Abstract
Acoustic receivers passively record the presence/absence and relative abundance of animals tagged with acoustic transmitters. Detection data are used to calculate residency (time spent in regions) and movement rates of animals within monitored regions. Focal fishes to be tagged in this study include species that are ecologically, commercially, and/or recreationally important, which include but are not limited to the federally endangered Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhinchus), federally prohibited coastal sharks (e.g., dusky, sand tiger, sandbar), other elasmobranchs (e.g., winter skate, smooth dogfish, and spiny dogfish), commercially and recreationally important finfish species (e.g., winter flounder, summer flounder, black sea bass, tautog, striped bass etc.) and Highly Migratory Species (HMS; e.g., bluefin tuna, shortfin mako). Tags, or transmitters, have an operating life of two to ten years (depending on transmitter size appropriate for each species), providing successful long-term data collection over time. This acoustic telemetry study complements an existing regional infrastructure of acoustic telemetry arrays that are currently deployed by state, federal, and academic institutions and include detection coverage in and around the Empire Wind Project Area (Lease Area and planned export cable routes). Monmouth University is collaborating with INSPIRE Environmental Inc. to deploy acoustic receivers as well as monitor and tag a variety of fish species for the Empire Wind acoustic telemetry study.
This report documents the first year (2023) of pre-construction acoustic telemetry monitoring in the Empire Wind Lease Area and along the planned export cable routes to satisfy the following goals of providing:
- Site-specific information about commercially and recreationally important fish species baseline movements, usage, and residency patterns; and
- Baseline data to be used to examine potential spatial and/or temporal shifts in fish movements and usage patterns that may be associated with wind farm construction or operation.
The Empire Wind acoustic telemetry study includes two years of monitoring prior to offshore construction, sampling during construction, and two years of post-construction monitoring in accordance with the guidance of NYSERDA (NYSERDA 2017) and ROSA (ROSA 2021). In addition, the use of acoustic telemetry as a method to census a select number of marine fishes is consistent with existing guidelines for offshore wind fisheries monitoring from BOEM and ROSA (BOEM 2019; ROSA 2021) and meets ROSA’s objectives by providing a reliable index of changes in community composition that has minimal impact on fisheries because it is a no-take methodology.