space. All the more reason to keep close eye on the health of the marine environment and the compliance of the many actors with regulations, also from the air. In their just-published multiannual activity report, the aerial surveillance team of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences describes the various missions and results, trends and developments of the Belgian program for aerial surveillance over the North Sea over a period of 30 years, from its start in 1991 up to and including 2021. The numbers are downright impressive.

The report “30 years of Belgian North Sea aerial surveillance : evolution, trends and developments” was presented on 16 May 2023 at Restaurant Runway in Ostend, in cooperation with the federal cabinets of Mr Thomas Dermine, Secretary of State for Relance and Strategic Investments, in charge of Science Policy, and Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and North Sea, and with the support of Bruges-Ostend International Airport.

Aerial surveillance tasks

The core tasks of the Belgian aerial surveillance programme can be grouped under three themes:

Surveillance of illegal and accidental pollution: Besides detecting water pollution originating from ships (ship discharges of oil and other harmful liquids), Belgium currently plays a leading international role in monitoring sulphur and nitrogen emissions from ships to air. The aircraft also plays a role in the internationally coordinated monitoring of oil and gas installations in the North Sea.

Environmental and scientific monitoring: The team performs important scientific monitoring tasks including marine mammal counts and the monitoring of various environmentally licensed human activities at sea (sand and gravel extraction, wind farm construction, compliance within marine protected areas, etc.).

Broader maritime surveillance in the remit of the Coast Guard: These tasks include the control of fishing activities, compliance with navigation rules and AIS violations by ships (not using Automatic Identification System).

By being active in these three areas, the aerial surveillance has an important contribution to the sustainable management of the Belgian North Sea.

Facts and figures

The report describes how aerial surveillance over sea evolved from the surveillance of marine pollution in the early years to a broader environmental and maritime surveillance above sea, following the extension of the Belgian jurisdiction at sea and the creation of the Belgian Coast Guard structure.

In relation to pollution, the major facts of the Belgian North Sea aerial surveillance program in the period 1991-2021 can be summarized as follows:

• 9574 flight hours were conducted, of which 7100 hours above sea (approximately 6400 flight hours in national and 700 hours in international context).
• 625 operational (deliberate) oil spills were reported in the Belgian survey area, resulting in an estimated 1013 tonnes of oil pollution. When monitoring began, oil spills were a prominent problem, now they are almost entirely a thing of the past.
• 158 operational spills of other harmful liquids (Noxious Liquid Substances, e.g. vegetable oils, biodiesels, paraffin) were observed. This type of contamination unfortunately shows a slightly increasing trend.
• 51 ships were caught red-handed while performing an illegal discharge.
• 35 serious shipping accidents have taken place in or around the Belgian marine areas, with accidental marine pollution or a high risk thereof. In 26 of these cases, the aircraft was effectively activated to monitor the emergency situation from the air and provide air support to response units.
• 24 international “Tour d’Horizon” missions were executed, during which the offshore gas installations and oil rigs in the central part of the North Sea were surveyed, resulting in 430 flight hours and a total of 296 pollution detections (272 mineral oil detections, 9 detections of a harmful substance other than oil, and 15 contaminants whose nature could not be visually verified).
• There was participation in 10 Coordinated Extended Pollution Control Operations, regional missions consisting of a series of successive pollution control flights carried out by multiple surveillance aircraft from different North Sea countries.
• The Belgian aircraft participated in a total of 33 national and international pollution response exercises and related experiments at sea.
• 353 emission monitoring flights were conducted with a sniffer sensor since 2015 and 6012 exhaust plumes were sampled. 9% of the monitored ships had a suspicious Fuel Sulfur Content. Since 2020, when the aircraft was further equipped with a NOx sensor, 3% of the monitored ships did not comply with the international NOx regulations. This form of monitoring the gaseous emissions from ships at sea is a Belgian pioneering work, and contributed greatly to the name and fame of the air monitoring team.

Notable figures regarding monitoring of the marine environment, fishing activity and navigation rules are:

• In the period 2009 to 2021, 214 flight hours were spent on marine mammal counts. A total of 3223 harbour porpoises were observed during the monitoring campaigns (3 to 404 animals per survey, on average 87 per survey). In addition, 100 seals were seen and sporadically some other species of marine mammals such as white-beaked dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, a minke whale and a humpback whale.
• From 1993 to 2021, 1239 fishery control flights were carried out, leading to a total of 1185 flying hours. This resulted in a total of 7272 monitored and identified fishing vessels.
• Between 2011 and 2021, 112 violations on the use of Automatic Identification Systems by ships were observed, together with 148 navigation violations. In recent years there has been a sharp increase in the annual number of observed navigation violations with the highest number in 2021 (36).

The future of aerial surveillance

Using and interpreting these facts and figures, the activity report also looks to the future, by explaining the programme evolution from pollution control and environmental surveillance at sea, to broader maritime surveillance in support of the overall Coast Guard framework, and by outlining that the substantive challenges of aerial surveillance above the sea are and will remain innumerable in the years to come.

Indeed, in addition to the tasks described above, some newer tasks are becoming increasingly important elements of aerial surveillance, such as the efficient enforcement of a new European external border (post-BREXIT), promoting maritime security, and offering support to search and rescue operations.

Finally, the report also explains the medium-term need for renewal of the aircraft. Only in that way can the Coast Guard renew its strategic vision and increase its cooperation on airborne surveillance, and modernise and expand its surveillance capacity with the aim to effectively deal with current and future needs at sea.

Thomas Dermine, Secretary of State for Science Policy, who also personally participated in an operational flight of the aerial surveillance aircraft before the presentation of the report on 16 May: “The North Sea is a complex ecosystem, an important fishing zone, a busy shipping area and, since the Brexit, an external border of the European Union. It is therefore essential to study our North Sea and continuously monitor what is happening there. The aerial surveillance aircraft has been doing this for 30 years, thanks to a smooth cooperation between Defence and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Now that the aircraft is outdated, I will fully support the dossier for its renewal.”

Vincent Van Quickenborne, Minister for the North Sea: “Belgium was the first and only country in the world to use a sniffer plane for ship pollution controls. Some 5,500 different ships call at Belgian ports every year. So it is impossible to check them all. With the sniffer plane, work can be much more targeted because suspicious ships are already identified at sea. Thanks to aerial surveillance, our port inspection services can detect 50% more violations and save 20% per inspection. We must cherish our North Sea. It is Belgium’s largest nature reserve. The increasing number of marine mammals and the return of species such as the European flat oyster, which has reappeared in our North Sea for the first time in decades, show that progress is being made. But the plane is in need of replacement after 30 years of service as a sniffer. Together with colleague Dermine, I am putting my full weight behind this.”

 

The implementation of the Belgian aerial surveillance programme over the North Sea is organised by the Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea (MUMM), scientific service of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS).

For the aerial surveillance, MUMM uses a Britten Norman Islander aircraft (immatriculation OO-MMM) equipped with scientific sensors for detecting marine pollution. The aircraft is owned by RBINS/MUMM but can only fly thanks to the support of the federal policy areas “Science Policy” and “North Sea” and good cooperation with Defence, which provides the pilots.

Aquaculture at sea and the decommissioning of offshore wind farms come with many opportunities and challenges. For the efficient development of future policy on these activities, it is essential that the priorities and concerns of the many stakeholders are heard and integrated in an open and transparent manner into a broad-based vision that policymakers can subsequently work with.

To address this, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences launched two separate participatory trajectories on these themes on behalf of the Marine Environment Department of the Federal Public Service Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment and Minister for the North Sea, Vincent Van Quickenborne. More than 50 different organisations responded to this interactive cooperation initiative.

Steven Degraer (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences): “Getting stakeholders to talk to each other always yields surprising insights and this for all parties around the table. It is the way to get to know each other, share insights and look for a sustainable future for the sea together.”

The kick-off of both trajectories took place in Bruges on Tuesday 18 October 2022. Stakeholders met almost monthly, and also worked intersessionally on vision-building. During a closing event on Monday 15 May, also in Bruges, the resulting visions around aquaculture and decommissioning of offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea were presented to the trajectories’ participants and the press.

Aquaculture

Key elements identified within the stakeholder consultation on marine aquaculture are:

Sustainable food production for our and future generations is the primary goal of aquaculture in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Various organisms are suitable for this purpose. First and foremost, oysters and mussels are considered, but also algae, whelks, scallops and other bivalves, crustaceans and fish. Aquaculture of jellyfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea grasses and even bacteria is also theoretically possible. To what extent combining the farming of different species (integrated multitrophic aquaculture) is possible our Belgian North Sea needs further investigation.

Other economic activities (such as fuel and cosmetics production, tourism) can be linked to aquaculture and thus play a role in eliminating residual flows.

Optimal use of available space is one of the main concerns. Potential spatial conflicts with other users of the sea were raised, as well as opportunities for multiple use of space.

Attention to the environment also scores very high. Here, there is not only concern about possible forms of negative impact, participants also see opportunities to combine aquaculture with nature conservation, nature restoration and coastal protection.

Basic and preconditions

Several conditions must be respected when looking for suitable sites and forms of aquaculture.

Important basic conditions are:

• To start with, it is important to understand in which locations the target species thrive. This varies between potential target species and depends on species-specific abiotic and biotic factors.
• Sustainable aquaculture should be extractive, meaning that no additional nutrients or drugs should be added. It should also not exceed the carrying capacity of the surrounding natural ecosystem.
• In nature reserves, aquaculture will no longer be allowed before the areas are in good conservation status, and then only with native species.
• Aquaculture products must comply with common food safety requirements.

Additional preconditions that should be pursued to the maximum extent possible relate to personal and marine traffic safety, multiple space use, social acceptability, environmental damage, cooperation, ecological footprint, engineering/technical aspects, socio-economics, legal and insurance aspects and broad governance context.

The future

A North Sea in good conservation status is a prerequisite to provide sufficient carrying capacity for aquaculture. To promote opportunities and mitigate concerns, well-designed licensing criteria must be established. Administrative obstacles and red tape must be removed. The development of a central monitoring and warning system and a pooled knowledge platform would offer many benefits. Targeted grants could help address knowledge gaps and develop opportunities.

In the next phase, additional data and map material will be collected to create an opportunity map for aquaculture in the Belgian part of the North Sea, linked to the predefined basic and boundary conditions. Taken together, these elements will form a solid basis for policy support.

Cooperation and coordination between the North Sea countries is also desirable, including in terms of drafting uniform European regulations.

Vincent Van Quickenborne, Minister for the North Sea: “The North Sea is a breeding ground for innovation. With no fewer than 53 partners, we have joined forces in recent months on two important themes. For instance, despite our small North Sea, we have a lot of space to do aquaculture. E.g. between the windmills. We are now mapping those areas. We are looking into species of which we can combine the cultivation. And we are looking for European money to invest in this.”

Decommissioning of offshore wind farms

The licences to operate Belgium’s already operational wind farms date back 10 to 15 years. The decommissioning of that first generation of wind turbines is now approaching. Just as the installation of these farms was pioneering work, their decommissioning will be too. Moreover, in the time that has passed, many questions arose about the phased decommissioning process in the period 2034-2047. On the one hand, new technologies are succeeding at lightning speed and, on the other, new insights are constantly emerging around the interaction between wind farms and biodiversity.

New technologies: New options for decommissioning offshore wind farms are being developed, with regard to techniques, materials and cost. For example, options for repurposing and recycling blades and ways to remove monopile foundations in their entirety from the ground are being explored.

Biodiversity: Monitoring the ecological effects of wind farms shows that additional biodiversity has been created in and around the offshore wind turbines, the so-called artificial reef effect. The new hard substrates underpin a rich underwater fauna of invertebrates, which in turn attracts various fish species, bird species and marine mammals.

Decommissioning options

To decommission offshore wind farm infrastructure, there are several theoretical options. The foundations can either be completely or partially removed or remain entirely on site. Erosion protection layers and cabling can also be removed or remain on site. The majority of the participants to the process of vision creation favoured complete removal of all man-made structures.

The naturally occurring and desirable fauna of dynamic sandy substrates is adapted to high dynamics, allowing it to withstand a temporary disturbance caused by decommissioning activities well and recover quickly. The new biodiversity created as a result of the artificial reef effect is not considered of such interest in a naturally dynamic sandy-bank ecosystem to be left untouched because it is a habitat that does not naturally occur at that site. Moreover, when decommissioning in the context of repowering, hard substrate will again be provided in the form of a new wind farm, so that those additional habitat, shelter and resting opportunities will recover in the short term and in phases.

Leaving some of the infrastructure in place could be useful for attaching structures for aquaculture, passive fishing or as a research base (sensors, testing new technologies, etc.), for example, but these functionalities could equally be envisaged for yet-to-be-built wind turbines.  In addition, retaining (part of) the monopiles and leaving erosion barriers and cables in place do not outweigh the disadvantages of insecurity and the missed opportunity to reuse materials.

In contrast, wind farm operators, who after all have to carry out and pay for decommissioning, are rightly concerned about whether it will be both feasible and affordable engineering-wise to completely remove a monopile. Also, removing the erosion protection, even if it is to be reused for the same purpose when repowering, is a costly and time-consuming activity. Thus, further research and consultations still appear necessary to identify the feasibility and the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative decommissioning scenarios (complete removal, partial removal or complete abandonment of wind farm infrastructure, including erosion protection layers). By starting this in time, with the vision process as the first component, we give time to the public and private partners involved to prepare.

Useful info for future wind farms

The findings from the participatory process also offer insights into how future wind farms can be optimally designed, taking into account the decommissioning phase. In particular, promoting circular use of materials offers sustainability opportunities.

The Princess Elisabeth zone contains zones of natural hard substrate, a low-dynamic habitat with high ecological value. Decommissioning activities will therefore have a greater impact here than on the dynamic sandy soils where the current wind farms are located. On the other hand, in the gravel beds of the Princess Elisabeth zone, many win-wins can be achieved by implanting artificial hard substrate such as wind turbines and erosion protection layers. Whereas in the first zone it is advised, for reasons of natural value, to remove everything when decommissioning, in the Princess Elisabeth zone it remains to be seen how to avoid disturbance of the gravel beds during decommissioning as much as possible, and how to preserve the natural value of the artificial hard substrate in the vicinity of the gravel beds as much as possible.

Vincent Van Quickenborne, Minister for the North Sea: “Our country is among the world leaders in offshore wind. Now we are going to have to decommission the first generation of offshore wind turbines within a few years. We are now figuring that out with all kinds of agencies and researchers. Because we also want to decommission in a sustainable way. By being a pioneer in this activity, we ensure that our companies will once again be world-class specialists.”

 

The final reports of the stakeholder projects ‘Aquaculture’ and ‘Decommissioning of offshore wind farms’ will be available for consultation from mid-June on the Marine Environment Service website, specifically in the ‘North Sea Publications’ section (Dutch – French).

In its new report ‘Marine mammals in Belgium in 2022’ (available in Dutch and French), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences compiles the results of monitoring and scientific research on marine mammals in Belgium in 2022. Relatively few Harbour porpoises washed ashore, but numbers at sea were among the highest since counts began. The numbers of dead seals washed ashore follow an upward trend, although there were fewer in 2022 than in 2021. The probable birth of a young Harbour Seal in Nieuwpoort was a first for our country. Two Humpback whales, two groups of White-beaked dolphins and a Sowerby’s beaked whale are among the rarer species in the southern North Sea.

Which dead or dying marine mammals washed up on our beaches? Which causes of death could be identified? What are the trends of marine mammals in Belgium? How many seals did Sealife take in? Which rare species were observed? These are the questions to which one can find the answers in the latest marine mammal report, which focuses on the results from 2022.

Harbour porpoises

In 2022, 45 Harbour porpoises washed up on our beaches, the lowest number since 2004. Four of these stranded alive, but all died on the beach or during attempts to rescue them. One of the animals was pregnant.

However, the fact that relatively few Harbour porpoises washed ashore cannot be related to the numbers present at sea. Indeed, aerial surveys over the Belgian part of the North Sea in March and October resulted in estimates of over 11,000 and over 2,000 Harbour porpoises. The March number was the third highest number documented since surveys began in 2009. The highest number was over 18,000 in April 2018. Although Belgian waters are only part of the habitat of Southern North Sea Harbour porpoises, and numbers in Belgium can fluctuate widely, the results confirm a pattern already evident in previous years: our waters contain the largest numbers in spring, with a shift to the west – English waters – in summer and autumn.

What was striking in 2022 was that half of the strandings occurred between July and September, often involving juveniles and starved animals. In previous years, Harbour porpoises stranded mainly in March and April, the period with the highest numbers at sea, and bycatch in fishing was the main cause of death. In 2022, bycatch could only be identified in two cases, while six Harbour porpoises fell victim to predation by Grey seals. A number of Harbour porpoises were too decomposed to determine the cause of death.

Seals

With 54 seals washed ashore dead (18 Grey, 10 Common and 26 that could not be identified to species), 2022 was a quieter year than 2021, when 101 dead seals washed ashore. A large proportion of these appeared to be victims of fishing with passive gear. It seems unlikely that such fishing was conducted in a different way or in a different area in 2021 compared to previous years and 2022, so possibly the 2021 peak can be partly explained by different meteorological conditions in spring or an anomalous movement pattern of Grey seals after weaning in the English east coast colonies.

Nevertheless, 2022 involved the second highest number of dead seals in the time series. At least 14 of them died in fishing nets, all between January and May. At least one animal was killed by another seal. Many seals were too decomposed to determine the most likely cause of death.

12 Grey seals and three Harbour seals ended up in the shelter of Sealife Blankenberge in 2022. As in 2021, some young seals, both dead and alive, had noticeable injuries around the neck, no doubt caused by monofilament yarn from passive fishing gear.

A Harbour seal was probably born on the right bank of the IJzer estuary at Nieuwpoort: a first for our country. We found no other data on seal births in Belgium in the 20th or 21st century.

Rare Species

In 2022, two Humpback whales were seen in Belgian waters (May-June and December), and there were two sightings of groups of White-beaked Dolphins (June and December). The solitary Bottlenose dolphin, social towards humans, was still present in the border area with France. Also a dead Bottlenose dolphin washed ashore (October). This animal possibly died after a ship strike. In 2022, as was the case in 2020, a live Sowerby’s beaked whale washed ashore (July). This is a very rare species in the southern North Sea. The animal could be returned to the sea. A month later, very close to shore, a live, non-identified beaked whale was seen. A dead Fin whale drifted along the Belgian coast before finally washing up in the Netherlands (September-October).

Additional contributions

Boxed sections take a closer look at 30 years of ASCOBANS (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas), a project to avoid collisions of ships with whales, the role of the North Seal Team in protecting seals and measures related to the avian flu virus, which also affected marine mammals in a number of places around the world in 2022.

All marine mammals are legally protected in Belgium. Monitoring of the populations and research into explanations for the observed trends, for which the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences was appointed as the responsible institute, is part of the implementation of the Royal Decree on the protection of species in marine areas under Belgian jurisdiction, whereby, among other things, the agreements made within the Coast Guard are followed. Research into the state of health and causes of death is also an obligation in international agreements, which moreover teaches us a lot about the state of the marine environment. However, the monitoring and scientific research on marine mammals are only possible thanks to the support of the local emergency and control services and the enthusiasm and willingness to report of many observers.

The report ‘Marine mammals in Belgium in 2022’ was produced with the cooperation of the Department of Veterinary Pathology of the University of Liège, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Ghent, Sealife Blankenberge and the North Seal Team.

For information on recent sightings of marine mammals in Belgium and instructions on what to do when stranded, please visit the website marinemammals.be. The annual marine mammal reports (available in Dutch and French) can also be consulted here.

In 2021, an article in Nature made world headlines because it equated the carbon released from seabed disturbance due to bottom trawling to the amount of CO2 generated by the global aviation industry. Now these conclusions are refuted by an article also published in the prestigious journal. The authors, including Sebastiaan van de Velde of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, fear that using exaggerated figures for bottom trawling will increase global CO2 emissions while reducing global food supply.

An article published today in Nature refutes the conclusions of an earlier paper by Sala et al on the amount of CO2 released from the seabed by bottom trawling. That article made world headlines when it was published in 2021 because it equated the carbon released from disturbance by bottom trawling to the amount of CO2 generated by the global aviation industry.

In the new paper, however, researchers show that the methodology used by Sala et al greatly overestimated carbon emissions. To calculate the amount of CO2 released by bottom disturbance from bottom trawling, the authors of the 2021 study modelled the amount of carbon that would be disturbed, assuming that most of this carbon would be converted to CO2.

However, most of the organic carbon in the seabed would decompose and be released as CO2 anyway, regardless of whether it is disturbed by bottom trawling. Only a very small proportion of seabed carbon potentially responds to disturbance by bottom fishing. The effect of bottom trawling on carbon storage in the ocean floor appears to be as much as 100 to 1,000 times smaller than that of global air transport, according to the new study.

“The authors of the original study focused their calculations on the ‘juicy’ and reactive organic carbon at the surface, which would be rapidly released by natural processes anyway, rather than on the aged and much less reactive carbon stored on the seabed,” explains Sebastiaan van de Velde, senior researcher at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and second author of the study. “Since the most reactive carbon is rapidly converted into CO2 anyway, assuming it is affected by bottom trawling greatly inflates the estimated CO2 emissions.”

Unjustly reassured

There is no doubt that bottom trawling disrupts natural carbon fluxes and disturbs marine life on the ocean floor, but seabed carbon fluxes are very complex. The use of exaggerated figures is worrying as many governments and other actors propose to ban bottom trawling and use “carbon credits” to offset other activities. But when the carbon emissions from disturbing the seabed are overestimated by several orders of magnitude, we risk being unduly reassured by any ban on bottom trawling. In reality, this could divert efforts away from more efficient methods, while in the meantime increasing overall carbon emissions while decreasing global food supply.

“Refuting results of previous studies is part of the classical scientific process: one study presents a hypothesis, others challenge it with their own experiments, and that’s how we get closer to the truth,” van de Velde concludes.