Themes

The overall theme of the 2024 Workshop is “Taking an Ecosystem Approach: Integrating Offshore Wind, Wildlife, and Fisheries”.
 

Though the event is focused on U.S. waters, with a particular focus on the East Coast, we welcome presentations focused on other geographies as well.
 

The scientific planning committee is particularly interested in hosting symposia, meetings, and presentations on the following topics: 

• The interface of science and policy – how science is applied to inform siting, design, permitting, monitoring, and mitigation of offshore wind farms  

• Methods for monitoring and mitigation: technology development and integration  

• Conservation opportunities relating to offshore wind: net positive impacts, conservation offsets, compensatory mitigation, and other mechanisms for offshore wind to have a positive impact on wildlife and fisheries  

• Ecosystem interactions: ecosystem approaches to understanding offshore wind effects, including a focus on both physical and biological interactions and how offshore wind energy (and other stressors such as climate change) may change ecosystems across trophic levels  

• Correlation vs. causation: determining causes of ecosystem change 

• Updates on the latest approaches and findings from the U.S. and elsewhere around the world

 

Sessions will focus on:

• Understanding wildlife and wildlife habitat: populations and distributions

• Offshore wind development effects and species/ecosystem responses

• Offshore wind development effects and fisheries: social/economic responses

• Monitoring, minimization, and mitigation approaches

• Cumulative impacts of offshore wind energy development

• Collaborative processes to improve development and conservation outcomes (including guidance, data sharing, and other collaborative efforts)

• Integration of fisheries data, marine protected species, and wildlife data to identify wind energy areas and planning areas

• Ecosystem interactions: physical and biological interactions and changes in ecosystems across trophic levels ​in response to offshore wind and other stressors
   

Submission Types

We are concurrently accepting proposals for symposia and side meetings along with abstracts for oral and poster presentations.

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Symposia are special conference sessions that are organized around a specific theme with a maximum of five speakers. For any symposia that are not accepted, the organizers and speakers will be welcome to submit individual oral presentations or poster abstracts. Organizers will be responsible for identifying and inviting speakers to participate in their symposium, though not all speaker slots have to be filled when the proposal is submitted. 

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Side meetings are smaller offshore wind and wildlife-related meetings, workshops, and trainings, and can be open to all conference participants or limited to specific groups. The side meetings from the 2022 workshop, for example, included a closed external advisory board meeting for an ongoing research project as well as three meetings that were open to all conference-goers with prior registration.  This workshop, these side meetings will take place midway through the State of the Science Workshop to provide participants with an opportunity for interactive, collaborative sessions. 

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Oral Presentations will occur as part of the main conference sessions. Oral presentations should last no longer than 12 minutes. Any oral presentations that are not accepted will be automatically considered for posters. 

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Posters allow in-person conference presenters and attendees to discuss research one-on-one, with posters available to view throughout the workshop. A dedicated poster session will be held during the event. 

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Submission Instructions

There are two separate submission portals for symposia and side meetings and for oral and poster abstracts. Please provide the following information for submissions: 

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Symposia & Side Meetings

• Category (symposium, side meeting)

• Title (limited to 150 characters)  

• Organizers(s) name(s), affiliation(s), and email address(es)  

• List of invited speakers, if applicable, including names, affiliations, and email addresses 

• Session length (suggested max length 90 minutes for symposia and 4 hours for side meetings) 

• Suggested minimum and maximum people expected to attend (for purpose of selection of a room within the venue) 

• Abstract of less than 3,000 characters, including (where applicable): 

  •  Rationale/goals and intended outcome for the session 

  •  Titles and brief descriptions for each planned presentation 

  •  Plans for other session components (e.g., introduction, panel discussion, trainings, breakout groups, online surveys, etc.) 

 

Proposals for symposia and side meetings will be assessed on a rolling basis until the deadline given limited space in the agenda. To help ensure that your proposal is considered, we encourage submissions at the earliest possible date.

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Oral & Poster Presentations

• Category (oral, poster)

• Theme– Select which topic area the submission best fits into 

• Title (limited to 150 characters) 

• Name, affiliation, and email address of presenting author  

• Name(s), affiliation(s), and email address(es) of additional authors (up to 7) 

• Abstract of less than 3,000 characters, including (where applicable): 

  • Research motivations and objectives 

  • Methodology 

  • Summary of results 

  • Implications of findings  

 

Abstracts will be selected and prioritized based on whether it addresses meeting themes, demonstrates strong scientific merit, presents final results or conclusions and/or preliminary findings that significantly contribute to the state of the science, has clear management implications, and is not focused on marketing a good or service. Depending on the number of abstracts received by the organizing committee, primary authors may be limited to a single oral presentation.​

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If you have any questions, please email workshop organizers Kate Williams and Eleanor Eckel. The Scientific Planning Committee will evaluate all proposals and abstracts and those selected will be announced in the spring of 2024. We look forward to your submission.