Abstract
This report provides a summary of monitoring activities and data analyses completed by FORCE during the fourth quarter of 2025. In addition, it also highlights findings from international research efforts, previous data collection periods at the FORCE site, and additional research work that is being conducted by FORCE and its partners. This includes supporting fish tagging efforts with Acadia University and the Ocean Tracking Network, radar research projects, and subsea instrumentation platform deployments. Finally, the report presents details regarding future research and monitoring efforts at the FORCE test site. This includes work in support of the adaptive nature of the EEMP and OSIP programs.
Key updates in this report include:
- As part of the Tidal Task Force on Sustainable Tidal Energy Development in the Bay of Fundy Final Report in 2024, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) adopted a new “staged approach” into Fisheries Act Authorizations for tidal stream projects. In November 2025, the Eauclaire Orbital Tidal Array 1 became the first project at FORCE to receive an authorization following this staged approach, enabling the deployment of up to three O2-X tidal energy devices at FORCE.
- FORCE has designed a new governance model – which includes a Board of Directors independent of developers – to strengthen FORCE’s role as a site steward and create a more transparent, sustainable framework for protecting FORCE’s regulatory and other commitments.
- FORCE has partnered with Innovasea and a series of other collaborators on an Ocean Supercluster funded project to advance the application of artificial intelligence for monitoring fish around hydroelectric and tidal stream energy projects called Hydroaware. This quarter, standard contrast and reflective targets were added to the field of view of the cameras mounted on the platform currently in use by the project.
- FORCE has initiated a Mi’kmaq Ecological Knowledge Study in partnership with the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM). The study will draw on Mi’kmaw knowledge and engagement to inform tidal planning; work has commenced including an initial site visit, desktop research, and Knowledge Holder interviews.
- FORCE organized a workshop at the 2025 Marine Renewables Canada Conference entitled Stronger Relationships: Netukulimk, Etuaptmumk and the Future of Ocean Energy which brought together Chief Sidney Peters (Glooscap First Nation; Co-Chair, ANSMC), Angeline Gillis (Executive Director, CMM), Patrick Butler (Senior Mi’kmaq Energy and Mines Advisor, KMK) to discuss opportunities to integrate Mi’kmaw knowledge, leadership, values, and practices into tidal energy research and development.
- In September, Natural Resources Canada announced $8.2M for the Ocean Sensor Innovation Platforms (OSIP) project led by FORCE in collaboration with Acadia University, CMM, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and many other partners. Central to the project is the deployment of a floating platform for sea-surface environmental monitoring alongside submersible sensor systems deployed on the seafloor. In future tidal turbine deployments, sensors and methods tested by these platforms will capture essential data on fish–turbine interactions, addressing one of tidal energy’s greatest challenges: accurately measuring and monitoring risk to marine species.
- In December, as part of the OSIP project, FORCE completed a vessel-based testing campaign aboard the Nova Endeavor to evaluate optical camera and lighting configurations for subsea monitoring, including multiple camera systems, lighting arrangements, and target types at depths of 5–25 m. The work also included pre- and post-deployment CTD casts with additional sensors, supporting the selection of an optimized camera and lighting setup for future subsea deployments in the Minas Basin.