357. With regards to cumulative effects associated with developments within the East Anglia Zone, under currently planned construction schedules it is not expected that there would be temporal overlap in the construction phases of East Anglia ONE and East Anglia THREE. There may however, be a short duration overlap, of a matter of months, of the construction phases of East Anglia THREE and East Anglia FOUR. Taking the theoretical worst case scenario, during this period, the total areas of East Anglia THREE and East Anglia FOUR would be closed to fishing. A more probable scenario however is that the spatial extent of this overlap would be small, as at the beginning of the East Anglia FOUR construction phase, only a limited proportion of the East Anglia FOUR site will be closed to fishing vessels and there would be the same or greater distances between wind turbines than that proposed for the East Anglia THREE site. As a consequence, the effect of any overlap would be a short duration and a minimal spatial extent. Therefore it is not expected that there will be a cumulative effect associated with construction phases within the East Anglia Zone.
358. Existing windfarms, other installed infrastructure, regulated activities and marine conservation measures are considered as part of the existing environment, to which stakeholders have already adapted, and are therefore not assessed within the cumulative impact assessment. Whilst new areas are being licenced and may be developed, a significant amount of oil and gas infrastructure is entering decommissioning and removal phases which, once complete, may lead to some increase in fishable area. At this stage it is not however possible to quantify the extent of any such effects.
359. Under the Habitats directive, and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009), it is proposed that a series of conservation areas are to be implemented within the North Sea. The final boundaries of these have yet to be defined and at present some of the published boundaries are only indicative of the maximum extent of the areas under consideration. The boundaries shown in Figures 14.98 to Figure 14.111 therefore represent the worst case scenario in terms of the potential spatial impacts. Furthermore, the associated management policies with regards to commercial fishing have also yet to be determined.
360. Licensed and potential aggregate dredging areas are shown in Figures 14.98 to Figure 14.111. In most cases, only a small percentage of these areas are or will be actively dredged at any one time, therefore these boundaries represent a worst case scenario.
361. The following evaluation of cumulative impacts focuses on the assessment of the complete loss or restricted access to traditional fishing grounds. This was the main concern raised by fishermen during consultation and it is the principal pathway from
Preliminary Environmental Information May 2014
East Anglia THREE Offshore Windfarm
Chapter 14 Commercial Fisheries Page 108
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