TY - RPRT
TI - Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy Summer 2016–Spring 2019 Seasonal Surveys Large Bony Fish and Fish Shoals Final Report 
AU - Normandeau Associates Inc
AB - In support of New York State’s commitment to incorporating offshore wind into its energy portfolio, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) embarked on a multi-year ultra-high–resolution aerial digital survey of marine resources in a 43,745.20 km2 (12,754.06 mi2) offshore planning area (OPA) in 2016. The OPA encompasses the waters of the New York Bight from Long Island southeast to the continental shelf break. Surveys are conducted on a quarterly basis, timed to coincide with periods of abundance of avian and marine species that could be vulnerable to impacts from offshore wind activities. This report summarizes the results of twelve surveys conducted during Summer 2016 through Spring 2019. Each survey collected images covering at least 7% of the OPA.  For each survey, approximately 300,000 images were collected within the OPA using a transect design. During the first survey year, special attention was also paid to the Wind Energy Area (WEA) using a more detailed grid survey design, collecting around 100,000 images. Each survey collected images covering at least 10% of the WEA. Information on the WEA surveys may be found in the second interim report.There was some variation in sampling effort among surveys as a different camera system that captured a larger footprint was used after the Summer 2016 survey. Across all surveys, 98% of images contained no target species groups, vessels, or structures. Less than 2% of images contained target taxonomic groups.The findings of this survey suggest that spatial distribution of bony fishes and fish shoals are strongly influenced by season. This project originally did not consider bony fishes and shoals from the survey efforts but later included them once their prevalence within the images became apparent. This project was designed for collecting information on avian species and other marine organisms such as marine mammals, turtles, sharks, and rays. Future surveys could consider shifting the survey times to coincide with bony fishes and/or fish shoal life history patterns more directly if the primary target of such a survey is bony fishes and fish shoals. It is perhaps most important to note the immense disparity in imaged fish shoals between survey one and all subsequent surveys. Although some shoals were observed in each season, they were most prevalent in the Summer. The Summer 2016 survey fish shoal abundance exceeds all subsequent surveys combined. Our results make it difficult to conclude or speculate about what might have driven such high numbers during this survey, but future investigators should be aware of such differences while planning surveys, particularly if fish shoals are the target. Despite potentially missing peak shoaling periods during the Fall 2016 through Spring 2019 surveys, the survey periods used for this baseline data survey were adequate indicators of overall bony fishes and fish shoal prevalence.Across the 12 surveys, seven species of large bony fishes were observed with Ocean Sunfish, Mahi-Mahi, and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna the most common. Ocean Sunfish were present in every season except Winter. Atlantic Bluefin Tuna occurred in Summer and Spring surveys. MahiMahi was present only during Summer surveys.   Results from high-resolution aerial surveys can provide insight into spatial and temporal animal distributions within a surveyed area. Data from these surveys can inform wind turbine siting decisions at a high-level and site level through better understanding of species composition, relative abundance, and animal movements. This information can also be used in developing project-specific environmental documents such as Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements should the need arise.  
DA - 2020/09//
PY - 2020
SP - 94
PB - Normandeau Associates Inc
UR - https://remote.normandeau.com/aer_docs.php?pj=6
LA - English
KW - Land-Based Wind
KW - Fixed Offshore Wind
KW - Floating Offshore Wind
KW - Fish
ER -