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A Review of Passive Acoustics Monitoring Results in the CoastalWaters off Western Taiwan for the Past Decade39Marine Research of the National Academy of Marine ResearchDOI: 10.29677/MR.202406_4(1).0004 The Taiwanese government has segmented the offshore wind power development into three distinct phases. The first phase (2015-2020) focused on the demonstration of wind farms, involving environmental assessments conducted at the Formosa Offshore Wind Farm (FOW) site (FOW1) near Miaoli and the Taipower (TP) site (TP1) off the coast of Changhua. The second phase (2021-2025) is designated as the Potential Sites phase, with a total generation capacity of 5.5GW, with primary development and environmental assessment concentrated in the Changhua Offshore Wind Farm (refer to Figure 1 on the right). The third phase (2026-2035) is also designated as Potential Sites, with a projected total generation capacity of 15GW. This phase entails large-scale block development, with wind farms distributed across water depths ranging from 40 to 70 meters. Please refer to Figure 1 for the distribution of wind farms and the current development progress. The Changhua Demonstration Wind Farm underwent environmental assessment in 2015, completed the construction of the marine meteorological observation tower in 2016, and finalized the installation of 21 demonstration wind turbines by 2021 (please refer to Figure 1). Operations commenced in 2021, and as such, the passive acoustic data from the Changhua Demonstration Wind Farm has been incorporated into this study (refer to the lower figure of Figure 3). The measurement period encompasses the pre-construction environmental assessment phase (2013-2016), construction phase (2016-2021), and operational phase (2021-2022). Passive acoustic monitoring points (refer to the lower-left figure in Figure 2) mirror those of the Miaoli demonstration wind farm, with one measurement point in the north and another in the south. The CHn point in the north (5.5 km offshore and 11.5 km from the CHs point) is situated near the protected area, while the CHs point in the south is selected for its proximity to the protected area and adjacency to the wind farm (1.2 km from the wind farm). Following the announcement of the Offshore Wind Power Demonstration Incentive Program by the Taiwanese government in 2012, the Miaoli Demonstration Wind Farm underwent environmental assessment in 2013. Subsequently, the construction of the meteorological observation tower was completed in 2015, and the two demonstration wind turbines were erected in 2016 (refer to the right figure in Figure 1). The first phase of operations commenced in 2017, and following the successful completion of the second phase of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) by the end of 2019, the second phase of operations began. As per government regulations mandating a comprehensive EIA for demonstration wind farms, including preconstruction, construction, and operation stages, this study incorporates passive acoustic data from the Miaoli demonstration wind farm (refer to the upper panel of Figure 3). The measurement period spans the preconstruction EIA phase (2013-2015), construction phase (2015-2019), and operational phase (2017-2022). Additionally, passive acoustic monitoring locations for the demonstration wind farm (refer to the upper-left figure in Figure 2) adhere to government regulations, situated within the neighboring protected area (northern point or MLn, 3.6 km away from the MLs point) and within the predetermined wind farm (southern MLs location, 660 meters away from the wind farm) for comparison purposes. For comprehensive measurement of pile driving and operation noise, pile driving noise was assessed at a distance of 750 meters from the wind turbine foundation piles, while operation noise was monitored at a distance of 10 meters from the wind turbine foundation piles, as referenced in Figure 3 above. The aforementioned data are integrated into the passive acoustic data presented in Figure 3 below (markers #21 and #28).2 UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC DATA COLLECTION ANDCOMPILATION