michelle bachman fishery analyst, habitat new...

Michelle Bachman

Fishery Analyst, Habitat

New England Fishery Management Council

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Workshop: Atlantic Offshore Renewable Energy Development and Fisheries

November 8-9, 2017

New Bedford, MA

Plan

Development

(technical)

Teams

Advisory

Panels

(industry,

NGOs, others)

Committees

Council NOAA

NMFS

New England Fishery Management Council

Essential fish habitat Part of every federal fishery management plan

Map and description of habitats required for spawning, breeding, feeding, and growth

Includes the seabed and the water column, as well as prey species

Consider stocks managed by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, NOAA NMFS

New NEFMC designations effective January 2018

Atlantic Offshore Renewable Energy Development and Fisheries 3

Essential fish habitat approach

Omnibus EFH Amendment 2, Volume II. Document available at http://www.nefmc.org/library/omnibus-habitat-amendment-2. Image: NEFMC.

• Consider life stages individually when possible • Overlay multiple data sets, mainly federal and state trawl surveys • Simple quantitative models, includes depth and temperature data for some stocks • Historical viewpoint

Juvenile cod


http://www.nefmc.org/library/omnibus-habitat-amendment-2







Essential fish habitat - text Intertidal and sub-tidal benthic habitats in the Gulf of Maine, southern New England, and on Georges Bank, to a maximum depth of 120 meters, including high salinity zones in the bays and estuaries listed in the table below. Structurally-complex habitats, including eelgrass, mixed sand and gravel, and rocky habitats (gravel pavements, cobble, and boulder) with and without attached macroalgae and emergent epifauna, are essential habitats for juvenile cod. In inshore waters, young-of-the-year juveniles prefer gravel and cobble habitats and eelgrass beds after settlement, but in the absence of predators also utilize adjacent un-vegetated sandy habitats for feeding. Survival rates for young-of-the-year cod are higher in more structured rocky habitats than in flat sand or eelgrass; growth rates are higher in eelgrass. Older juveniles move into deeper water and are associated with gravel, cobble, and boulder habitats, particularly those with attached organisms. Gravel is a preferred substrate for young-of-the-year juveniles on Georges Bank and they have also been observed along the small boulders and cobble margins of rocky reefs in the Gulf of Maine.


Essential Fish

Habitat

Understanding and minimizing adverse fishing

effects

Understanding and minimizing negative impacts

of non-fishing activities

Identifying and protecting rare habitat types

Penobscot River, former Great Works Dam site. Image: Portland Press

Herald

Stony corals in a canyon off Georges Bank. Credit: NOAA and DFO, 2017

ROPOS Cruise.

EFH: Those waters and substrate necessary for

spawning, breeding, feeding and growth to maturity

Adverse: more than minimal and not

temporary

Soft corals in Jordan Basin. Credit: NOAA and DFO, 2017 ROPOS

Cruise.

Offshore wind turbines. Image: NOAA.

Which NEFMC stocks are of greatest concern

in Southern New England?

Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder

Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic winter flounder

Georges Bank cod (no separate SNE stock)

Ocean pout (data poor species)


Images – NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center

What about cumulative effects?

Cannot consider the effects of each windfarm in isolation

Need to take a regional view of energy infrastructure, fisheries, economic, social, and ecosystem effects


Fisheries-related concerns

Fishery species – what are the effects of:

Changes to benthic habitats?

Changes to water column habitats?

Changes to electromagnetic fields?

Changes to the acoustic environment?

Fisheries operations – how can we minimize:

De facto exclusions of fishing gears from windfarms?

Possible interactions between fishing gear and cables/mattresses?

Potential effects on communication and radar?

9 Atlantic Offshore Renewable Energy Development and Fisheries

Changes to benthic habitats Turbines

Area under turbine permanently altered

Trade a low relief habitat for a large vertical structure

Scour effects

What are tradeoffs around different foundation designs?

Cables

Area temporarily altered if cable is buried

Permanent change if mattresses placed

What are the tradeoffs around different cable burial techniques?


Reworked sediments; removal of benthic organisms that provide shelter and food

Which effects are temporary? Which are long term?

What happens when species are temporarily or permanently displaced from spawning or feeding grounds?

Changes to water column habitats How do turbines affect the flow of water?

Will require modeling work and a realistic sense of turbine layout across multiple regional projects

Does this influence the transport of eggs and larvae throughout the region? What are the implications for recruitment and connectivity of fish and shellfish populations?

Are these effects significant at the population/stock level?

Source/sink dynamics

Could result in effects well beyond the immediate windfarm area


Changes to electromagnetic fields What are the effects of electromagnetic fields from cables on fishery

resources?

Avoidance and changes to patterns of movement

Life history and catchability implications

What techniques can be used to minimize these effects?

Deeper burial depths (some animals live in or on the seabed; others in the water column)

Cable shielding techniques

Which species are most vulnerable based on biology and spatial overlap?

NEFMC - little and winter skate, cod, flounders?

MAFMC – spiny dogfish, mackerel?

ASMFC – American lobster, Jonah crab?


Changes to the acoustic environment

Fish and other marine species communicate with sound

How will windfarm construction and operation change the acoustic environment?

What are the short term impacts associated with turbine construction and cable burial?

What are the long term effects of sound associated with turbine operation?

What can we learn from studies done in other regions? What additional studies need to be done here in New England?


Effects on fish behaviors

Identify areas of concern:

Which species spawn in each lease area? What is their spawning season?

Are specific spawning locations well known? Are they consistent over time?

Is their spawning behavior likely to be affected by construction or operations of a wind farm?

What are typical migratory patterns?

What techniques can be used to minimize impacts?

Avoid construction activities during specific months

Avoid siting turbines in locations that are particularly important


Fishing around turbines and cables

Even if there are no formal exclusion zones, fishermen are concerned that it may be difficult or impossible to fish among turbines

This applies especially to mobile gear fishermen, particularly those fishing with bottom trawls

Fishermen are also concerned about interacting with inter-array or export cables

Will the windfarm interfere with radar or other shipboard technology?

Solutions

Consult with fishermen - arrange turbines and cables in a way that is compatible with existing patterns of mobile gear and fixed gear fishing

What are the spatial patterns of fishing? Based on depth contours? LORAN lines?

Bury cables as deep as possible

Avoid use of mattresses when possible


The importance of monitoring

Need solid baseline of fishery resource abundance and distribution

Multiple seasons, to capture intra-annual shifts in distribution

Multiple years, to capture inter-annual variation

Need a clear understanding of benthic habitat distributions

Allow for a thorough EFH assessment, appropriate siting of turbines and cables, and to serve as a baseline for understanding impacts

Need a detailed understanding of fishing activity within each lease area

Consider multiple years of data

Biological and management factors influence patterns of fishing activity

What will happen if some activities shift out of the windfarm and into adjacent locations?


michelle bachman fishery analyst, habitat new...

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