Reef effect of offshore structures on the occurrence and foraging activity of harbour porpoises

With increasing numbers of offshore structures to be decommissioned, a better understanding of their effect on marine predators is timely. There is some evidence that oil and gas platforms may attract marine mammals acting as artificial reefs. However, it is unclear whether different man-made structure designs have similar effects. Further, due to the lack of baseline data prior to installation, it is unknown whether artificial structures modify the diel patterns of occurrence and foraging behaviour of marine mammals. Here, we used passive acoustics to investigate the occurrence and foraging activity of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) around three artificial structures of different age and complexity. We deployed an array of echolocation click detectors (CPODs) in 2021, along a gradient of distances to these structures and assessed the extent to which porpoises were attracted to them. We also investigated the effect of these structures on the diel patterns of occurrence and foragi..., Echolocation detectors (CPODs; Chelonia Ltd) were deployed in August 2021 to study the occurrence and foraging activity of harbour porpoises around three redundant artificial structures within Scottish shelf waters: Jacky Wellhead O&G platform, Beatrice Bravo O&G platform, and Beatrice Demonstrator turbines (offshore renewable energy)., Data consist of 20 files and include the datasets and R code required to repeat all the analyses. A full description of the files provided in the OFB_ReefEffect_Readme.txt file:
1.      OFB_ReefEffect_CPODexe_HP-Clickdetails_Aug2021.csv
2.      OFB_ReefEffect_CPODexe_HP-DPH_perDAY_2021.txt
3.      OFB_ReefEffect_CPODexe_HP-PPM_perHOUR_2021.txt
4.      OFB_ReefEffect_CPODexe_MaxClickInfo_perDAY_Aug21.csv
5.      OFB_ReefEffect_TPODexe_HP-ClickTimes_2005.csv
6.      OFB_ReefEffect_TPODexe_HP-PPM_perHOUR_2005.txt
7.      OFB_ReefEffect_HP-DPH-BPH_perDAY.csv
8.      OFB_ReefEffect_HP-DPH-BPH_perDAY_FinalDataset.csv
9.      OFB_ReefEffect_ HP-DPH-BPH_perDAYNIGHT_FinalDataset.csv
10.  OFB_ReefEffect_HP-PPM-BPM_perHOUR_2021.csv
11.  OFB_ReefEffect_HP-PPM-BPM_perHOUR_2005.csv
12.  OFB_ReefEffect_HP-PPM-BPM_Pre-Post-FinalDataset.csv
13.  OFB_ReefEffect_OffshoreStructures_Locations.csv
14.  OFB_ReefEffect_PAMLocations.csv
15.  OFB_ReefEffect - Buzz extraction and summarise perHour and perDay.R
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