Project description
How offshore wind farm-generated magnetic fields affect migratory fish
Subsea power cables from offshore wind farms create strong magnetic fields (MFs) that can affect marine species. The European eel is an important model for studying the impacts of these MFs on migratory fish. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MAGNIFISH project will study the European eel by establishing dose-response norms for glass eels and elvers exposed to MF intensities of 50 to 380 µT. It will examine how MFs affect neuroendocrine regulation, physiology, and behaviour during vulnerable life stages, as well as their impact on the magnetic orientation and migration success in fish. It will develop a risk assessment framework to identify harmful MF intensities and safe distances from power cables.
Objective
Europe is at the forefront of the renewable energy transition, with the expansion of offshore wind farms, but the deployment of power subsea cables introduces a ubiquitous yet poorly understood anthropogenic stressor: magnetic fields (MFs). These MFs exceed Earth’s natural geomagnetic field and induce behavioural and physiological changes in marine species, suggesting a stress response. One of the knowledge gaps in this field is the neuroendocrine signaling system that controls behavioural and physiological stress responses in fish. Moreover, magnetosensitive fishes that rely on geomagnetic cues for migration are likely to be more vulnerable to anthropogenic MFs. The MAGNIFISH project focuses on the European eel that is a pertinent model species due to its critically endangered status, magnetosensitivity, and exposure to power grids during its inland and seaward migrations. Thus, eels provide a broadly applicable framework for assessing and mitigating MF impacts on other commercially important migratory fishes. I will establish dose-response reaction norms in two early life stages (glass eels and elvers) across an environmentally relevant gradient of MF intensities (50-380 µT). This will pinpoint response thresholds across biological scales—from neuroendocrine regulation to physiological and behavioural changes—and identify most vulnerable life stages to anthropogenic MFs. Subsequently, I will test if MF exposure alters the innate magnetic orientation behaviour in migratory fish, directly assessing impacts on migratory success. The resulting predictive risk assessment framework will determine MF intensities that compromise fish migratory success and fitness, and estimate the distance from cables at which migrating species would be affected. MAGNIFISH will generate new insights and knowledge into MF impact research, ultimately improving environmental risk assessments, guiding effective conservation strategies, and informing sustainable offshore energy development.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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5817 Bergen
Norway
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