Abstract
NOAA Fisheries, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are working with each other through the Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore Wind (RWSC) to identify models, technologies, and information from other sectors, research areas, and potential partners in support of whale conservation and responsible offshore wind development. To support this effort, a collaborative virtual workshop series is being hosted by the RWSC, the Marine Technology Society (MTS), and the Consensus Building Institute (CBI), in partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with support from DOE and contributions from NOAA, BOEM, and Turn Forward.
The objective of the series is to assess the state of the science and metrics for evaluating technologies, tools, and methods for monitoring baleen whales during sound-producing offshore wind construction activities. PNNL and NREL are leading the development of the technical workshop materials and outputs, with oversight by DOE, NOAA, and BOEM. RWSC, MTS, and CBI are providing the forum, workshop facilitation, and are developing workshop proceedings for each session that capture participant input and discussion.
The first session of the Collaborative Technology Workshop Series was held virtually on April 18, 2024. This report summarizes discussions and key takeaways from this first session. The objectives for this session were to:
- Develop a shared understanding of the applicability of existing technologies or classes of technologies to monitor baleen whales around sound-producing offshore wind construction activities.
- Discuss the types of measures that can be used to evaluate technology efficacy.
Materials from this session including an agenda and draft products produced by PNNL and NREL can be found here: https://bit.ly/3y20gs5.
Workshop participants heard introductory presentations from DOE, RWSC, PNNL and NREL, and an expert in whale behavior. Participants requested clarification from the organizers about the goals of the workshop discussion and the PNNL/NREL technical report. The workshop and the PNNL/NREL technical report are focused on how to evaluate technologies that can be used for real-time baleen whale detection during offshore wind pile driving and construction activities. Some participants felt that the missed detection rate (false negative rate) was a critical metric by which systems could be evaluated and, if an acceptable threshold is identified, systems could be designed to meet that threshold. Organizers asked participants to consider ways to evaluate the quality, quantity, and types of information that a technology can provide in real-time about whale presence and behavior. This information could then be used to inform decisions about systems to deploy and expectations around their performance. There was also general agreement that whale behavior directly influences cue availability, necessitating its consideration in technology evaluation, and that complementary and combined detection technologies could outperform singular methods.
Participants selected a breakout group focused on a particular category of technology (passive acoustic monitoring, thermal imaging, visible light cameras, protected species observers, and others). They discussed attributes of the technology that make it useful or limit its applicability to detect baleen whales during pile driving and what measures or metrics could be used to characterize the technology’s performance.
In breakout discussions and in the final plenary session, participants identified the following key themes and next steps for technology evaluation:
- Several categories of technology can inform or contribute to the accuracy of whale detection data, but not all are suitable for real-time monitoring during offshore wind pile driving. The development and evaluation of these other, less suitable technologies should continue to be advanced and flagged as methods that might provide context for or verification of real-time baleen whale detections.
- The integration of multiple technologies will ensure comprehensive monitoring of baleen whale presence during offshore wind construction activities.
- The functionality of technology in different environmental conditions needs to be measured to best evaluate technology effectiveness.
- More discussion of technology performance metrics is needed. Potential metrics to evaluate readiness and effectiveness include:
- Timeliness of data availability
- Missed detections, or false negative rate
- Ability to detect at the species level
- Detection range and accuracy across levels of environmental factors (sea state, visibility, and others) and across various deployment platform types
- Level of human intervention needed to interpret results
- Participants flagged price as a consideration, especially for technologies where multiple devices may be needed at a single offshore wind construction site, but also noted that price is not a traditional performance metric
- There are knowledge gaps in standardization of data produced by various technologies and around how decisions are made with the data collected.
Participants also shared feedback about workshop logistics and structure:
- It is essential to include subject matter experts in PNNL’s and NREL’s work as it moves forward, including maximizing their participation in future workshops, particularly ensuring the balanced distribution of those experts among any breakout discussions.
- Providing workshop materials ahead of the next workshop session will ensure all participants are prepared for productive discussion.