There is a concern regarding how changes in local hydrodynamics as the result of tidal stream turbine (TST) arrays may affect foraging opportunities for piscivorous marine mammals and seabirds. The 3D behaviour and distribution of forage fish determines its availability to predators and understanding how TST alter school characteristics helps estimate impacts on foraging opportunities. However, previous methodologies used to study impacts of changing hydrodynamics on fish and top-predator populations around TST have struggled to comprehensively quantify school characteristics across the water column due to the turbulent nature of tidal stream environments and the high flows experienced there. To overcome challenges, and provide insights into potential changes in foraging opportunities, this study applies an agent-based model (ABM) approach to a high-fidelity simulated TST wake, estimating responses of forage fish to installations. The results here indicate that the schooling behaviour of fish has the biggest influence on individual responses to a TST. I also show that the presence of a TST has little effect on the behaviour and density of schooling fish within a tidal-stream environment. Yet, we also showed that a tidal-energy device still provides top-predators with a foraging hotspot that contains fish aggregations which consistent in both space and time. We therefore demonstrate the potential to simulate how fish and top-predators interact with a tidal turbine structure at a fine-scale, which can (once validated) be applied to understanding scaling concerns and providing a more accurate assessment of risks for legislators and planners.