Monitoring for Interactions Between Marine Animals and MRE Devices

Global expansion and regional growth of the marine renewable energy (MRE) sector is essential for addressing the effects of climate change, ensuring a sustainable transition towards renewable energy sources, and meeting national energy security needs using locally-generated electricity. However, sector growth is hampered by a variety of factors including difficulties obtaining regulatory approvals for MRE device installations due to uncertainty about environmental effects, including how marine animals (fish, marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles) interact with MRE devices (e.g., encounter, avoidance, evasion, collision). This workshop will provide an overview of commonly used monitoring tools and innovative approaches for understanding interactions between marine animals and MRE technologies. The workshop format will include presentations from leading global experts in environmental monitoring technologies and associated analytical approaches, and round-table discussions to foster dialogue about monitoring approaches that are relevant for the regional growth of the MRE sector. This session builds upon the second workshop held at PAMEC 2022 in Ensenada, Mexico, that focused on the value of MRE test centers where many of the monitoring approaches to be discussed have been developed and are commonly used.