Abstract
The Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) designated two wind energy areas (WEAs) in New England: one offshore of Massachusetts (MA WEA) and the other offshore of both Rhode Island and Massachusetts (RIMA 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 conduct environmental assessments of offshore development and construction plans. Offshore wind-energy planning and development is new in the United States and comprehensive assessments of biological resources within wind energy areas are needed to identify and mitigate potential effects of development on marine species.
In anticipation of these requirements, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) established an agreement with the New England Aquarium (NEAq) in August of 2011 to conduct field surveys of marine life in the MA WEA as part of the Northeast Large Pelagic Survey Collaborative (NLPSC). In December of 2012, MassCEC and the EEA entered into a cooperative agreement with BOEM that expanded the survey area to include the adjacent RIMA WEA and extended the survey period through 30 June 2015. These surveys included two renewable energy sites known as Muskeget Channel and NOREIZ (Northeast Offshore Renewable Energy Innovation Zone). The WEAs, Muskeget, NOREIZ, and their immediately surrounding waters are together referred to as the study area (SA) (Figure 1). The MA WEA boundary depicted in Figure 1 is the original lease area used in the survey design, while the Zones 1 – 4 boundaries depict the current lease areas. Prior to these surveys, systematic effort in the area was relatively sparse, beginning with the Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program in 1978–1982 (CETAP, 1982).
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), many species that occur in the SA are afforded legal protections. The WEAs are inhabited regularly and consistently by six species of large whale and five species of sea turtle that are listed as Endangered or Threatened under the ESA (Lazell, 1980; CETAP, 1982; Kenney and Winn, 1986; Waring et al., 2015; LaBrecque et al. 2015). The whales found in the area include the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), sei whale (B. borealis), North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), minke whale (B. acutorostrata), sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), and on rare occasion the blue whale (B. musculus). Of these, all but the minke whale are listed as Endangered under the ESA (NMFS OPR, 2016a). Sea turtles regularly found in southern New England waters include the loggerhead (Caretta caretta), leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), and green (Chelonia mydas) turtles, with occasional reports of hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) from stranding records. All of these sea turtles are listed as Endangered or Threatened under the ESA (NMFS OPR, 2016b).
One concern with the development of wind energy or other offshore renewable energy facilities is the potential impact of noise produced by their construction and operation on marine wildlife. Although there are both regulatory and industry efforts to minimize the habitat-level impacts of wind facility development and operations, the extent of these impacts on endangered marine life and biodiversity is not well understood. Other than harbor porpoise and seals (Carstenson et al. 2006; Mann and Tielmann, 2013), information to understand the impact of wind energy development-related stressors on marine mammals is limited, and for most endangered species, is non-existent. The range of impacts of wind energy development during construction and operational phases may vary widely, and may affect abundance, distribution, and prey dynamics of marine mammal species (Bergstrom et al. 2014). Stressors such as acoustic disturbance and physical habitat alteration may have chronic and/or acute impacts and temporarily or permanently impact the movement and distribution of marine mammals in the proposed wind energy development area. However, a comprehensive baseline characterization of species occurrence in any wind energy development area is the foundation of an informed management strategy to mitigate potential impacts on those species (Bonar et al. 2015).
Data are available upon request via email to offshorewind@masscec.com.