Pioneering environmental studies recognized by the international scientific community

Plos One and Limnology & Oceanography Methods, two international scientific publications, have approved the methodology and protocol for measuring the effects of noise on scallops. Frédéric Olivier, Mathilde Gigot, Delphine Mathias, Youenn Jezequel, Tarik Meziane, Christophe L'Her, Laurend Chauvaud, Julien Bonnel published in February 2023 in Limonology & Oceanography Methods an article entitled "Evaluating the impacts of anthropogenic sounds on the early stages of benthic invertebrates: the larvosonic system ". The scientists conclude that the larvosonic system is an effective tool for bioacoustic research on benthic-planktonic invertebrate species. The larvosonic system was designed, developed and tested by the scientists. It consists of a plexiglass tank allowing both larval rearing and the diffusion of known sounds undistorted by the tank itself. This system has been implemented at the Tinduff (Plougastel - 29) within the scallop hatchery.

On January 11, 2023, Elie Retailleau, Arthur Chauvaud, Gaetan Richard, Delphine Mathias, Laurent Chauvaud, Sarah Reynaud, Jerom Mars, Sylvain Chauvaud published in the journal Plos One an article entitled " The nocturnal life of scallops (Pecten maximus, L.): the first description of their natural daily valve opening cycle". This pioneering study on the behavior of scallops carried out in 2021 in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, led by the research firm SOMME, made it possible to characterize the activity of the scallops over several weeks, through their valve movements.
The results and conclusions of the monitoring measurements on the noise of scallops will be published in scientific journals in the coming months.

In October 2022, Mathilde Gigot defended her thesis "Characterization of the acoustic impact of pile-driving and drilling works associated with offshore wind turbine constructions on the larval stages of the marine bivalves Pecten maximus and Venus verrucosa".

This thesisfunded by the CNRS, was conducted under the supervision of Laurent Chauvaud (LEMAR), Julien Bonnel (WHOI) and Frédéric Olivier (BOREA). Ailes Marines has provided funding for laboratory experiments as part of the project IMPAIC PROJECT.

This scientific doctoral thesis (UBO) aimed to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic noise on the larval stages of two species of bivalves: the scallop Pecten maximus and the meadowlark Venus verrucosa, and more specifically the effect of pounding and drilling noise on the parameters of larval development.

The work concludes that the survival rates of scallop larvae and post-larvae are always higher than 96% for a 4-day exposure. The biology of the animal is modified in very small proportions during these experiments.

As part of the wind farm project in the Bay of Saint Brieuc, Ailes Marines has had environmental consultants carry out numerous observations over a period of five years. More than fifty different species have been identified in and around the wind farm site.

Ailes Marines has set up a species monitoring system using telemetry, which consists of equipping gannets with a GPS beacon. This beacon transmits the bird's position live. Within the framework of the Saint-Brieuc project, this beacon is used to trace the movements of the gannets under the direction of Dr. David Gremillet, CNRS Research Director, Spatial Ecology of Populations Team.

The first results show that gannets do not prefer the park area but concentrate their movements in the near coast and in the English Channel.