The Marine Technology Society (MTS) in partnership with Rhode Island Sea Grant and the University of Rhode Island (URI), and in collaboration with the Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) and the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC), hosted the Fisheries & Benthic Monitoring TechSurge October 8-9, 2025 at the URI Bay Campus in Narragansett, Rhode Island. The event convened more than 150 experts — including over 15 virtual participants — to examine the latest advancements in fisheries and benthic monitoring technologies supporting responsible offshore development.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The week began with a virtual pre-event webinar, Collaborative Approaches to Advance UUVs for Offshore Wind, held on October 6. The session featured five projects funded by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC), each focused on developing and testing uncrewed systems for environmental monitoring.
The TechSurge featured a flipped model of participation. All abstract presentations were pre-recorded and shared with attendees in advance. By providing abstracts in advance, the TechSurge created space for deeper discussion, collaboration, and solution-oriented dialogue during the in-person program.
The two-day program featured curated panels, lightning talks, over 25 abstract presentations, and a student poster session addressing a range of topics, including benthic mapping, new survey methods, and emerging monitoring technologies. Sessions explored how to transition from traditional sampling techniques toward integrating more state-of-the-art, autonomous, innovative methods, systems, and analyses.
Key themes included:
A dedicated fisheries panel added valuable stakeholder perspectives from the fishing community, underscoring the importance of collaboration in developing effective monitoring solutions.
View the Resources tab to see recordings and presentation slides from the TechSurge.