The first State of the Science Workshop, hosted by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), was held on November 13-14, 2018. This workshop brought together stakeholders engaged with environmental and wildlife research relevant to offshore wind energy development, to promote coordination and collaboration in efforts along the eastern seaboard from Massachusetts to North Carolina.
The State of the Science Workshop had over 180 attendees, 32 speakers, and 45 posters, including a broad range of stakeholders from the U.S. and Europe. Workshop presentations and discussions focused around different wildlife taxa, known and hypothesized effects to wildlife from offshore wind energy development, and opportunities for regional coordination and collaboration to continue improving our understanding of offshore wind and marine ecosystems
Download the detailed agenda
Thank you to everyone who participated! We will be following up with a post-workshop survey and are compiling a report to help disseminate all of the information about current work in the many areas relating to wildlife and offshore wind development and the great discussions we had during the workshop.
If you were unable to attend the workshop but are interesting in receiving emails regarding the final report, please send a blank email with subject "Add to SotS workshop email list" to julia.gulka@briloon.org
This workshop brought together scientists to present and discuss their research. Workshop goals include:
Download detailed agenda here
Terms of Use for Presentation PDFs
Links to presentations from the workshop are provided below where available, courtesy of the presentation authors. These presentation files are provided for personal edification only, and should not be cited without contacting the author(s) directly. Users should not reuse or redistribute slides, or images on these slides, without express permission from the presentation author(s).
Marine Systems and the Offshore Wind Energy Development Process
Moderator: Greg Lampman, NYSERDA
Welcome and workshop overview
Greg Lampman, NYSERDA
Resources in a Dynamic Ocean
Kevin Friedland, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Overview of current leases, regulations, and the development process
Mary Boatman, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Introduction to Offshore Wind- Development, Construction and Operations
Sophie Hartfield, Ørsted
Results to Date: Real-time Opportunity for Development Environmental Observations (RODEO) project
Mary Boatman, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Q & A / Panel discussion
Marine Mammals, Part 1
Moderator: Francine Kershaw, Natural Resources Defense Council
Marine mammal populations and surveys
Debi Palka, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Large cetaceans: human impacts, existing knowledge, and data gaps
Melinda Rekdahl, Wildlife Conservation Society
Lessons learned from Europe: the effects of offshore wind energy development on marine mammals
Karen Hall, Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Overview of pile driving sounds and how to estimate impacts within the U.S. regulatory framework
David Zeddies, JASCO Applied Sciences
Developments to minimize marine mammal exposure to wind farm construction noise
Ursula Verfuss, SMRU Consulting
Q & A / Panel discussion
Sea Turtles, and Marine Mammals Part 2
Moderator: Lisa Bonacci, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Turtle populations in the northwest Atlantic
Heather Haas, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Impacts from marine development on turtles
Sue Barco, Virginia Aquarium
Turtles and offshore wind: what we know (and what we don't)
Kyle Baker, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Monitoring during the construction and post-construction periods: Developing a regional strategy for data sharing and standardizing protocols
Kyle Baker, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Q & A / Panel discussion
The poster session and open house was held on November 13th from 7-8:30 pm at the Inn at Fox Hollow in Woodbury, NY. With 45 poster presenters and 12 organizations with exhibit tables, this open house provided an opportunity for workshop participants and members of the public to interact with engaged scientists and managers about their work. State agencies, federal agencies, universities, nonprofit research organizations, and for-profit companies involved with offshore wind energy development were represented at the open house with posters and/or tables with information about their recent and ongoing activities.
Contact Kate Williams, conference organizer on behalf of NYSERDA, with questions regarding the scientific program or logistics.
To be added to the workshop mailing list, please send a blank email with subject "Add to SotS workshop email list" to julia.gulka@briloon.org.