Abstract
The Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) designated two wind energy areas in New England: one offshore of Massachusetts and the other offshore of both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. In August 2016, Massachusetts Governor Baker signed energy diversity legislation that requires Massachusetts utilities to initiate a procurement of 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind energy by June 30, 2017. Since then, utilities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York have contracted to purchase the output from over 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind, with additional procurements planned and in process. Currently, four offshore wind developers have lease agreements to build projects in the BOEM designated Massachusetts (MA) and the Rhode Island/Massachusetts (RIMA) wind energy areas (WEA).
Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), BOEM and other relevant federal agencies are required to integrate environmental assessments into offshore development and construction plans. Offshore wind energy planning and development requires comprehensive assessments of biological resources within suitable development areas to identify and mitigate any potential effects of that development on marine species.
In anticipation of these requirements, in August of 2011, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), after a competitive procurement process, selected a team led by the New England Aquarium (NEAq) to conduct aerial and acoustic surveys of endangered whales and turtles. Upon conclusion of these initial surveys (campaign 1), MassCEC and BOEM extended the surveys for an additional two years and expanded the geographic scope to include the Rhode Island/Massachusetts Wind Energy Area (campaigns 2 and 3). For the three survey campaigns, 76 aerial surveys were conducted between October 2011 and June 2015.
The final report summarizing campaigns 1-3, released on October 25, 2016, found that the Study area around the WEAs included seasonal aggregations of protected species of whales, turtles and seabirds in these areas. The surveys also found that North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), a critically endangered species, occurred in the study area during winter and spring, with a peak in March. Based on these findings, the report provided recommendations for managing geological surveys and construction by scheduling those activities during off-peak right whale seasons to mitigate or avoid impacts altogether. The 2016 final report also provided recommendations for additional surveys to address information gaps and for the collection of additional baseline data.
From February 2017 to July 2018 (campaign 4), aerial surveys using both observer sightings and automated aerial photography were used to estimate distributions and relative abundance of right whales and other cetaceans in the two wind energy areas in New England. Under subcontracts to NEAq, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), in coordination with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, conducted concurrent oceanographic surveys from February to April 2017 to assess the physical and biological characteristics of the waters around the right whale distribution. Right whales visit the MA and RIMA WEA annually during winter and spring, but little is known about why they come to this region. It is likely the area is a feeding habitat, but prior to the current project (campaign 4), no zooplankton sampling had been conducted near right whales in the MAWEA to determine potential prey species and their abundances. In response to this knowledge gap, WHOI conducted oceanographic and zooplankton sampling in the northern region of the MAWEA during the winter and spring of 2017. This report summarizes the results of both the aerial surveys and the oceanographic sampling program.
Data are available upon request via email to offshorewind@masscec.com.