Tetra Tech’s Tessa McGarry, associate director, discusses her learnings from a research study of minke whales, their response to acoustic deterrents, and how it could hold the key to improving offshore wind permitting.
Could the outcomes of a recently published research study on minke whales and their responses to Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs) in Iceland help to improve the process of gaining consent for offshore wind farm development projects?
In late summer 2016, the aptly named research vessel ‘Song of the Whale’ undertook a journey in Faxaflói Bay, in south-west Iceland. The bay is a common feeding ground for minke whales during the summer season and was therefore an ideal area to conduct research on this species.
The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs) to displace minke whales, to explore the sensitivity of this low frequency species to noise signals from ADDs.
In a little over a month, the researchers on board carefully observed 246 minke whales, tracked 46 of them and deployed ADDs within 500m of them in ten separate controlled trials. The study provided evidence that the tracked whales clearly reacted to signals at the upper limit of their hearing sensitivity, avoiding a 15 kHz ADD. In every deployment of the ADDs, the whales responded strongly and moved away from the source of the noise.
This study was conducted by the Marine Conservation Research team, in collaboration with Tetra Tech. Its outcomes have been published online in the Inter-Research Science Publisher Journal, as part of a Marine Ecology Progress Series. This project was undertaken through the Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Partnership (ORJIP) managed through the Carbon Trust and funded by developers.
The learnings from this study could help mitigate some of the existing challenges faced within offshore wind permitting, particularly around consent for exploration and asset development.
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About the author
Tessa McGarry
Tessa McGarry is an associate director for marine ecology and habitat regulation assessment with our offshore energy team in the UK and Europe.
She is based in the UK and works with our Offshore Energy teams on projects around the world.
The project featured in this article was undertaken by RPS, A Tetra Tech Company and originally published on RPSgroup.com. In March 2026 RPS rebranded to Tetra Tech.