Peer Review: Draft NEFSC Fisheries Survey Mitigation Plans

NOAA Fisheries shares a commitment with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to develop offshore wind energy, while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use. One element of this shared commitment includes mitigation of the impact of offshore wind energy development on NOAA Fisheries surveys.

The Federal Survey Mitigation Implementation Strategy describes the impacts of offshore wind energy development on fisheries-independent surveys. It also outlines goals, objectives, and actions to guide development and implementation of a program to mitigate the impacts on fisheries independent surveys over the expected duration (30+ year) of offshore wind energy development in the Northeast U.S.

The panel will be reviewing draft mitigation plans for each of our long-term, recurring Northeast fisheries and ecosystem surveys that will be impacted by offshore wind development. Each draft plan includes descriptions of the impacted survey, specific stakeholders for the data collected, impacts of offshore wind development, and planned measures to address the impacts of wind energy development on scientific surveys.

Panel Review Charge

Objective 3.3 of the federal survey mitigation implementation strategy includes a transparent peer-review process for all survey-specific mitigation plans to ensure elements of the Northeast Survey Mitigation Program represent the best science available. To this end, our science center asked the regional federal fishery management councils and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to review our plans. They each selected members for the panel.

This panel will evaluate each survey mitigation plan following a set of Terms of Reference (pdf, 1pg). Reviewers will evaluate the relative effectiveness of proposed survey mitigation responses to the four impacts of offshore wind energy development that have previously been evaluated and reported by the NEFSC in regulatory review documents, including the strategy. These impacts are:

1. Preclusion of NOAA Fisheries sampling platforms from the wind development areas
2. Impacts on the statistical design of surveys
3. Alteration of benthic and pelagic habitats and airspace
4. Reduced sampling productivity

Furthermore, the panel will assess the plans effectiveness of addressing six key elements of survey mitigation, as described in the federal survey implementation strategy:

1. Evaluation of survey designs
2. Identification and development of new survey approaches
3. Calibration and integration of new survey approaches
4. Development of interim provisional survey indices
5. Wind energy monitoring to fulfill regional scientific survey data needs
6. Development and communication of new regional data streams

Survey Mitigation Plans to be Reviewed

Existing Surveys

• Spring and Fall Bottom Trawl Surveys
• Scallop Video/Dredge Survey
• Atlantic Surfclam/Ocean Quahog Surveys
• Northern Shrimp Trawl Survey
• Gulf of Maine Bottom Longline Survey
• Ecosystems Monitoring Survey (EcoMon), including Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey
• Coastal Shark Bottom Longline Survey
• Cooperative Atlantic States Shark Pupping and Nursery Surveys (COASTSPAN)
• Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey

New/Expanded Surveys

• Hook and Line Survey
• eDNA Survey
• Trap/Video Survey

Review Panelists

• New England Fishery Management Council - Dr. Yong Chen, Dr. Adam Delargy, Dr. Richard Merrick
• Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council - Dr. Wendy Gabriel (chair), Dr. Rob Latour, Dr. Brian Rothschild
• Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission - Jim Gartland, Dr. Marcel Reichert