Does offshore wind construction hurt ocean life? Massachusetts scientists study noise impact.

WOODS HOLE - Researchers in Massachusetts are studying how noise from the construction of offshore wind turbines is impacting ocean life.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is looking at how "pile driving" during the process of installing the giant turbines affects small sea creatures like flounder and lobsters.

"The species are lowered in the water and exposed to pile driving every seven seconds," WHOI said in a statement. "While the steel post being used by researchers at the WHOI dock is only a foot wide, the data can be scaled up and compared to the 30-foot-wide pile drivers being used by wind developers."

"Fitbits for lobsters"

Using small, non-invasive monitors described as "Fitbits for lobsters" and tiny sensor tags for the flounder, the scientists are measuring heart rates and any changes in behavior. WHOI says it will take about a year to analyze the data.

The team of scientists is doing similar work on squid and scallops. They say the squid have been squirting ink and changing color when exposed to loud noise, but they "quickly adjust" to the environmental changes. The scallops, however, are clamming up and not adjusting the way squid do.

"The science we are providing is imperative to help make informed decisions about impacts to marine life,"  WHOI biologist Aran Mooney said.

Controversy over offshore wind

Some groups have blamed offshore wind development for whale deaths. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a biological opinion this August that said pile driving by Vineyard Wind "is likely to adversely affect, but is not likely to jeopardize" the existence of whales, sea turtles and fish in the area. 

Vineyard Wind, which had a broken wind turbine fall into the ocean off Nantucket this summer, said last year that it was investing in "bubble curtain" technology, which uses hoses and special air compressors to absorb and dampen sound during construction.