Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore Wind Partners with the Center for Ocean Leadership The Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore Wind (RWSC) has established a partnership with the Center for Ocean Leadership to facilitate research related to offshore wind and wildlife in U.S. Atlantic waters. The Center for Ocean Leadership’s added capacity helps ensure that the RWSC can execute important offshore wind research in a timely and coordinated manner. “This is an important step to accelerate critical research on offshore wind and ocean wildlife,”… [More]

RWSC Director Emily Shumchenia joined NOAA, BOEM, and DOE leadership, as well as representatives from eNGOs, the research community, and the offshore wind industry in Washington, DC, at a Summit on Advancing Technologies for Whale Conservation and Responsible Offshore Wind Development. The objectives of the Summit were to share information among groups advancing tools to support the real-time detection and monitoring of marine mammals, and to announce the launch of a collaborative workshop series. The RWSC Technology Subcommittee has been developing concepts for a Technology… [More]

Download the RWSC Research Summary: Power Analysis for the Optimal Design of a Passive Acoustic Monitoring Network for US East Coast Offshore Wind A brief handout summarizing the results and intended uses of the RWSC Marine Mammal Subcommittee’s recent passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) study is now available. The Subcommittee conducted a simulation study to assess the statistical power of a regional PAM network to detect potential changes in baleen whale distribution or acoustic behavior associated with wind farm construction and operation. The RWSC and partners will… [More]

On August 24, 2023, we invited the public to join a webinar to hear about how RWSC and Project WOW are working together to advance the Draft Science Plan and Project WOW goals.  You can view the webinar recording here. Presentation slides from the webinar can be found here: RWSC Draft Science Plan x Project WOW, Emily Shumchenia, RWSC Making Existing Marine Life Data Useful, Pat Halpin, Duke University Assessment Frameworks and Tools, Saana Isojunno, University of St. Andrews Environmental Research and Instrumentation Validation, Doug Nowacek, Duke University

After nearly 50 (!) meetings of the expert Subcommittees and with broad participation from multiple sectors, RWSC is excited to release the Draft Integrated Science Plan for Wildlife, Habitat, and Offshore Wind Energy in U.S. Atlantic Waters for review and comment from July 1 – September 30, 2023.The Draft Science Plan describes recommendations for data collection, research, and coordination compiled by the expert Subcommittees following more than a year of information gathering and discussion. More work is needed to hone the recommendations and discuss strategies to implement… [More]