In May 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) convened a two-day workshop in San Francisco entitled “Collaboratively Developing a Vision for a Pacific Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) Network for Marine Mammals.” Fifty-six (56) people attended the in-person workshop at the San Francisco Federal Building, with participants ranging from state and federal agencies and California Tribes to academic research institutions, offshore wind (OSW) development companies, and non-profit organizations. Attendees’ expertise included effective Tribal engagement, OSW development, oceanography, marine mammal biology and behavior, marine acoustics, research, conservation, outreach, and advocacy. The workshop was facilitated by Patrick Field, Senior Mediator at the Consensus Building Institute (CBI).
The primary objectives of the workshop were to:
● Draw lessons on regional marine mammal monitoring via acoustics and collaboration framework from the East Coast experience.
● Review the PAM work to date on the West Coast for long-term ecosystem monitoring and identify key gaps and needs moving forward.
● Identify efficiencies and opportunities for collaboration to address key gaps and needs.
● Define potential steps to advance an inclusive, efficient, and effective U.S. West Coast PAM network partnership.
Event Documents
The following is a list of papers and presentations produced by this event.