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The partnership will focus on restoration and enhancement of marine biodiversity and will investigative new potential nature inclusive designs.
University College Dublin (UCD) and Codling Wind Park, a proposed 1,300 MW offshore wind farm off the Co Wicklow coast, are teaming up to launch a new research project aimed at promoting and enhancing marine biodiversity across the east coast of Ireland.
Funded by Codling Wind Park, the partnership will explore the potential for restoring native oyster reefs and seagrass beds in the Dublin Bay area and selected sites across the coastline.
The project will also investigate eco-engineering approaches that can be used to increase habitat complexity for native species, and intertidal and subtidal marine species such as algae, molluscs, shrimp and fish among others.
The UCD-Codling team will explore several biodiversity-enhancing scour protection solutions that have proven benefits in supporting the ocean’s health by creating artificial reef systems. The team will also utilise existing research from UCD for new potential nature inclusive design options.
The partnership has committed to completing a lobster hatchery feasibility study. The hatchery, which would involve raising and releasing lobsters into the Irish sea, will improve the area’s biodiversity and increase sustainable fishing opportunities.
Paul Brooks, an assistant professor at UCD’s School of Biology and Environmental Science, said that one of the aims of the research partnership is to broaden their understanding of the uses of nature-based solutions (NbS) in restoring and promoting diversity.
“NbS utilise the inherent power of nature to provide sustainable and multifaceted solutions to complex problems. In partnership with Codling Wind Park, UCD researchers aim to investigate and assess the value of NbS, with a particular focus on eco-engineering approaches and the restoration of oyster reefs and seagrass beds along the Irish coast,” he said.
“Gathering this data will help broaden our understanding of NbS and will help underpin the direction of future research in an Irish context.”
The result of the research project’s investigations will be available by mid-2025, according to Codling Wind Park project director Scott Sutherland.
“In addition to advancing knowledge in the field of blue carbon research, the results, which will be available towards the middle of next year, will also inform potentially suitable eco-engineering options both for Codling Wind Park and also the wider offshore renewable industry in Ireland.”
Codling Wind Park, a joint venture project between EDF Renewables and Fred Olsen Seawind, is set to be Ireland’s largest phase one offshore wind project and will be located approximately between 13 and 22 kilometres off the coast of Co Wicklow between Greystones and Wicklow Town.
Planning permission for the proposed Park was sent to An Board Pleanála recently, and if approved, the park will have a proposed generating capacity of up to 1,300 MW of electricity, which could be enough to power more than 1m homes.
The research partnership with UCD, a voluntary initiative, is separate to the park’s development, the partnership said.
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