Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are developing since 2008 in Belgium and are expected to meet the 43% of renewable energy produced by OWFs for the Belgian 2020 targets. However, the growing development of OWFs is producing a physical disturbance to the seabed, which could potentially affect marine mammals, birds, macrobenthic and epibenthic communities. Prior to the obtention of an environmental permit, a mandatory assessment and monitoring of the potential impacts on the marine environment, including the communities living in the sediments is carried out. In this study, macrobenthic samples were collected before the construction of about 300 turbines in Norther area and in its assigned reference area, to evaluate whether it is a satisfying reference site for applying a Before After Control Impact monitoring strategy. No significant difference between the two locations was observed except in terms of community structure and a slightly larger diversity has been observed in the FAR samples, thus the reference area is considered as relevant. This study constitutes a baseline for the evaluation of impact of natural and human induced effects related to the presence of OWFs on the macrobenthos.
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