Abstract
Project Title: “Baseline offshore bat monitoring assessment in the Gulf of Maine”
Presenter: Merra Howe (Biodiversity Research Institute [BRI])
Timeline: Field seasons from mid-April to end-of-October in 2026 and 2027. Analyses to be conducted in late 2027 through 2028
Merra Howe shared project details on behalf of her co-PI, Dr. Wing Goodale (BRI). She began by noting
that, despite the significant data gaps around bats in the offshore space, researchers have confirmed the presence of bats offshore in the Gulf of Maine, which can occur up to 169 km off the coastline. To help fill this knowledge gap, this project will use an acoustic monitoring approach to develop an occupancy model of bat frequency offshore. The model will be informed by data collected from 26 detectors at 22 different sites, including buoys, vessels, and island and coastal sites. The team is working with a diversity of partners, such as Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS), Bat Conservation International (BCI), Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association (MCFA), UMaine, and others to help access and maintain acoustic detectors.
The team is currently working with partners, DOER, and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and
Wildlife to refine their data collection approach and determine the environmental covariates to be
collected. A draft study plan is expected to be submitted by December 15, 2025.