Field deployments of a self-contained subsea platform for acoustic monitoringof the environment around Marine Renewable Energy structures. Poster presented at: International Conference on Ocean Energy, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, November 4-6, 2014

Despite rapid development of wave and tidal marine renewable energy (MRE) devices, little is known of the environmental and ecological effects of installing and operating individual devices or arrays. The FLOWBEC project is investigating these effects at wave and tidal energy test sites in Orkney (EMEC). An upwardfacing sonar platform was developed to monitor the environment around MRE devices as a tool to guide marine spatial planning, device design, licensing and operation. The platform is self-contained, portable between sites, deployed in 20-minutes at slack tide and captures a full tidal cycle over 14 day deployments.