Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Surveys

Background

Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and other relevant federal agencies are required to integrate environmental assessments into offshore development and construction plans. Offshore wind energy planning and development requires comprehensive assessments of biological resources within development areas to identify and mitigate any potential effects of that development on marine species.

In anticipation of these requirements, MassCEC hired the New England Aquarium (NEAq) through a competitive procurement process in early 2011 to conduct aerial and acoustic surveys of endangered whales and turtles in the Massachusetts wind energy area.  Upon conclusion of these initial surveys (Campaign 1), MassCEC and BOEM extended the surveys for an additional two years and expanded the geographic scope of the survey area to include the Rhode Island/Massachusetts wind energy area (Campaigns 2 and 3). For these three survey campaigns, 76 aerial surveys were conducted between October 2011 and June 2015.

The final report summarizing Campaigns 1-3 was released in October 2016 and showed that the study area included seasonal aggregations of protected species of whales and sea turtles.  The report also showed that North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), a critically endangered species, occurred in the study area during winter and spring, with a peak in March.  Based on these findings, the report provided recommendations for managing geological surveys and construction by scheduling those activities during off-peak right whale seasons to mitigate or avoid impacts. The 2016 final report also provided recommendations for additional surveys to address information gaps and for the collection of additional baseline data.

Acting upon the recommendations in the 2016 final report, MassCEC and BOEM committed additional funding and MassCEC contracted with NEAq to conduct additional surveys for the period February 2017 through July 2018 (Campaign 4) and for the period October 2018 through August 2019 (Campaign 5).  These two survey campaigns included oceanographic sampling conducted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

In 2019 there was a growing recognition among public resource agencies and stakeholders of the need to establish a formal process for funding and managing ongoing wildlife monitoring on a regional basis.  However, to avoid a protracted gap in data collection while efforts to establish such a process advanced, BOEM and offshore wind developers committed funding for additional wildlife surveys beginning in March 2020 and continuing through July 2021 (Campaign 6).  These surveys are funded by BOEM (Campaign 6a) and offshore wind developers Equinor Wind U.S., Mayflower Wind Energy LLC, Ørsted North America and Vineyard Wind (Campaign 6b).

The Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative (RWSC) was established in July 2021 and is administered by the Northeast Regional Ocean Council, Mid Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, and the Coastal States Stewardship Foundation. In September 2021, RWSC convened a Marine Mammals Subcommittee. Future scope and funding of aerial wildlife surveys will be guided by activities of the RWSE and the Subcommittee.

Survey Process

The wildlife surveys conducted by the New England Aquarium have employed a variety of techniques.  The table below identifies which techniques have been used in specific survey campaigns.

• Line Transect (Broadscale) – this is the standard methodology for aerial surveys using two trained observers.  Survey flights follows an established set of north-south track lines spaced six nautical miles across the study area.  The starting point is randomly selected for each survey.
• Condensed Survey – a line transect survey with three nm spacing and covering a smaller geographic area which is selected based upon anecdotal evidence of right whale activity.
• Directed Survey - aerial surveys flown over areas of North Atlantic right whale aggregations, as identified by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center or found during line transect or condensed surveys.
• Photographic – all aerial surveys include automatic collection of photographic data from a high resolution camera mounted in the belly of the survey airplane.
• Acoustic Recording – deployment of “marine autonomous recording units” which record data on whale calls for two six month periods.  Analysis of the data reveals distinct whale call signatures indicating the presence of a specific whale species within a specified “receiving” distance of the buoy (which varies by species). 
• Oceanographic Survey – to help explain certain congregations of right whales, some surveys have included vessel-based collection of potential food sources such as plankton.
• Calibration Survey – survey conducted at a higher altitude (e.g. 1,500 feet compared to the standard 1,000 feet) to understand the ability to detect wildlife after wind turbines are installed.

NEAq descriptive video (2020) available here.