Skip to content
All articles
  • All articles
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
Orca Lulu's body contained PCB levels 100x above the safe limit. Image: SMASS

Toxic tides, troubled whales: the toll of chemical pollution

In last week's blog, we examined the challenges whales and dolphins face as they travel...
Group of orcas at surface

Breaking barriers for whales and dolphins at the Convention of Migratory Species

Many species of whales, dolphins and porpoises undertake long journeys, encountering human-made obstacles along the...
Tokyo

WDC in Japan – Part 1: Finding allies in Tokyo

At the end of May, I embarked on an incredible journey to Japan on behalf...
Amazon river dolphins leaping

The state of river dolphin conservation

At Whale and Dolphin Conservation, we partner with conservationists and communities fighting to save river...
Researchers in Southeast Alaska studying whale poo

We’re funding crucial research on whale poo to combat the climate crisis

The ocean is one of the lungs of our planet, and whales help it to...
Narwhal surfacing

The unicorns of the sea must be protected – CITES

The narwhal, is under threat. Often referred to as the unicorns of the sea, narwhals,...
Sperm whales

We’re pushing governments for action for our climate heroes – whales

The climate crisis is the greatest threat to all life on Earth. But there is...
Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...

Global interest in report on impacts of marine renewable energy on whales and dolphins

While generating increasing amounts of energy from marine renewable sources such as wind, wave or tides could help reduce our overreliance on fossil fuels, marine renewable energy developments (MREDs) that are designed, placed, built, operated and decommissioned without a thought for their potential impact on local whale and dolphin populations could prove disastrous. 

To highlight the potential impacts posed to whales and dolphins by current and future MREDs, WDC published a report in late 2013 entitled Marine Renewable Energy: A Global Review of the Extent of Marine Renewable Energy Developments, the Developing Technologies and Possible Conservation Implications for Cetaceans

This report is aimed at governments, MRED developers and other key parties in the marine renewable energy industry. It has proved highly popular, with requests for copies of the report coming from Canada, the USA, China and Uruguay, and from governments, charities, offshore renewable developers and students worldwide.

It’s no surprise that there should be an avid global audience for such a report – while MREDs have until recent years mostly been located in European waters, more recently China and the USA have seen accelerating expansions of MREDs in their waters too.

Feedback from readers of the report has been gratifyingly positive, with readers stating, for example, that ‘we have needed for years a report that brings all this information into one place’ and ‘this is extremely useful’. Readers say they particularly appreciate the detail of the results of current research and the recommendations for governments and developers.

Off the back of the report, developers and governmental organisations have been contacting WDC to arrange meetings and to seek further advice, particularly regarding mitigation measures and monitoring of whales and dolphins in development areas.

WDC supports the development of marine renewable energy and recommends that it is located away from critical and important areas for whales, dolphins and porpoises to avoid negatively impacting them.