Despites the “green and sustainable” communication about renewable energy we must notice that not only the financial cost is very high but also the economic cost, especially for fisherman!

Day in, day out, new windfarms are being designed or installed.  The locations are not chosen randomly and these locations are for the clear majority good fishing grounds fished from generations. 

Fisherman are simply banned from these locations with no consultation whatsoever.  Consequences are heavy and push fisherman further and further away from known fishing grounds.  This means more fuel, more incertitude and less profitability.  

On the environmental side, the consequences of continuous underwater work with (very) heavy machines, the noise pollution generated by the turbines already have negative consequences on marine life and the propellers are killing birds every day.

Some fishing techniques are in the line of fire for NGO’s due to bottom disturbance and risk to be banned in the future.  Looking at the sonar picture (source EMK) of a trench being digged for an underwater cable it’s easy to conclude that this will have a huge impact on marine life. Some will say a lot more than trawling.

Concertation is a must but completely absent at this point.