Subsea cable laying, the process of installing cables on the seabed to transmit electricity from offshore wind farms to shore, can have several potential impacts on benthic habitats. Benthic habitats are the ecological regions at the lowest level of a body of water, including the sediment surface and some subsurface layers. The most direct impact is physical disturbance. The cable laying process, whether using ploughing, jetting, or trenching techniques, disrupts the seabed, destroying or displacing benthic organisms that live in or on the sediment. This can include invertebrates, such as worms, crustaceans, and mollusks, which are essential components of the marine food web. Sediment plumes are another significant impact. Cable laying activities stir up sediment, creating plumes of suspended particles that can spread over a wide area....
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