Offshore wind farms are vital for producing clean energy, but beneath the waves they are creating new underwater habitats. The massive foundations that anchor wind turbines to the seafloor form hard structures in places that were once mostly sand—exactly the kind of environment many reef fishes are looking for.
But do these turbine bases really work like artificial reefs that are built specifically to attract marine life? And how do they change the local fish community over time? To find out, researchers turned to the Formosa Wind Farm, located off Taiwan’s Miaoli County, and took a long look at life around the turbines.
Scuba Divers survey fish over 9 years
SCUBA divers conducted surveys to monitor fish communities living on the turbine foundations in 2017, 2018 and 2025. The 2025 dives were especially revealing because they allowed a direct comparison with nearby purpose-built artificial reefs. To understand how far the turbine “reef effect” extends, additional fishing surveys were carried out from April to October in 2024 and 2025, sampling areas at varying distances from the turbines.
86 Species of Reef Fish in entirely new habitat
The scientists recorded a total of 86 species of reef-associated fishes—but only within 50 metres of the turbine foundations. Beyond that range, in the surrounding sandy seabed, reef fishes were completely absent. Even more striking, none of these species appeared in historical fishery records from the area, suggesting that the turbines created entirely new habitat, rather than simply concentrating fish that were already there.
Over the years, the fish community around the turbine bases changed as the structures aged and became more biologically complex. By 2025, the mix of species around wind turbines wasn’t exactly the same as that found on established artificial reefs—but in terms of what really matters ecologically, the two were remarkably similar. Species richness and feeding roles showed no meaningful differences between turbine foundations and traditional artificial reefs.
Rich Reefs
The research shows that offshore wind turbines can function as unexpected reefs, supporting vibrant fish communities in places that were once underwater deserts. While these habitats are limited to a relatively small area around each turbine, they demonstrate that offshore wind farms may offer ecological benefits alongside renewable energy production.
Research behind this Article
Shao, Chang, Chen, Ho, Shao, Chiang, Lee, Tsai, Huang and Chang, Spatio-temporal Dynamics of Fish Assemblages at an Offshore Wind Farm and a Comparison with Mature Artificial Reefs. Front. Mar. Sci. 07 Jan 2026
