NOAA NOAA FISHERIES SERVICE Science, Service, Stewardship Overview of Southern New England Wind Energy Areas: MA, RIMA, NY WEAs Vincent G. Guida and the BOEM Benthic Habitat Team US DOC, NOAA, NMFS, NEFSC J.J. Howard Laboratory Highlands (Sandy Hook), NJ Contact: Vincent.Guida@noaa.gov http://www.treehugger.com SDG
NEFSC BOEM HABITAT TEAM & COLABORATORS NEFSC team: Vince Guida Richard Langton, Jennifer Samson, Donna Johnson, Amy Drohan, Jennifer McHenry, Heather Welch, Steven Fromm, DeMond Timmons, Victoria Kentner, Jonathan Brink, Lt jg Erick Estela-Gomez, Jeffrey Pessutti, John Rosendale, Peter Plantamura, Harvey Walsh, Jordan Gilruth, Ashok Deshpande, Delan Boyce, Ehren Habeck, Liza Baskin Collaborators: Kevin Stokesbury UMASS SMAST Scott Gallager Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution SDG
BOEM Northeast Regional Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) PA NJ NY CT NY RI MA continental shelf Southern New England WEAs DE MD VA VA NC
Rhode Island Sound Buzzards Bay Martha s Vineyard Nantucket Block Island RIMA WEA ~165,000 acres MA WEA ~750,000 acres Massachusetts WEA
NY-NJ Harbor New Jersey NY WEA ~82,000 acres
Rhode Island Sound Nantucket Sound WEA Subdivision: Four MA WEA Lease Areas Nantucket Shoals
WEA Subdivision: Two RIMA WEA Lease Areas
Physical Habitat Sediments Topography Bathymetry Oceanography
Topography and 50 m Limit 50 m 50 m 50 m 50 m 50 m
Topography and 50 m Limit OCS-A-0486 Cox Ledge 50 m OCS-A-0487
Topography
Geological Setting: Glacial Morains RIMA WEA OCS-A-0486 OCS-A-0487 SAMP Ch 2,
MA WEA Sediment Distribution from grab samples: Sand Dominated in depths <50 m
MA WEA Sediment Distribution from UMASS SMAST photos: Sand & Silt: no gravel, boulder or rock
RIMA WEA Sediment Distribution from grab samples: Sand-dominated, some mud, some gravel
RIMA WEA Sediment Distribution from UMASS SMAST photos: Sand & Silt with gravel, cobble, boulder and rock
NY WEA Sediment Distribution from grab samples: Sand: little gravel or mud
RIMA WEA Sediment Distribution from UMASS SMAST photos: Sand & Silt: no gravel, cobble, boulder and rock CB
Temperature (deg C) Seasonal Water Column Temperature Cycles: 2003-2016 25 20 15 MA WEA Surface and Bottom Water Temperatures and Gradients plotted by date: 2003-2016 10 5 neg T grad bot pos T grad mean surf T mean bot T 0 Dec 0.0031 Feb 50.0019 100.00 Apr 10 150.00 May 30 200.00 Jul 19 250.00 Sep 07 300.00 Oct 27 350.00 Dec 16
NEFSC Survey Otter Trawl Net Aboard R/V Delaware II V. Guida, NOAA Large Net, Coarse Mesh, High Speed, Cookies to avoid scraping bottom
NEFSC Seasonal Bottom Trawl Survey MA WEA 2003 2016 Trawl Locations
NEFSC Seasonal Bottom Trawl Survey MA WEA 2003 2016 Catch Numbers Other taxa Other taxa
NEFSC Seasonal Bottom Trawl Survey MA WEA 2003 2016 Catch Weights Other taxa Other taxa
NEFSC Seasonal Bottom Trawl Survey MA WEA 2003 2016 Catch Frequency
NEFSC Seasonal Bottom Trawl Survey MA WEA 2003 2016 and Benthic Survey 2014 Warm Season (Fall) Trawls: 81 taxa, 33 managed Cold Season (Winter Spring) Trawls: 71 taxa, 31 managed Some dominant in weight, some in numbers, some in frequency, some in all three categories Also, 151 taxa of benthic infauna from grab samples, and 58 taxa of benthic epifauna from beam trawls Which are most vulnerable to disturbance from Offshore Wind Development?
Some Criteria for Vulnerability Consideration: 1. Managed species: there is no mandate to protect nonmanaged species on an individual basis unless perhaps they are proven to be essential for ecosystem integrity, AND 2. Species that are habitat-limited by relatively rare habitat types (e.g. highly structured bottom types), OR 3. Species with a life stage that is immobile or nearly so: mobile species can move out of the way, AND 4. Species that are habitat engineers, creating habitats for managed species.
List of Species Meeting these Criteria 1. Atlantic cod (cold season) Habitat-Limited by relatively rare rock-boulder-cobble habitat 2. Black sea bass (warm season) Habitat-Limited by relatively rare structured bottom 3. Shellfish (year-round) Relatively immobile: Atlantic surfclam, Ocean quahog, Atlantic sea scallop 4. Longfin squid (warm season) Egg mops are immobile.
Longfin Inshore Squid Egg Mop NOAA: Teachers at Sea blog Wikipedia Longfin Inshore Squid, Doryteuthis pealeii, formerly Loligo pealeii
Cod caught in the last 14 years
Cod caught in the previous 14 years OCS-A-486 OCS-A-487 50 m
NO ATLANTIC COD CAUGHT IN NY WEA SINCE 2003
Black Sea Bass Caught in the Last 14 years Goode 1884 RIMA WEA OCS-A-0500 MA WEA
Black sea bass caught in the last 14 years Goode 1884 Beam Trawls, summer 2016 only
http://www.vishandel.net Shellfish caught in the last 14 years
http://www.vishandel.net Shellfish caught in the last 14 years
Shellfish caught in the last 14 years http://www.vishandel.net
NO LONGFIN SQUID EGG MOPS CAUGHT IN MA OR RIMA WEA IN MARCH, 2014 BEAM TRAWLS
Longfin squid egg mops caught in August, 2016 Wikipedia
Suggested Questions-Discussion 1. Should we be concerned with other groups of organisms, e.g. non-managed or mobile species? 2. Should we be concerned with species present that are outside of their curren EFH footprints? 3. Your questions..
SUPPLEMENTARY SLIDES
Sea Scallop EFH Sea Scallop EFH: all life stages
Ocean Quahog EFH Ocean Quahog EFH: all life stages
Atlantic Surfclam EFH Surfclam EFH: all life stages
Atlantic Cod EFH
Black Sea Bass EFH
Longfin Squid Egg Mop EFH NC-KH WEA After Hatfield & Cadrin 2002
American Lobster Caught in the Last 14 years http://www.whichfishthisfish.com RIMA WEA OCS-A-0500 MA WEA