The Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore Wind (RWSC) intends to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) titled “Conduct Marine Mammal passive acoustic monitoring, data management and analysis to support the POWERON Initiative”.  The objective of this RFP is to select an eligible contractor to conduct marine mammal PAM fieldwork, data management, and analysis according to a defined scope of work in support of the Partnership for an Offshore Wind Energy Regional Observation Network (POWERON). The selected contractor will work with equipment procured by BOEM… [More]

RWSC had a busy and productive year in 2024 – and we plan to continue the momentum into 2025! Download the brief “Year in Review” report that describes the many accomplishments of the RWSC Steering Committee, Sector Caucuses, Subcommittees, and participants in implementing the RWSC Science Plan and advancing collaborative offshore wind and wildlife research.

Yesterday, BOEM officially launched the POWERON (Partnership for an Offshore Wind Energy Regional Observation Network) program, and partnerships with RWSC and NOAA Fisheries to implement it. RWSC will receive $4 million over 3 years to lead the program.Offshore wind lessees can now make annual contributions to POWERON to have their long-term passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) requirements fulfilled. Annual POWERON contributions will cover the cost of instrumentation, vessel time, data processing, and analysis. Contributions will also cover the costs of archiving data at… [More]

Members from all four RWSC Sector Caucuses (federal, state, offshore wind industry, environmental NGOs) developed their first Offshore Wind & Wildlife Research Funding Strategy Action Plan. The purpose of the Action Plan is to summarize the state of ongoing and planned offshore wind and wildlife research and describe specific objectives for RWSC, funders, and all Sector Caucus members to ensure that data collection and research conducted in the upcoming year is coordinated and results in high quality data that fills current data needs. Given the current… [More]

As part of RWSC’s mission to facilitate coordinated research and analysis for wildlife, marine ecosystems, and offshore wind, the Data Governance Subcommittee has been working with other taxa- and habitat-focused RWSC Subcommittees to identify and recommend long-term storage options for each type of data described in RWSC’s Science Plan. In addition, entities that fund and/or require offshore wind and wildlife or environmental data collection and research have described a need for simple, long-term storage and access to data that they have funded, as well as easy and… [More]