2022 State of the Science Workshop

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Compensatory Mitigation for Birds: Opening a Dialog Workshop

Organized by the Atlantic Marine Bird Cooperative (AMBC) Marine Spatial Planning Working Group, this discussion-based meeting began outlining a proactive and strategic approach to compensatory mitigation related to impacts of offshore wind development on birds that can not be addressed through avoidance and minimization. The agenda included:

• Review & discuss current considerations for compensatory mitigation, including examples of mitigation from other industries, and regulatory agency policy

• Review & discuss Marine Spatial Planning Working Group efforts to develop a list of relevant mitigation actions

• Identify potential partners roles, and mechanisms (e.g., AMBC, RWSC, regulatory agencies, developers)

• Talk about interest and next steps

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Please find the presentation documents below.

• Meeting Agenda

• Compensatory Mitigation for Birds: Opening a Dialog

• Considerations for Effective Compensatory Mitigation Planning for Marine Birds

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Compensatory Mitigation Policy

• Renewable Energy Wildlife Research Fund

• Discussion Topics: Potential Partners Roles & Mechanisms, Next Steps, & Future Involvement

• Meeting Notes

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Operating and Calibrating Offshore Motus Stations Workshop

This side workshop, organized by Pam Loring (Division of Migratory Birds, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) and Erik Carlson (Department of Physics, University of Rhode Island), provided hands-on demonstrations and discussions on key technical aspects of operating, maintaining, and calibrating automated radio telemetry stations on offshore buoys and wind turbines in coordination with the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. The agenda included:

• Calibration methods and protocols to estimate detection range and coverage of offshore Motus stations

• Demonstration of an online calibration tool for survey design and data analysis

• Workflows and tips for operating, managing, and troubleshooting receivers at offshore Motus stations

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Advanced Non-extractive Techniques for Resource Assessment for Offshore Wind Workshop

This workshop, organized by the Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA), included a series of talks on different resource assessment techniques currently in use, as well as panels to promote discussions of adaptation of existing strategies. 

 

Assessment of wildlife and fishery resources with proposed and permitted wind energy areas is an expected requirement for offshore wind development. Common techniques for assessing presence and abundance of fishery resources include many forms of extractive techniques, such as gillnets, otter trawls, and ventless traps. These techniques may expose protected species in wind lease areas to risk of takes or other interactions. Consequently, the application process for sampling permits may be extended and even lead to reduced sampling prior to construction activities.

 

Researchers tasked with measuring resource abundance have in some cases modified sampling strategies to focus on non-extractive techniques with lower risk to protected species. Often, these techniques employ advanced or less-familiar techniques. This workshop aims to identify and to share the state of the art in non-extractive advanced sampling techniques for fisheries resources in wind energy areas.

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