2024 State of the Science Workshop

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Monday, July 15th 
 

Workshop on Compensatory Mitigation for Offshore Wind
Organizers: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
This workshop broadly pertained to compensatory mitigation requirements for endangered species of birds resulting from offshore wind development. Primary attention was provided to Atlantic Wind Energy Areas where the only COPs have thus far been approved with compensatory mitigation requirements for birds. The workshop was targeted toward Federal agencies, Tribes, States, offshore wind developers, environmental market experts, environmental NGOs and other interested parties. 

Meeting Description: Link  

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Thursday, July 18th

 

Untangling the Marine Food Web: Bridging Knowledge Gaps to Better Understand Forage Taxa in the Mid-Atlantic Bight

Organizers: Rutgers University 

The meeting featured three presentations on forage taxa (zooplankton, invertebrates and forage fish) and was followed by three breakout groups discussing the knowledge gaps and research priorities for each.  

Meeting Description: Link 

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Floating Offshore Wind Technology, Fisheries Interactions, Limitations, and Opportunities for a Path Forward

Organizers: Tetra Tech
The side meeting was broken into two sessions with the goal of putting the engineers, federal agencies, environmental experts, and a west coast developer in the same room as the stakeholders and fishermen that depend on these waters. Sessions presented the engineering constraints that determine OSW structures and allowed stakeholders to discuss how best to engage with the environmental community. This dialogue allowed the engineers to ask the audience what to consider for coexistence. 

Meeting Description: Link  

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Collision Risk Modelling Working Group

Organizers: Biodiversity Research Institute, The Biodiversity Consultancy, USFWS

Avian collisions are currently seen as a key consenting risk for offshore wind farms, putting in jeopardy efforts to mitigate climate change through reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Collision risk is typically assessed prior to the construction of a wind farm using a Collision Risk Model (CRM). However, there is substantial uncertainty surrounding the inputs to these models and the accuracy of their predictions. A global CRM working group was formed at the 2023 Conference on Wind Energy and Wildlife Impacts (CWW) with the goal of sharing information about avian collision risk models (CRMs) amongst practitioners and developing best practices and approaches for uses of CRMs. The first meeting of this CRM Expert Working Group was held at the 2024 State of the Science. As part of this meeting, the working group formalized the group’s goals, identified potential funding sources, and began to develop terms of reference and immediate action items identified during the CWW workshop, such as a decision tree to help practitioners determine when and where different types of CRMs might be usefully implemented.
Meeting Description: Link  

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​Offshore Wind and Wildlife Technology - Mini TechSurge

Organizers: The Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore Wind

This meeting consisted of 1) a mini tech surge in the form of a roundtable discussion with short presentations and moderated questions with goals to: facilitate collaboration; drive innovation in offshore wind technology​; and Generate Actionable Technology Recommendations and 2) a tech cafe, which took place during the State of the Science poster session and included desktop demonstrations showcasing a range of tools and technologies offered by both technology service providers and others. 

Meeting Description: Link | Agenda: Link 

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**Please note the following meetings were closed to the public. 

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Project WOW External Advisory Board Meeting

Organizers: Duke University, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

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Surfclam Stock Enhancement: Who, What, When, and Where Next?

Organizers: Responsible Offshore Science Alliance