Fish Tales From The Wind Industry

Making the rounds on the internet today are reports of a Danish study showing fish thriving around offshore wind farms.
Fish Thriving Around Wind Farms reports on the excellent news, eventually noting a couple of factors, from the study around 1 wind farm, a cynic might not attribute to offshore wind turbines:

Offshore turbines at Horns Rev are sunk deep into the seabed and surrounded by a rim of large piles of stones, which prevents the sea currents eroding deep trenches in the sand around the turbines. The study suggests that these stone structures also act as artificial reefs

... 

Since the Horns Rev 1 was built, the area has been closed to all fishing activities. As a result, the park has become a kind of mini protected area, although it has been too small to have had any significantly positive effects on local fish stocks.

I thought the concern with marine life being impacted by wind turbines was primarily on species using sonar.  I'm no expert, but I think those are known as predators.

Regardless, this isn't the first indication that power generation can be good for wildlife - if it is accompanied by closing the area to activities, and especially if it removes predators.

The area around Chernobyl is teeming with wildlife now. 

“Horns Rev is situated in an extremely tough environment with strong wave action, which means for example that seaweed forests, together with the small fish that live in them, cannot establish themselves. We would therefore expect the positive reef effects to be even greater still in a park located for example in the more sheltered Kattegat,” says the DTU Aqua scientist.
Since the Horns Rev 1 was built, the area has been closed to all fishing activities.

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/199eA)

“Horns Rev is situated in an extremely tough environment with strong wave action, which means for example that seaweed forests, together with the small fish that live in them, cannot establish themselves. We would therefore expect the positive reef effects to be even greater still in a park located for example in the more sheltered Kattegat,” says the DTU Aqua scientist.
Since the Horns Rev 1 was built, the area has been closed to all fishing activities.

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/199e

“Horns Rev is situated in an extremely tough environment with strong wave action, which means for example that seaweed forests, together with the small fish that live in them, cannot establish themselves. We would therefore expect the positive reef effects to be even greater still in a park located for example in the more sheltered Kattegat,” says the DTU Aqua scientist.
Since the Horns Rev 1 was built, the area has been closed to all fishing activities. As a result, the park has become a kind of mini protected area

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/199eA)

The study is the first to examine the effects of a Danish wind farm on fish life. However, researchers do not expect that the results will necessarily be replicated in the other 11 wind farms located in Danish waters.
“Horns Rev is situated in an extremely tough environment with strong wave action, which means for example that seaweed forests, together with the small fish that live in them, cannot establish themselves. We would therefore expect the positive reef effects to be even greater still in a park located for example in the more sheltered Kattegat,” says the DTU Aqua scientist.
Since the Horns Rev 1 was built, the area has been closed to all fishing activities. As a result, the park has become a kind of mini protected area

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/199eA)

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