Instrumentation for Monitoring around Marine Renewable Energy Devices

Seattle, Washington, USA
June 25-26, 2013

Summary
The Instrumentation for Monitoring around Marine Renewable Energy Devices expert workshop was held on the University of Washington campus in Seattle in June 2013. Attendance at the workshop was by invitation only. The objectives of the two-day meeting were to:

  • Increase our knowledge of monitoring needs around marine renewable energy devices, identify available instrumentation to meet those needs, identify gaps currently available instrumentation, and develop solutions to address those gaps;
  • Develop a consensus among experts on methods for applying instrumentation to meet high priority monitoring needs; and
  • Provide a forum to foster new and continuing collaboration around monitoring effects of ocean energy.

This workshop was summarized in a final report and webinar.

Plentary Session #1: Status of Monitoring Around Marine Renewable Energy Systems: Purpose of Monitoring, Examples of Success and Limitations

  • Lessons from Annex IV (Andrea Copping, PNNL)
  • Fish Interactions with ORPC TidGenTM in Cobscook Bay (Gayle Zydlewski, University of Maine)
  • Results from the MCT SeaGen Monitoring Programme (Beth McKay, Royal Haskoning)
  • Results from Wave Converter Monitoring at EMEC (Ian Hutchison, Aquatera)

Plentary Session #2: Understanding the Challenges of Determining the Distribution and Habitat Use of Animals in the Vicinity of Marine Renewable Energy Devices

  • Environmental Sensing at FORCE: Challenges and Opportunities (Anna Redden, Acadia University)
  • Characterizing Distributions and Habitats of Aquatic Organisms for Marine Renewable Energy (John Horne, NNMREC)
  • Hydrodynamics and Beastie Monitoring at UK Marine Renewable Energy Sites (Paul Bell, National Oceanographic Centre)

Plentary Session #3: Observing the Effects of Underwater Sound on Marine Animals, and the Regulatory Context that Drives these Observations

  • Probabilistic Models for Acoustic Changes (Brian Polagye, NNMREC)
  • Lessons from Acoustic Monitoring in the UK (Ben Wilson, Scottish Association for Marine Science)

Breakout #1 & #3 Groups: Instrumentation Needs, Gaps, and Solutions

  • Marine Species near Marine Renewable Energy Devices
  • Determining the Distribution and Habitat Use of Marine Species in the Vicinity of Marine Renewable Energy Devices
  • Characteristics of Sound Produced by Tidal and Wave Devices

Breakout #2 Groups: Instrumentation Capabilities

  • Active Acoustics
  • Passive Acoustics
  • Optical