The Department of Marine Resources (DMR) has multiple research efforts underway in Maine’s offshore wind research array lease area. Budget difficulties, however, may limit or delay some of those activities in 2025.
WBUR Photo
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) requires studies at lease sites that evaluate the impact of proposed activities on physical, biological, and socioeconomic resources. The lease holder, in this case the state of Maine, must also assess the seafloor and sub-seafloor conditions that could be affected by the construction, installation, and operation of wind turbines, cables and supporting structures.
Maine decided to go beyond BOEM’s requirements by conducting additional baseline surveys to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the lease area. DMR was chosen as the lead agency for the additional surveys; $2 million from the department’s budget was set aside annually for the studies. Research topics came from the recommendations of the Fisheries Working Group involved in the Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap, which was completed in 2022.
According to Meredith Mendelson, DMR deputy commissioner, a downturn in projected state revenues will require DMR to reevaluate department priorities for the 2025-2027 budget. Half of the $2 million designated for the offshore wind research array surveys will be reallocated to other department activities. “There won’t be funds for the next several years for certain baseline studies as intended,” Mendelson said. Lobster surveys in the lease area are paused for the moment as well as boat-based visual wildlife surveys.
A broad array of survey work has been done to date, however. DMR, in collaboration with the Governor’s Energy Office and the Maine Offshore Wind Research Consortium, mapped the bathymetry of 337 square nautical miles in the lease area and will continue the mapping work in May 2025. Grab samples at 25 locations in the western quadrant of the area have been completed, providing information on the sediment characteristics of the seafloor.
Zooplankton and larval lobster surveys conducted by Bigelow Laboratory took place between September 2023 and August 2024 in the northern section of the lease area. Additional surveys will be conducted using a DMR vessel in the spring. Active acoustic surveys by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which detect fish and determine stock distribution, began in June 2023 and will conclude in July 2025.
Staff from DMR’s highly migratory species office have tagged 76 sharks to gain insight into travel patterns in the area. Twelve dedicated receivers will be installed in the area in 2025 in order to track the individual animals’ movements. One passive acoustic monitor will be deployed in July 2025 specifically to monitor baleen whales passing through the lease area.
The University of Maine and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute have set up three shore-based radar stations to collect surface wind data; additional stations will be added in 2025 to get greater spatial coverage. In addition, five underwater gliders have been deployed by the University of Maine in the lease area to gather oceanographic data. A bottom trawl survey will begin this month. Survey tows will be made in specific locations four times during the year to understand the seasonal distribution of species in the area.
“This work is supported by DMR and the Fisheries Working Group because we want to know more about this area. We will keep going as we can,” said Carl Wilson, director of DMR’s bureau of marine science.
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