TY - RPRT
TI - Year 2 Digital Aerial Wildlife Survey of BOEM Lease Area OCS-A 520 Quarterly Report: July 2021 to October 2021 
AU - Arundale, M
AU - Warford, S
AU - Willmott, J
AB - APEM and Normandeau were contracted by Equinor Wind US (hereafter referred to as Equinor) to provide combined spring through fall digital aerial wildlife surveys of the Massachusetts Lease Area OCS-A 0520. This will comprise the second year of surveys following the initial Year 1 surveys undertaken from March 2020 to November 2020. Surveys were carried out on a monthly basis from March 2021 through October 2021, except for April, May, August and September, when two surveys per month were carried out in order to coincide with potential use of the area by roseate tern (Sterna dougallii).The aims and objectives of the work are to assess the abundance and distribution of birds, marine mammals, turtles, sharks, and rays present in the Lease Area OCS-A 0520 over the course of spring through fall. The surveys will provide the baseline information required for conducting impact assessments and are consistent with the survey guidelines for providing avian, marine mammal, and sea turtle information for renewable energy development on the OCS (BOEM 2017 and 2019).The Survey Area referred to herein is comprised of the Lease Area OCS-A 0520, plus a 2 km (c. 1 NM) buffer surrounding it with an approximately 4 km (c. 2 NM) buffer towards the northeast end. Images were captured using a grid-based survey design with a 1.5 cm ground sampling distance (GSD).Images were analyzed by APEM and quality assurance (QA) was undertaken by Normandeau. This report describes the results of the July 2021, August 2021, September 2021, and October 2021 surveys.This is the second of two progress reports (Spring and Fall) and summarizes the information collected following the completion of six aerial surveys of the Survey Area: July 2021, August 2021 (two surveys), September 2021 (two surveys), and October 2021.The following information is provided in Section 3:• The number of surveys conducted to date; and• The dates, start and end times, and weather conditions.The following information is provided in Section 4, 5, and 6:• The number of bird species / taxonomic groupings; • Maps showing the locations of birds and actual survey route; and• The status of data processing, error checking, and analysis.Shipping information recorded visually from the aircraft or captured in the imagery has been provided in Section 7.For all surveys undertaken for the purposes of these reports (March 2021 to October 2021), the survey dates have been provided in Section 8. 
DA - 2022/03//
PY - 2022
SP - 43
PB - Normandeau Associates Inc
UR - https://remote.normandeau.com/aer_docs.php?pj=22
LA - English
KW - Wind Energy
KW - Fixed Offshore Wind
KW - Floating Offshore Wind
KW - Birds
KW - Marine Mammals
KW - Reptiles
KW - Sea Turtles
ER -