Baird Symposium

Rhode Island Sea Grant and the Coastal Resources Center are partnering with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Working Group on Marine Benthal Renewable Energy Developments (WGMBRED) and Venture Café & District Hall Providence to offer a 4-part webinar series to share lessons learned from offshore renewable energy development in the United States.

These webinars will explore key issues regarding the potential cause-effect relationships resulting from the construction and operation of offshore renewable energy installations and recommendations for minimizing impacts and promoting opportunities for positive biological outcomes.

This free webinar series takes the place of the Baird Symposium that had been planned for April 24th. These 90-minute webinars will occur between May 19 and July 15 and will cover topics of habitats and ecosystems, noise and energy emission effects on benthic communities, and food web effects.

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.

This invitation-only event was hosted by the Coastal Resources Center and the University of Rhode Island Marine Affairs Department, with support from the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences and the Center for Carbon-Free Power Integration at the University of Delaware. Its primary purpose was to help inform Rhode Island Sea Grant’s next research RFP, which will include a call for social science proposals on the issue of the impact of offshore wind energy development on society.

Presentations:

Jeremy Firestone, CCPI: The Nature of Offshore Wind Energy Concerns

Grover Fugate, CRMC: Rhode Island’s Offshore Wind Experience: The Block Island Wind Farm

Brian Krevor, BOEM: Regulator Perspectives on Offshore Wind Energy & Social Research Needs

Robert O’Connor, Decision, Risk and Management Sciences, National Science Foundation: Trends in Environmental Social Science

Martin Pasqualetti, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University: Public Acceptance of Wind Power

Bonnie Ram, CCPI: Lessons from Denmark

Experience with Offshore Wind Energy: Community and User Perspectives

Speakers: Jessica Willi, Block Island Tourism Council; David Monti, Rhode Island charter boat operator/fishing columnist, Providence Journal; Richard Getchell, Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians/All Nations Global; facilitator Nick Battista, Island Institute

• David Monti, charter boat operator and fishing columnist

The current and the potential future value—economic and environmental—of shellfish to Rhode Island. 

Summary Notes

PRESENTATIONS:

Bob Rheault
Carl LoBue
Boze Hancock
Michael A. Rice
Rich Langan
Bill Dewey
John Kraeuter
Lisa Kellogg
Thomas Uva
Peter Ramsden
Perry Raso
Jeff Mercer

FUNDERS & PARTNERS

The 2013 Baird Symposium is funded by Rhode Island Sea Grant, the URI Coastal Institute, and the Rhode Island Shellfish Management Plan.

This event is being coordinated in partnership with representatives from the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center, Rhode Island Sea Grant, University of Rhode Island, Roger Williams University, R.I. Department of Environmental Management, R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council, The Nature Conservancy, East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, and the local shellfishing industry.

Planning for who gets to do what (and where, when, and how) in a nation’s coastal and ocean waters falls to a state or country’s coastal managers, and over 75 of them from across the U.S. and around the world gathered in Providence, R.I., on May 14-16, 2012, to discuss how their efforts-known as “marine spatial planning; (MSP) – are faring.

WORKSHOP MATERIAL
Summary Notes
Practitioner Biographies
Practitioner Contact Sheet
MSP Survey Document

PRESENTATIONS

Organizing the Process through pre-planning

Marine Planning in England Organising the process through pre-planning. Paul Gilliland, Marine Management Organisation, United Kingdom

Oregon Marine Spatial Planning Overview and Update. Paul Klarin, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, Oregon 

Applying Decision Support Tools

Marine Spatial Planning Decision Support Tools Development in Canada. Darren Williams, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

Frameworks for the Processes & Outcomes of MSP. Stephen Olsen, University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources

Formal Adoption and Final Products

Implementation of the ecosystem approach through Marine Spatial Planning: the Norwegian case. Erik Olsen, Institute for Marine Research, Norway

Formal Adoption and Final Products 30 Years of Transnational Cooperation. Harold Marencic, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Germany

Regulatory Results

BOEM’s Renewable Energy Program Philosophy and Lessons Learned. Maureen Bornholdt, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

Economic and Social Results

Marine Spatial Planning for Ocean Resources. Grover Fugate, R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council

Deepwater Wind.  Bill Moore, Deepwater Wind, Inc.

Potentials of Multi-Use Concepts within a MSP Process. Bela Buck, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany

Enviornmental Results

Marine Spatial Planning: a tropical perscective. Vera Agostini, The Nature Conservancy, Florida 

Marine Spatial Planning in Support of Environmental Protection in Canada’s marine waters. Danna Campbell, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

Capacity to Implement

Massachusetts Ocean Management: Capacity to develop and implement plan. Bruce Carlisle, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone, United States

Capacity to implement; experiences from the Dorset C-SCOPE Project. Ness Smith, Dorset C-Scope, Project UK, United Kingdom

May 16th, 2012

Marine Spatial Planning: What’s the Big Deal

Marine Spatial Planning: What’s the Big Deal? Jake Rice, Fisheries & Oceans Canada.

U.S. Strategy for Promoting MSP

Ocean planning in the Northeast U.S. John Weber, Ocean Planning Director, Northeast Regional Ocean Council.
http://www.slideshare.net/riseagrant/weber-john

The European MSP Experience: What are we Learning

30 Years of Dutch-German-Danish Cooperation on the Protection of the Wadden Sea. Herald Marencic, Deputy Secretary, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat

Marine Planning in England What are we learning? Paul Gilliland, Marine Planning Development Manager Organization: Marine Management Organization.

A Race for Space in the Begain Marine Waters: Marine Spatial Planning in Belgium. Charlotte Herman, Belgium, Directorate-General for Environment.

More MSP Experiences from Abroad

Canada’s Approach to Marine Spatial Planning – an ecosystem based approach. Darren Williams & Danna Campbell, Ocean Policy and Planning Unit, Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Marine Spatial Planning of the Azores. Frederico Cardigos, Regional Director of Sea Affairs, Government of the Azores.

Maritime Spatial Planning in France. Denis van der Putten, Chief of the Mission for Coordinator for Maritime Policies, Mache Est Mer du Nord, France.

Multi-Use Concepts as a Potental Solution for the Overcrowded Marine Realm. Bela H. Buck, Marine Aquaculture Specialist, Alfred Wegener Institute.

MSP in the United States: What Are the Main Results?

Massachusetts Ocean Management: Implementation Progress and Results. Bruce K. Carlisle, Office of Coastal Zone Management, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Oregon Marine Spatial Planning Progress Report. Paul Klarin, Marine Affairs Coordinator, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development.

Marine Spatial Planning For Ocean Resources. Grover Fugate, Executive Director, Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council.

The Next Generation of MSP in the US

MARCO Mapping & Planning Portal. Laura Mckay, Manager, Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program.

Marine Spatial Planning in Washington State. Jennifer Hennessey, Ocean Policy Associate, Department of Ecology.

The Next Generation of MSP in the U.S: Future Challenges and Opportunities. State of Hawaii and the Pacific Region. Jesse K. Souki, Director, State Office of Planning.

Other Resources

Integration of Marine-Related Data and Information in Foreign Countries. Tomohiko Tsunoda and Masanori Muto. Science and Technology Group. Mitsubishi Research Institue, Inc. (Presentation)

C-Scope Combining Sea and Coastal Planning in Europe: http://www.cscope.eu/en/ (Website Link)

Sponsors

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation 
RI Coastal Resources Management Council 
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 
URI Coastal Resources Center 
Rhode Island Sea Grant College Program 
The Nature Conservancy 
The Ocean Conservancy 
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
The University of Rhode Island 
American Mussel Harvesters Inc.
Matunuck Oyster Bar

The symposium brought together an international group of scientists, chefs, the seafood industry, and others to share perspectives on topics such as sourcing sustainable seafood, consumer preferences, and health. Participants got to prepare—and taste—sustainable seafood dishes under the guidance of chefs at the Johnson & Wales University campus in Providence. The symposium was sponsored by JWU, Rhode Island Sea Grant, and the University of Rhode Island.

Celebrating Sustainable Seafood, the video of the 2011 Ronald C. Baird Sea Grant Science Symposium, highlights the best of the symposium, “Developing the Rhode Island Seafood Knowledge Economy: Perspectives on Seafood Sustainability.”

Researchers trying to understand disease emergence are dealing with complex, multi-scale, and variable systems. Traditional approaches using cause-and-effect methods are difficult to apply when systems are at ecosystem levels and risk factors are non-linear.

New techniques to examine diseases are being used to explain disease outbreaks. Triangulation is a process of gathering information about a system through field, laboratory, model, and historical investigations facilitated by a cross-disciplinary research group.

This new approach has been used in the investigation of shell disease for American lobster by researchers and their staff and students from 14 institutions.

As one team, experts in the fields of crustacean endocrinology, genetics, veterinary medicine, behavior, microbiology, lobster biology, chemistry, environmental science, and epidemiology have worked together with fishermen and managers for three years to uncover the dynamics of shell disease.

This symposium will include a special workshop on shell disease in American Lobster.

Research Results

New Information and Tools

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 the global climate. At the same time, the increasing demand for high-quality seafood, 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 wind power 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, seafood, fisheries, aquaculture, and leading legal and policy experts to discuss innovative methods for the integration of these future uses into wind farm marine 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.