To reduce the number of interventions and maintenance operations, it is necessary to monitor the proliferation of marine fouling in real time and over a long period. This is why it is necessary to have an in situ optical video system that is protected for as long as possible against biocolonisation.

The objective of the ABIOP project was to develop biofouling characterisation and quantification methods to make the design and maintenance of ORE systems more reliable. ABIOP has identified the research needs that will enable better identification and management of the risks relating to the ORE components most sensitive to biofouling. Initial in situ measurements were also carried out to characterise biocolonisation in the Atlantic and Mediterranean from an engineering and environmental point of view. The necessary additional studies are being carried out within the framework of the ABIOP+ project.

Report describing the methodology and results of the simulations

Measurement of the diameter of the biocolonised moorings and the composition of the biofouling at T+12 months of immersion.

This report focuses on two important parameters for biofouling image analysis: the artificial light and the distance to the structure. The first section presents the available tool that was already deployed in several studies in link with industrial needs (O’Byrne et al., 2018c) and the laboratory equipment. Section 2 focuses on the automatic segmentation algorithm and the indicators of quality of assessments. Finally section 3 introduces configurations that were tested and the key results.

The consequences of climate change for marine organisms are now well-known, and include metabolism and behavior modification, distribution area shifts and changes in the community. In the Bay of Biscay, the potential environmental niches of subtropical non-indigenous species (NIS) are projected to expand as a response to sea temperature rise by the mid-century under the RCP8.5 climate change scenario. In this context, this study aims to project the combined effects of changes in indigenous species distribution and metabolism and NIS arrivals on the functioning of the Bay of Biscay trophic network. To do this, we created six different Ecopath food web models: a “current situation” trophic model (2007–2016) and five “future” trophic models. The latter five models included various NIS biomass combinations to reflect different potential scenarios of NIS arrivals. For each model, eight Ecological Network Analysis (ENA) indices were calculated, describing the properties of the food web resulting from the sum of interactions between organisms. Our results illustrate that rising temperature increases the quantity of energy passing through the system due to increased productivity. A decrease in the biomass of some trophic groups due to the reduction of their potential environmental niches also leads to changes in the structure of the trophic network. The arrival of NIS is projected to change the fate of organic matter within the ecosystem, with higher cycling, relative ascendency, and a chain-like food web. It could also cause new trophic interactions that could lead to competition and thus modify the food-web structure, with lower omnivory and higher detritivory. The combined impacts (increasing temperatures and NIS arrivals) could lower the resilience and resistance of the system.

The objectives of the ABIOP+ project were to : • Provide characterisation protocols for biofouling on cable and mooring lines materials which are very vulnerable to this biological process, in order to collect quantitative in-situ data. • Inventory existing fouling management methods and test the solutions best suited for floating offshore wind turbines.

Excel database containing the information collected for the atlas (45 sources for the French maritime façades + 24 on a global scale) and shapefiles for the cartographic representation of the available data

Numerical simulations applied on the study sites

Report on the assessment of the chemical risk of aluminum-based galvanic anodes on the environment