South Fork and Sunrise Wind Telemetry Project
Assessing the impacts of EMFs on local shark, fish and skate species
With a growing US awareness of global climate change, the demand for clean domestic power has driven a burgeoning desire for renewable energy technologies. Among the various options, many are looking offshore as a place of preference for renewable wind energy farms. Winds offshore are stronger, more consistent, and much larger turbines can harness more renewable energy than their terrestrial counterparts. The Ørsted South Fork Wind Farm (ØSFWF) is an offshore wind project in development 35 miles east of Montauk Point and is expected to be New York State’s first operational offshore wind farm. While offshore renewable energy development poses potential environmental impacts that are not fully understood, one potential source of impact, common to all offshore renewable energy technologies, comes from this transmission of power to shore. Undersea power transmission export cables generate electromagnetic fields (EMFs) that may impact marine organisms. This project uses acoustic telemetry arrays to evaluate effects of EMFs on behavior and movement pre-, during, and post-construction using movement metrics such as acceleration, depth, 2-d and 3-d position, and residency on local species including:
dusky shark, sand tiger shark, sandbar shark, smooth dogfish, winter skate, striped bass, winter flounder, black sea bass, summer flounder, and more
Lab personnel: Brittney Scannell
NYSDEC Artificial Reef Telemetry Project
Exploring habitat utilization on Long Island’s Artificial Reefs
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation created a series of 12 artificial reefs along southern Long Island and Long Island Sound between 1994-2010. The original goals of these reefs were to provide new fisheries habitat, accessible fishing for anglers, and sites to support the diving community. Recently, the largest expansion of ARs in NY history occurred. Beginning in 2018, 22 vessels, 75 steel center beam railcars, 25 pontoons, 5 25-70 ton steel turbines, 27 steel buoys, 8 steel canal lock gates, 4 steel turbine shells, a steel anchor, 4,700 tons of jetty stone, 8,805 cubic yards of Tappan Zee Bridge materials, 2,200 cubic yards of Mill Basin Bridge materials, 47 concrete pilings from the City Island Bridge, nearly 100 concrete barriers, and over 2,200 tons of materials from the Kew Gardens Bridge, Kosciuszko Bridge, Staten Island Expressway, and other state construction projects were deployed on the network of artificial reefs around Long Island. Through the creation of acoustic telemetry arrays and acoustic tagging of resident fish at each of these artificial reefs goal of this project is to:
- Determine how commercially and recreationally important fish – summer flounder winter flounder, striped bass, and protected shark species – sandbar, sand tigers, and dusky sharks use the artificial reef structures as foraging grounds,
- Explore how the reef resident fishes – black sea bass and blackfish and invertebrates – American lobsters (as well as transient species such as winter and summer flounder, striped bass, sharks, and skates that forage on the reefs utilize the different reef material types
- Examine the connections between the fish populations among the NYDEC artificial reef network around Long Island.
Lab personnel: Brittney Scannell
United States Army Corp Engineers Sturgeon Telemetry Project
Helping to develop a comprehensive biological inventory of Short nose sturgeon along the Atlantic Coast of Long Island
The USACE has created borrows offshore of East Rockaway in aid of projects aimed to protect shorelines and prevent storm damage. A vistor to these borrows is the Shortnose sturgeon, a species of North American sturgeon listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2012. Limited information shows that Atlantic sturgeon occupy offshore waters (marine zone) up to at least 40m in depth during the winter. However, there is little data regarding their seasonal patterns of distribution and abundance in and around these borrows. This project aims to assess sturgeon habitat associated with borrow areas by creating a baseline data set pre and post dredging activity through the use of acoustic telemetry.
Lab personnel: Brittney Scannell