Analysis of the behavior of gray rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii Hilgendorf) on the construction of wind power generators in the sea area around Byeonsan Peninsula, Korea

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of underwater noise caused by pile driving during marine construction on fish. In this study, the three gray rockfish were released about 1 km away from the construction site of wind power generation on July 18, 2018 and traced using two acoustic telemetry techniques. The behavior of the fish was analyzed by calculating the moving distance, swimming speed and direction of the gray rockfish. In the results of the acoustic tracking using the ship, the rockfish moved about 2.11 km for about two hours at a speed of $0.28{\pm}0.14m/s$ (0.94 TL/s). The bottom depth of the trajectory of the rockfish was $1.0{\pm}0.6m$ on average. There was a significant directionality in swimming direction of the gray rockfish, and there was no significant correlation between the swimming direction and tidal current direction. Moving distance during 5 minutes (5MD) during pile driving and finishing operations between rock surface and bedrock were 0.94-0.96 times (76.0-77.0 m) and 1.81-2.73 times (146.0-219.5 m), respectively, compared with no pile driving. This study is expected to be used as a basic data of fish behavior research on underwater noise.

변산반도 주변해역에서 풍력발전기 건설공사에 대한 조피볼락(Sebastes schlegelii Hilgendorf )의 행동분석