Rhode Island Sea Grant

The Ecology of Marine Wind Farms: Perspectives on Impact Mitigation, Siting, and Future Uses

8th Annual Ronald C. Baird Sea Grant Science Symposium
November 2 to 4, 2009
Newport, Rhode Island, USA

Description

The development of offshore renewable energy systems is an international priority driven by the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and decrease human impacts on global climate. At the same time, the increasing demand for high quality seafoods, marine products, and recreational opportunities is accelerating worldwide.

The purpose of this symposium is to develop opportunities and document progress toward a new vision of designed, permitted, offshore ecosystems that have windpower energy systems as their focus to provide mutual benefits for multiple uses of ocean space and many new opportunities to develop the "green economy."

This symposium will bring together international experts in wind energy, biotechnologies, seafoods, fisheries, aquaculture, and leading legal and policy experts to discuss innovative methods for the integration of these future uses into windfarm marine areas.

Four sessions will be convened each led by an invited, topical keynote speaker:

• What Is the Next Generation of Marine Spatial Planning?
• Innovations in Aquaculture Technologies Suitable for Integration with Offshore Energy Systems
• Designing and Managing Offshore Structures to Enhance Coastal Habitats, Fishing & Alternative Livelihoods
• Regional Needs on Knowledge Transfer, Mitigating Impacts and Future Uses of Windpower Areas

Symposium Speakers

Dr. Bela Buck, Head of the Marine Aquaculture, Maritime Technologies and ICZM Work Group at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, will provide the symposium keynote  address. Willett M. Kempton, of the College of Marine and Earth Studies at the University of Delaware, is one of the lunch speakers. Leon Cammen, National Sea Grant College Program director, will also address participants.

Five sessions will be convened, each led by a keynote speaker.

Agenda

Monday 2 November 2009

0700 -0830 Breakfast and Registration

0830 -0930 Welcome & Introductory Remarks

Donald DeHayes, Provost
University of Rhode Island

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)

David Farmer, Dean
University of Rhode Island

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Director
Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program
Professor, University of Rhode Island

0930 -1030 Symposium Keynote Speaker

Bela H. Buck
Head of the Marine Aquaculture, Maritime Technologies & ICZM Work Group, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Institute for Marine Resources & the University of Applied Sciences, Bremerhaven, Germany
Talk: "Meeting the quest for spatial efficiency: Progress and prospects of extensive aquaculture within offshore wind farms in Europe"

1030 -1045 BREAK

1045 -1245 Session 1: What is the Next Generation of Marine Spatial Planning?

Session Chair

Dennis Nixon, Associate Dean for Research & Administration and Professor
Graduate School of Oceanography
University of Rhode Island

Panelists

Jim Lanard, Managing Director
Deepwater Wind, LLC
Hoboken, New Jersey
Talk: "The relationship between marine spatial planning, the offshore wind industry, and climate change"

Sandra Whitehouse, Senior Advisor
Ocean Conservancy
Talk: "The use of marine spatial planning in the appropriate siting of marine wind farms"

Morgan Gopnik, Environmental Consultant
Duke University
Talk: "Integrating offshore renewable energy into a marine spatial planning framework"

Gesche Krause, Social-ecological System Analyst
Center for Tropical Marine Ecology, Bremen, Germany
Talk: "Global links and local roots: Current legal and policy developments in Europe on combining wind farms and aquaculture operations in the offshore realm"

Hauke Kite-Powell, Research Specialist
Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 
Talk: "Economic implications of co-located offshore energy and aquaculture operations"

1245 -1330 LUNCH

1330 -1500 Luncheon Session

Introduction

Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Director
Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program
Professor, University of Rhode Island

Comments on the Rhode Island approach to marine zoning and introduction to the luncheon speaker

Stephen Olsen, Director
Coastal Resources Center
University of Rhode Island

Luncheon Speaker

Grover Fugate, Executive Director
Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council
Talk: "Marine Spatial Planning: The Rhode Island Experience"

1500 -1515 BREAK

1515 -1800 Session 2: Innovations in Aquaculture Technologies Suitable for Integration with Offshore Energy Systems

Session Chair

Michael Rubino, Director
NOAA Aquaculture Program, NOAA Fisheries Service

Panelists

Thierry Chopin, Professor
University of New Brunswick
Saint John, Canada
Talk: "Let's not move just the fish to the open ocean ... an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) approach should not be an afterthought for 2050"

Richard Langan, Director of Ocean and Coastal Technology Programs
University of New Hampshire
Talk: "Co-location of offshore energy and seafood production: Potential synergies, compatibilities, and conflicts"


Stephen F. Cross, Associate Professor and Director
Coastal Aquaculture Research & Training Network
University of Victoria, Canada
Talk: "Sustainable ecological aquaculture: Integrating alternative energy to coastal food production systems"

Steve Page, President
Ocean Farm Technologies, Inc.
Searsmont, Maine
Talk: "Reducing risks associated with open-ocean aquaculture"

Chris Bridger, General Manager
Aquaculture Engineering Group Inc.
St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada
Talk: "Technology and operational integration considerations for open-ocean wind-fish farms"

1800 -2000 Social Hour (Cash Bar)

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

0700 -0830 Breakfast

0830 -0930 Welcome, Introductions, and Comments

Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Director
Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program
Professor, University of Rhode Island

Michael M. Tikoian, Chairman
R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council

Honorable Donald L. Carcieri, Governor
State of Rhode Island

Leon Cammen, Director
NOAA National Sea Grant College Program

0930 -1200 : Session 3: Designing and Managing Offshore Structures to Enhance Coastal Habitats, Fishing, and Alternative Livelihoods

Session Co-Chairs

Edward Chesney, Associate Professor
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
Talk: "Perspectives on the placement of man-made structures in the coastal zone: Their roles as fishing sites and fish habitat"

Charles Yarish, Professor
University of Connecticut Stamford

Panelists

Mark Drawbridge, Senior Research Biologist
Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute
San Diego, California
Talk: "Offshore structures and aquaculture: A California perspective"

Daniel Cohen, President
Fishermen's Energy, New Jersey
Talk: "Harvesting the wind and harvesting the sea, side by side"

Sebastian Belle, Executive Director
Maine Aquaculture Association
Talk: "Co-location of renewable energy and aquaculture: What is it going to take from the perspective of the private sector?"

Mark J. Spalding, President
The Ocean Foundation
Talk: "Marine spatial planning: Putting offshore alternative energy in its place"

Mitchell T. Baer, Director
Office of Policy and International Affairs
U.S. Department of Energy
Talk: "Hurdles to a renewable energy future"

1200 -1500 LUNCH BREAK

Welcome and Introductions

Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Director & Professor
Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program
University of Rhode Island

1330 -1500 Lunch Speaker

Willett M. Kempton, Director
Center for Carbon-free Power Integration, and Professor, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment University of Delaware
Talk: "Tapping the Northeast's Large-scale Carbon-free Power Resource: How will the system work?"

1500 -1800 : Session 3 (continued): Designing and Managing Offshore Structures to Enhance Coastal Habitats, Fishing, and Alternative Livelihoods

Panelists

Donna Schroeder, Marine Biologist
Minerals Management Service
Talk: "What can oil platform studies tell us about the potential ecological consequences of offshore renewable energy?"

Andrew Gill, Senior Lecturer
School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University, U.K.
Talk: "On understanding the ecological implications of offshore renewable energy developments: A view from Europe"

Dan Sheehy, President
Aquabio, Inc.
Arlington, Massachusetts
Talk: "Constructed reefs for mitigation and fishery enhancement in marine wind farm development"

John B. Richards, Marine Extension Advisor Emeritus
Sea Grant Extension Program
University of California, Davis
Talk: "Shellfish harvesting as a biofouling control strategy on offshore oil and gas platforms: Development of a profitable, symbiotic marine business in southern California"

1830 Symposium Dinner

Introduction

Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Director
Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program
Professor, University of Rhode Island

Dinner Speaker

Charles Peterson , Alumni Distinguished Professor
Institute for Marine Sciences
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Talk: "Spatially explicit ecosystem-based management of wind farm development to minimize use conflicts and maximize energy production and ecological synergies: A North Carolina example for Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds and the coastal ocean"

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

0700 -0830 Breakfast

0845 -1200 Summary Discussion of the Meeting with Discussion ofRegional Needs on Knowledge Transfer, Mitigating Impacts, and Future Uses of Windpower Areas

Sponsored by the Gulf of Maine Regional Ocean Science Initiative and Rhode Island Sea Grant

Participants are encouraged to join this discussion to highlight issues of concern in Rhode Island and the Northeast related to offshore alternative energy developments and their potential impacts on ocean ecosystems, communities, and coastal economies. Results of this discussion will be taken into consideration in the development of the R.I. Ocean Special Area Management Plan's chapter on future uses. In this session we will begin by identifying three to four questions to frame the subsequent discussion. Suggestions: What are the major management issues, and what management tools are needed to support decision-making? Where will regional cooperation be needed, what parties will need to be involved, and what are the key elements to success for regional partnerships?

Facilitators

Judy Pederson, Outreach Leader
MIT Sea Grant College Program

Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Director
Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program
Professor, University of Rhode Island

1200 Adjourn