Page 228 - Alderney Regional Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy: Environmental Report

Alderney Regional Environmental Assessment of Renewable Energy:
Environmental Report
At a project level, the following survey activities may be required:
ƒ AIS data - further work will involve obtaining and processing readily available AIS-A
data from the Channel Islands. It is understood that commercial data providers have
AIS records available which could be used to inform renewable individual site specific
assessments. Both AIS-A and AIS-B data should be used. AIS-B data is required to
provide a complete view of commercial shipping, this will address missing commercial
vessels smaller than 300 GT, plus provide information on other categories of none AIS-
A vessels including recreational and fishing vessels. Whilst the use of AIS-B is not
mandatory and therefore not universally adopted by smaller vessels, the confidence
and reliability of the data will usefully supplement the commercial vessels identified
through AIS-A datasets, however it must be recognised that AIS-B has range
limitations relating to the power of transmissions of 2 Watts, giving a range of circa
10nm. Therefore local survey or site selection will be required to ensure confidence of
spatial coverage.
ƒ Radar data - radar surveys can be used to track the movements of all vessels (in
comparison to AIS data which represents only those vessels transmitting their
position). No radar survey work has been undertaken to inform this REA. To improve
the coverage of vessel traffic data, and specifically to quantify non-AIS craft within
Alderney waters, a dedicated radar survey covering a summer and winter period would
be necessary which will also provide greater information to define recreational racing
areas and RYA cruising routes.
7.3.1.5 Study area
The study area considered by this REA chapter is shown by the boundary on Figure 26. This
includes the wider study incorporating the Casquet TSS and traffic within the ITZ.
7.3.2 Impact Assessment
The Draft Plan has the potential to affect commercial shipping and recreational navigation in
the study area through a number of impact pathways which are assessed in the following
sections:
ƒ Collision risk (Section 7.3.2.1);
ƒ Changes to commercial shipping movement (Section 7.3.2.2);
ƒ Effects on small craft navigation (Section 7.3.2.3);
ƒ Potential for moorings to become a navigational hazard (Section 7.3.2.4);
ƒ Potential for any marker buoys to become a navigational hazard (Section 7.3.2.5);
ƒ Increased/Altered steaming times and distances (Section 7.3.2.6);
ƒ Reduced visibility when barges and construction equipment obstruct views (Section
7.3.2.7);
ƒ Potential for Structures and Cabling to Interfere with Navigational Equipment (Section
7.3.2.8);
ƒ Potential for equipment parts to become detached from devices (Section 7.3.2.9);
ƒ Lighting of tidal works and structures causing confusion to passing vessels (Section
7.3.2.10);
R/4001/7 204 R.2129