General framework of the activity
IFREMER is a French institute that undertakes research and expert assessments to advance knowledge on the oceans and their resources, monitor the marine environment and foster the sustainable development of maritime activities. As an integrated marine sciences research institute, IFREMER’s four scientific departments contribute to national research and innovation as well as to the European research landscape.
The Atlantic Centre is one of the 5 regional centres operated by Ifremer. It includes the headquarter facility in Nantes and 4 connected stations along the coastline of the Bay of Biscay, from the mouth of Vilaine River to the Spanish Border. Atlantic Centre laboratories are involved in 3 main scientific areas: coastal environment, marine living resources and marine biotechnologies.
Specific skills in the MRE field
The research and monitoring activities of IFREMER can be applied to issues related to MRE, in particular on the monitoring of wind farms impacts on fauna and flora or the acoustic monitoring of impacts on the pelagic ecosystem.
Projects in MRE
2 projects are currently underway in Loire-Atlantique:
Image Sonde: Monitoring the impacts of offshore wind farms on micronecton and jellyfishes populations by imaging (ZooScan)
Offshore wind power immersed structures are analogous to artificial reefs that promote the installation of fixed fauna and flora in an environment where they were initially absent. Monitoring the impact of Loire Atlantique offshore windpower farms on jellyfish and fish population is therefore necessary to anticipate the potential change of services provided by the ecosystem, and its impact on human activities, in the vicinity of the farm.
- Innovative coupling between imaging (ImageSonde) and acoustics (Ec(h)osonde) for the monitoring of RME installations impacts on micronekton and jellyfishes
- Data collection to study the interaction between RME and fisheries
- Development and use of efficient machine learning tools and methods to automatize the analysis of imaging data.
Ec(h)oSonde: Integrated acoustic monitoring of renewable marine energy impact on pelagic ecosystems
Two large scale offshore windfarms are to be built near the French Pays de la Loire region coast. The Ec(h)oSonde project aims at developing an integrated acoustic observatory to monitor the impact of renewable marine energy (RME) on coastal pelagic ecosystems.
- Methods for integrated acoustic monitoring of renewable marine energy (RME) impact on pelagic ecosystems
- Data collection for coastal pelagic ecosystem monitoring and RME production units biofouling control
