1. Who are you, and what is the name of your institute?
My name is Helen, I am a Project Officer for the Marine Characterisation Research Project (MCRP), which is
an innovative research and development project run by Menter Môn; designed to support the
environmentally sensitive implementation of tidal stream energy devices in the Morlais Demonstration
Zone (MDZ), Anglesey, North Wales.
Menter Môn is a not-for-profit social enterprise, based in Anglesey that works across North West Wales. Its objective is to add value to the local area by building on the region’s resources, benefiting the environment, cultural heritage and economic growth while upholding Welsh language in the community.
2. What type of data does your institute produce, how is it produced, and in which
regions do you operate?
The monitoring technology and survey methods contributing to this projects data outputs have been used
in isolation by other projects and organisations, but have not been combined to record data on marine
mammals, diving sea birds, and migrating fish in this way before. This innovative combination of data
collection technology will help deliver a synchronized, holistic evidence base and rich detailed picture of biological activity present in the Morlais Demonstration Zone.
The MCRP has, since its inception in April 2022, collected around 40 TB of data. This data has been obtained through a variety of different environmental monitoring survey methods, therefore the formats are wide-ranging and include: images and photos, sound files, observation logs, GPS location databases, processed output spreadsheets and algorithm programming code.
3. How will your project add value to existing data flows?
Menter Môn holds a 45-year lease for the Morlais Demonstration Zone, and tidal stream energy operations
are expected to continue until at least the year 2059. This means, due to the requirements of the Morlais Marine Licence conditions to monitor and safeguard marine wildlife around deployed turbines, that marine environmental data collection is planned to continue during the Morlais project.
With monitoring sensors planned to be deployed in a 24/7 integrated offshore system and ecological
surveys planned to continue at regular intervals, the project provides a unique opportunity to gather long-
term datasets in a standardised format, to enable analysis of long-term patterns and natural variations due
to, e.g. marine heatwaves, prey availability or avian flu.
4. What is the expected impact of your proposed project?
Menter Môn is committed to safeguarding the natural environment. The MCRP Project will develop an
Environmental Monitoring and Mitigation Plan (EMMP) which will limit and monitor potential impacts on marine life, in particular marine mammals and seabirds, during the operation of Morlais. The research will be used as a tool to inform the scale of each phased deployment of turbines, in consultation with subject matter experts.
The work undertaken during the MCRP will contribute to the integration of technologies such as sonar,
underwater cameras, passive acoustic monitoring, acoustic deterrent devices and thermal imaging
cameras, and their novel application offshore in a challenging environment.
The MCRP hope to develop a repeatable template for future commercial scale deployments of tidal stream
turbines in Wales and nationwide. This will allow Morlais and other developments to unlock the renewable
energy industry in Wales, UK and worldwide, helping to generate clean electricity, increase energy security
and mitigate the effects of global climate change.
5. How will this involvement or opportunity enhance your institute's capacity?
The MDZ and surrounding area of Anglesey is an ecologically sensitive region. The cliffs at South Stack are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a key seabird breeding site in Wales. The MDZ itself lies within a Special Area of Conservation for harbour porpoise and the coastal area falls within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
This area has not been monitored before on such a scale, therefore the MCRP data is contributing to filling
a key biological data gap; and helping Natural Resources Wales (NRW), who are the regulator in Wales, to
understand the population size, movements and behaviour of marine wildlife, and make decisions with
confidence.
The MCRP hope that by applying the mechanisms shared in the DTO-Bioflow workshop to the data
collected, it will be more easily accessible by other institutions for application in their research and
industries.