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Solar Farm on the Ocean : The Pros and Cons of China's Largest Offshore Solar Project

How To Protect The Ocean

Release Date: 11/22/2024

The Fish That Feed Your Fish: What Farmed Salmon Really Eat show art The Fish That Feed Your Fish: What Farmed Salmon Really Eat

How To Protect The Ocean

The family behind the world’s largest salmon farming company built a global industry. Now one of its members is asking how it can be sustainable to grind up fish from poorer countries, ship them across the world, and feed them to salmon sold to wealthier shoppers. In episode 2048, Andrew Lewin follows farmed fish from your plate back to the fishmeal boat to answer him. More than half the seafood eaten worldwide now comes from farms, and most of it is fed. Andrew breaks down what fishmeal and fish oil are made of, why roughly a fifth of the global wild catch ends up as feed, and how forage...

info_outline What Your Farmed Salmon Ate: Inside a Five-Year Fishmeal Investigation show art What Your Farmed Salmon Ate: Inside a Five-Year Fishmeal Investigation

How To Protect The Ocean

More than half the seafood eaten on Earth now comes from fish farms, and most of those farmed fish are raised on fishmeal made from wild-caught fish. Maya Martin, deputy editor at The Outlaw Ocean Project, joins Andrew Lewin to unpack Food for Feed, a five-year investigation that traced fishmeal from the ships that catch it, through the plants that grind it, to the farmed fish on your plate. Maya explains how forage fish like sardinella and anchoveta are pulled from waters off West Africa, Peru and Southeast Asia, often from stocks that are already overexploited and from communities that...

info_outline How to Read the Seafood Counter Like a Marine Biologist show art How to Read the Seafood Counter Like a Marine Biologist

How To Protect The Ocean

Picture a big sign over the seafood counter promising sustainable fishing, with a fish every independent guide says to avoid sitting on ice right below it. In most countries nobody broke a rule, because the word "sustainable" on seafood has no legal definition. In this final episode of our sustainable seafood week, Andrew Lewin walks you through how to see past that sign and choose seafood you can feel good about. You'll learn how to use the eco-labels and seafood guides that have already done the research for you, including the Marine Stewardship Council's blue tick for wild seafood, the...

info_outline Is Bottom Trawling Always Bad? It Depends Where show art Is Bottom Trawling Always Bad? It Depends Where

How To Protect The Ocean

Off the south coast of England, about 100 kilometres out, sits Haig Fras, a granite reef covered in jewel anemones and cup corals. For years it was protected on paper, yet heavy fishing gear could still drag across it. In March 2024, that finally changed. In this episode, Andrew Lewin explains why where we fish matters as much as how much we fish, and what it takes to turn a line on a map into real protection. Andrew breaks down the difference between midwater and bottom trawls and puts the damage shown in the recent Ocean documentary into context. Bottom trawling lands about a quarter of the...

info_outline The Trapdoor That Saves Sea Turtles From Shrimp Nets show art The Trapdoor That Saves Sea Turtles From Shrimp Nets

How To Protect The Ocean

A Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the most endangered sea turtle on Earth, gets swept into a shrimp trawl. It hits a metal grid, slides out through a flap in the net, and swims away. That small trapdoor, the turtle excluder device, is one of the biggest success stories in fisheries management, and in late August 2026 a US federal appeals court upheld the rule extending it to skimmer trawl boats 40 feet and longer. In this episode, marine biologist Andrew Lewin walks through the bycatch fixes that are working and the fights still underway. You’ll hear why North Atlantic right whales get tangled...

info_outline The Cod Came Back: What a Fishery Collapse Teaches Us About Overfishing show art The Cod Came Back: What a Fishery Collapse Teaches Us About Overfishing

How To Protect The Ocean

Five centuries ago, explorers off Newfoundland described cod so plentiful that a weighted basket lowered into the sea came back full. By July 2, 1992, so few remained that Canada shut the northern cod fishery overnight. About 30,000 people lost their work in what became the largest single layoff in Canadian history. In this first episode of a week-long sustainable seafood series, Andrew tells the story of how the collapse happened and how slowly the cod came back. Andrew then breaks down the words that cause the most confusion in fisheries headlines: overfishing, overfished, depleted, and...

info_outline How to Choose Sustainable Seafood show art How to Choose Sustainable Seafood

How To Protect The Ocean

You want to eat seafood the right way. Then you hit the seafood counter and face a wall of labels, a sign promising “sustainable practices,” and an employee who has no idea where the tuna came from. Add documentaries like Seaspiracy telling you to quit fish entirely, and it’s tempting to give up and buy whatever looks good. Unsustainable fishing is the biggest threat to marine biodiversity, so those choices carry real weight. In this episode, Andrew’s good friend Dr. David Shiffman joins the show to talk about his new book, Why Sustainable Seafood Matters. David spent two years on the...

info_outline Slow Down for Whales: How Global Shipping Learned to Share the Ocean show art Slow Down for Whales: How Global Shipping Learned to Share the Ocean

How To Protect The Ocean

Blue whales can’t dodge ships. When scientists tracked blue whales alongside cargo ships off Southern California, the whales responded in just over half the encounters, and every response was the same: a slow, shallow dive. Not once did a whale move sideways out of the ship’s path. Models suggest ships kill around 18 blue whales a year off the U.S. West Coast, nearly eight times what the population can lose and still recover. The good news is in the data. Most blue whale strike deaths happen in a small slice of ocean, and that’s where ports, air quality agencies, marine sanctuaries, and...

info_outline When Whale Food Moves: Climate Change, Crab Traps, and Pop-Up Gear show art When Whale Food Moves: Climate Change, Crab Traps, and Pop-Up Gear

How To Protect The Ocean

In 2014, a patch of unusually warm water nicknamed "the blob" settled off the west coast of North America. The cold, food-rich water that normally stretches far offshore shrank into a narrow strip along the coast, and hungry humpback whales followed their food straight into the waters where Dungeness crabbers had set thousands of traps, each tied to a vertical rope. Entanglements jumped from about 10 a year to 53 in 2015 and 55 in 2016. In this episode, Andrew traces the line from warmer water to a specific whale in a specific rope. You'll learn why lunge-feeding whales depend on dense patches...

info_outline The Whale Heart That Beats Twice a Minute show art The Whale Heart That Beats Twice a Minute

How To Protect The Ocean

Fill your hands with cold water, hold your breath, and press your face in. Your heart slows within seconds. That reflex lives in every whale in the ocean too, and in a blue whale it is pushed so far that the largest heart on Earth can drop to two beats a minute on a deep dive. In this episode, Andrew walks through the first heart rate recording from a wild blue whale, led by Jeremy Goldbogen's team at Stanford, and a study by Terrie Williams of UC Santa Cruz that tracked narwhals fleeing after release from nets in East Greenland. The narwhals swam as hard as they could while their hearts fell...

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The largest solar farm on the ocean is now running off the coast of China as the country continues to invest in ways to support its sustainable energy needs. 

In the "How to Protect the Ocean" podcast, host Andrew Lewin discusses China's deployment of the world's largest open sea offshore solar panel farm. The project, developed by CHN Energy, spans 1,223 hectares (3,023 acres) and is located 8 kilometers off the coast of China. It aims to generate one gigawatt of renewable energy and is notable for its innovative use of offshore solar technology.

Pros of the Offshore Solar Project

  1. Efficient Land Use: Utilizing water bodies for solar energy reduces the need for land clearing and habitat destruction typically associated with land-based solar farms.

  2. Reduced Evaporation: The solar panels cover the water surface, which can help conserve water by reducing evaporation rates in reservoirs and agricultural areas.

  3. Improved Solar Efficiency: The cooling effect of water can enhance the efficiency of solar panels compared to those installed on land.

  4. Dual Use Potential: Floating solar farms can coexist with hydroelectric facilities, optimizing energy production and utilizing existing infrastructure.

  5. Algal Bloom Reduction: The solar panels can help suppress harmful algal blooms in aquatic systems by limiting sunlight penetration.

  6. Clean Energy Generation: The project contributes to renewable energy production, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.

Cons of the Offshore Solar Project

  1. Impact on Aquatic Systems: The shade from solar panels may alter water temperature and light penetration, potentially disrupting habitats for aquatic plants and animals.

  2. Habitat Disruption: The solar farm installation could affect fish spawning areas and migratory patterns, similar to concerns raised about wind farms.

  3. Material Degradation: Using plastics and metals in solar structures could lead to microplastic contamination and chemical pollution over time.

  4. Recreational Disruption: Floating solar farms may hinder recreational activities, fishing, and navigation in the area.

  5. Installation Risks: The anchoring and cabling required for the solar systems could disturb sediments and harm local aquatic habitats.

  6. Vulnerability to Weather Events: The structures may be susceptible to damage from storms, hurricanes, and flooding, potentially releasing debris or pollutants into the water.

The episode emphasizes the need for careful planning and mitigation strategies to address the potential environmental concerns associated with floating solar farms. While the project presents a promising opportunity for renewable energy generation, it also raises important questions about the ecological impacts on marine environments. The host encourages listeners to engage in the conversation about the balance between renewable energy development and ocean conservation.

Link to article: https://electrek.co/2024/11/14/china-worlds-largest-open-sea-offshore-solar-farm/

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