Skip to content
All articles
  • All articles
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Fundraising
  • Green Whale
  • Kids blogs
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
Dolphin in Brazil helping with fishing illustration

Dolphins and fishermen working together

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Gray whale (eschrichtius robustus) Gray whale in Ojo de liebre lagoon Baja California.

Why we’re walking for whales to save the world

We've got enormous ambitions when it comes to fighting climate breakdown, and so two members...
Dolphins with keepers in the new Windsor Safari Park. Image: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo

Three decades on from UK’s last dolphin show, what needs to change?

The UK hasn't had captive whales and dolphins on display for 30 years, but it's...
Fishers' involvement is crucial. Image: WDC/JTF

When porpoises and people overlap

We're funding a project in Hong Kong that's working with fishing communities to help save...
Whale evolution cover

How did whales end up living in the ocean?

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Fishers chatting

Scottish fishers working with us to reduce risks to whales

Small changes to fishing gear could make a big difference to whales around Scotland, and...

Mindful conservation – why we need a new respect for nature

'We should look at whales and dolphins as the indigenous people of the seas -...
tins of whale meat

How Japan’s whaling industry is trying to convince people to eat whales

Japan's hunters kill hundreds of whales every year despite the fact that hardly anyone in...

Good news for Welsh Whales and Dolphins

Here at WDC we welcome the recent news that a large wind farm that was proposed in the Irish Sea, has been withdrawn.

The Rhiannon offshore wind farm was to be situated 12 miles off the coast of Anglesey, consisting of over 400 turbines and covering an unprecedented 497 km2  – an area where there have been very few surveys to assess whale and dolphin populations, so it is hard to know how important an area it is for them.

It would have certainly impacted on bottlenose dolphins, especially the animals from the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC) that winter off Anglesey. Risso’s dolphins could also have been impacted, including those WDC has been researching since 1999 at Bardsey Island as they potentially move between Bardsey and Isle of Man.

Harbour porpoises would have been most affected by Rhiannon, the length of the construction phase with 16 years of pile driving, would mean the development would continue over several harbour porpoise life spans. If they are disturbed they may not return after development has completed, which has happened in other areas where offshore wind farms have been developed.

We also had concerns over the lack of mitigation measures and lack of any monitoring proposals. The size of the population management units meant the assessment does not take into account local populations, migrating animals and potential barrier effects.

We continue to support the development of marine renewable energy and recommend that it is located away from critical and important areas for whales, dolphins and porpoises; and foundations that do not require pile driving are developed, to avoid negatively impacting them.

About Vicki James

Green Whale research coordinator