19 Nov 2024

Friends of the Earth Germany, Bund für Umwelt- und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) filed a lawsuit against the German government to end bottom trawling, which is taking place in the Dogger Bank European Marine Protected Area. BUND – a member of Brussels-based marine NGO Seas At Risk, which is supporting the lawsuit – had already lodged an […]

05 Dec 2023

RWE has signed an agreement with the UAE’s clean energy developer, known as Masdar, to develop a 3 gigawatt (GW) wind project off the east coast of England, capable of powering around 3 million homes. The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said the agreement included a commitment from the two companies to invest up to 11 […]

05 Sep 2023

Offshore construction has officially started at RWE’s 1.4 gigawatt (GW) Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, to install essential subsea cable infrastructure from the UK’s north east coast to the wind farm site on Dogger Bank, in the central North Sea. Cable contractor Prysmian’s high-tech Leonardo da Vinci vessel will lay the first section of high voltage direct current […]

20 Jun 2023

A Marine Management Organisation investigation using aerial surveillance, Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) records and analysis of e-log and sales note information resulted in the owner and master of a vessel admitting a total of seven charges at Plymouth magistrates. The court was told the vessel was spotted and photographed fishing for scallops in the closed […]

20 Dec 2022

The Dogger Bank marine protected area (MPA), has experienced a 98% decrease in bottom towed fishing since a ban was introduced, according to research by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). In June 2022, a byelaw came into force that banned damaging fishing activities from four English offshore MPAs. Between June and October (2015-2019), an average […]

02 Aug 2022

Work has started in the North Sea on what is expected to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm. SSE and Equinor hail first of 277 units that will support GE Haliade-X turbines at massive development off eastern England. The first of 277 turbine foundations are being installed at Dogger Bank, off the Yorkshire coast, […]

03 May 2022

Work has begun to install the first length of cable for what will be the world’s largest wind farm, firing the starting pistol on offshore construction. Energy Voice has reported that tier one supplier NKT is leading the work to fit the Dogger Bank A nearshore, HVDC export cable off the coast of Yorkshire. It […]

01 Mar 2022

Chris Grayling, MP, is introducing a Ten Minute Rule Motion entitled ‘Marine Protected Areas (Bottom Trawling)’. We covered previously that a study noted that Brexit may bring some benefits to the environment as it has enabled the UK to reclaim the autonomy to designate offshore marine protected areas. For example, this has enabled a proposal to […]