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Offshore Wind Energy Development in New England/Mid-Atlantic Waters

Offshore wind development is rapidly expanding along the Atlantic coast of the United States, especially from Massachusetts to North Carolina. This is a new use of our marine waters, requiring substantial scientific and regulatory review by NOAA Fisheries.

Wind generators off Block Island.

NOAA’s Role

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is the lead federal agency for offshore energy exploration and development. NOAA Fisheries is the lead federal agency charged with stewardship of marine life. Building, operating, and decommissioning offshore wind power plants affects a number of our key mission areas, including: fisheries, protected animals (such as sea turtles and whales), seabirds, and marine habitats. We provide information to help the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management make informed decisions about offshore wind energy development and operations. Specifically, we:

  • Provide data and analyses related to fishing activities, ocean conditions, and affected marine resources.
  • Provide input and review throughout the regulatory process, working as a cooperating agency to assist BOEM in their development of an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act.
  • Conduct research and monitoring to better understand the potential effects of offshore wind energy development on marine habitats, fisheries, protected resources, and their ecosystems.
  • Providing BOEM, other federal agencies, states, tribes, and stakeholders with information on fisheries operations and the potential socioeconomic impacts of offshore wind projects on fishing communities.
  • Foster management decisions that promote coexistence among competing uses while minimizing adverse impacts to our trust resources.

Regulatory Authority for NOAA Involvement

We work with the BOEM, other federal and state agencies, and stakeholders to assess and how offshore wind projects affect endangered or threatened species, marine mammals, fisheries, marine habitats, and fishing communities and work to protect these important resources. Our authorities derive from:

NOAA Fisheries New England/Mid-Atlantic Regional Activities

NOAA Fisheries provides expertise and advice to regulators, developers, and stakeholders as we work toward a more diverse energy future. To ensure we are prepared, we have established an internal wind energy team. It’s their job to coordinate resources, participation, and communications on wind energy development issues among NOAA staff and our collaborators. To leverage our capacity for addressing wind energy development, we are working with partners including:

We have initiated scientific work in several study areas that will help support decision making:

Biology and Ecology

Fisheries

Marine Mammals, Sea Birds, Sea Turtles

Technical Guidance for Offshore Wind Energy Projects in the Greater Atlantic Region

  • Resources for action agencies to help with their analysis of the effects of proposed offshore wind projects in the Greater Atlantic Region

Offshore Wind Development Mitigation Plans

Federal Survey Mitigation Implementation Strategy

Draft Offshore Wind, North Atlantic Right Whale Strategy

Draft Fisheries Mitigation Guidance

 

Resources

data

Socioeconomic Impacts of Atlantic Offshore Wind Development

NOAA Fisheries has developed reports summarizing fishing activity from 2008-2022 within each offshore wind lease area and all currently approved…

document

Template Datasheet For Real-Time North Atlantic Right Whale Acoustic and Visual Observation Data

Template Datasheet For Real-Time North Atlantic Right Whale Acoustic and Visual Observation DataReal-Time NARW Reporting Template To correctly…

Last updated by Northeast Fisheries Science Center on February 08, 2024