Baird Symposium

Jennifer McCann is the Director of U.S. Coastal Programs at the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center at the Graduate School of Oceanography and Director of Extension Programs for the Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program. McCann served as URI’s lead for developing the Ocean SAMP.

Mary C. Boatman, Ph.D., serves as the Environmental Studies Chief for the Office of Renewable Energy Programs within the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). She coordinates the scientific studies funded by BOEM and communication about those studies. She participated in regional ocean planning and support for sharing scientific information in regional data portals.  Her area of expertise is chemical oceanography, but she has worked in a multi-disciplinary capacity at BOEM.

Annie Hawkins is Executive Director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA).  Prior to joining RODA, she provided government relations support to a variety of fishing industry and ocean technology clients with a Washington, D.C. law firm. She previously held positions in fisheries management and marine regulation including at the New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA’s Large Marine Ecosystems program.

Grover Fugate is the Executive Director of the Coastal Resources Management Council.  Fugute has led the development and the implementation of the Rhode Island Ocean SAMP, including leading the permitting process for the Block Island Wind Farm and Vineyard Wind.

John O’Keeffe is Director of U.S. Marine Affairs for Ørsted U.S and previously served as manager of operations and maintenance for the Block Island Wind Farm, before Deepwater Wind’s acquisition by Ørsted.

Erik Chapman  is the Director of New Hampshire Sea Grant and the Associate Director of Outreach for the UNH School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering. He has a Masters in Wildlife Ecology and a Ph.D. in Oceanography and his expertise is in developing and using ecosystem models: an approach he has used to explore factors influencing Adèlie Penguin reproductive energetics and life history characteristics of bluefin tuna. He is currently the Chair of the NH Commission on Coastal and Marine Natural Resources and the Environment, a member of the Sea Grant Association Board, and a member of the NOAA Ecosystem Science Management Working Group

Researchers presented findings about acoustical and benthic habitat data from the area of the Block Island Wind Farm. Both kinds of information are important for building our understanding about how offshore renewable energy efforts may both impact and coexist with the marine environment upon which we depend.

Summary Notes >>

Presenters:

Jennifer Amaral earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in ocean engineering from the University of Rhode Island and is currently studying towards her Ph.D. in the same discipline. Her doctoral research involves the study of impact pile driving sounds during the installation of offshore wind turbines. She is a lead scientist and engineer with Marine Acoustics, Inc. in Middletown, Rhode Island, where she implements modeling strategies and develops acoustic assessment tools to evaluate underwater sound propagation.

Monique LaFrance Bartley is marine ecologist with the National Park Service in the Ocean and Coastal Resources Branch. She earned an B.S. at the University of Rhode Island, majoring in marine biology and minoring in marine affairs and underwater archaeology. She continued her studies at the Graduate School of Oceanography at URI, earning her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in oceanography. Dr. LaFrance Bartley’s primary research focus is benthic habitat mapping to establish baseline conditions and monitoring to assess change over time, with the purpose of providing results that support real-world management applications.

Discussion Participants:

James Boyd is a coastal policy analyst for the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) and has been with the agency for 20 years. He is primarily responsible for the development and implementation of the CRMC’s coastal policies and regulations, and he manages and develops the CRMC’s federal consistency decisions for offshore renewable energy projects. Prior to working for the CRMC, he was a commercial fisherman for a decade.

Dave Monti is a charter captain, fishing writer and fish advocate.  He is vice chair of the RI Marine Fisheries Council, 2nd vice president of the RI Saltwater Anglers Association, a board member of the American Saltwater Guides Association and a member of the RI Party & Charter Boat Association. He is the Providence Journal’s fishing writer and writes for 12 other fishing related blogs, magazines, and newspapers often writing about climate change and its impact on fish, offshore wind farms, and fish policy at the state and national level. He can be reached at dmontifish@verizon.net.

Part 5 of the Baird Symposium Webinar Series on Offshore Renewable Energy Assessment of the influence of noise and EMF (energy emission) on benthic communities at a local and larger ecosystem are necessary during pre-construction, construction, operational phase, and decommissioning of offshore wind structures. The key elements of energy emission that need to be considered are discussed.

In this webinar, three researchers discuss the impact of noise and electromagnetic waves from offshore wind infrastructure on benthic communities.

Hosts and Moderators:

Jennifer McCann, URI Coastal Resources Center and Rhode Island Sea Grant

Sofie Van Parijs, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center

Presenters:

Louise Roberts, Postdoctoral Research Associate, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University.

Zoe Hutchinson, Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island

Sherryll Huber Jones, New York State Ocean Coordinator, Cornell University, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Marine Resources

Peter Sigray, Research Director and Professor, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Stockholm, Sweden