OES-Environmental and ORJIP held a workshop in Australia that presented the state of the science on environmental effects of marine renewable energy (MRE) and discussed risk retirement for key environmental effects of MRE devices on marine animals and the marine environment. This workshop was held in Sydney, Australia at the Aerial UTS Function Centre on Wednesday, December 4th.
The purpose of the workshop was:
- To provide an update on the state of the science on environmental effects;
- To bring together researchers, regulators, developers, and consultants who examine and have a vested interest in risk retirement; and
- To reach consensus on the remaining state of uncertainty around risk from electromagnetic fields and underwater noise, and to identify key gaps in the knowledge to be fulfilled by research in the region.
Workshop Documents:
- Workshop report
- Workshop Slidedeck, includes background information on environmental effects of marine renewable energy and presents the process of Risk Retirement and Data Transferability, as well as studies related to the underwater noise and electromagnetic field (EMF) stressors.
- Agenda
Workshop Materials:
In advance of the workshop, participants were asked to come prepared by reading the below referenced documents:
- Two tables providing information about the monitoring and research studies highlighted in the slide deck as well as additional relevant studies (Noise Literature Table and EMF Literature Table). Each study (row) comes with a link to the full article / report (“Document Link”) and another link to a shorter condensed document on Tethys (“Tethys Metadata Link”).
- Two PDF files summarizing the underwater noise thresholds used by U.S. regulators (NOAA-NMFS Marine Mammals Hearing Thresholds (2018) and BOEM Fish Hearing Thresholds (2013)).
- Links to OES-Environmental webinars on Data Transferability (Data Transferability Regulatory Workshop Slides) and Risk Retirement (Risk Retirement Regulator Workshop Slides) held April and May 2019 that provide additional information on Risk Retirement and Data Transferability.