Regional Research Coordination

FishFORWRD is a catalog of all known East Coast research, monitoring efforts, and stated research needs for offshore wind, fish, and fisheries. The objective of FishFORWRD is to increase awareness of ongoing work, avoid duplication of efforts, and create a common understanding of research needs. This tool is meant for research funders, fisheries and offshore wind researchers, offshore wind developers, and the public. The associated executive summary describes the current update of FishFORWRD (v2.1.0). The webtool includes links to submit new projects, research needs, and corrections under the Submit Project tab.

The next planned enhancement toFishFORWRD will include a Research Gaps Analysis. ROSA and our partner, WSP, Inc.,, examined and aligned research projects and monitoring efforts with identified research needs. Through this process, 323 individual research needs were consolidated into 101 summarized research areas, with 173 research projects matched to these needs. This Research Gaps Analysis provides an understanding of which research needs remain unmet and which are currently under investigation and how (by location, methodology, and receptor). ROSA plans to conduct a peer review process of this method and these results to publish on FishFORWRD and submit for publication to a scientific journal.

Gaps Analysis Presentation (September 5, 2024)

• Slide Presentation
• Research Gaps Analysis Results Visualization Miro Board

Funders are entities who fund offshore wind fisheries research and monitoring including federal agencies, state agencies, non-profits, and offshore wind developers. Research and monitoring may be funded through awards from solicitations, cooperative agreements, or contracts to perform surveys for developer Fisheries Monitoring Plans. ROSA encourages all types of funders consider adopting the below policies and practices to foster effective collaboration, transparency, and strategic alignment in fisheries and offshore wind research initiatives.

Solicitation & Contract Alignment

• Regional Coordination Request
  • This language provides specific tasks from both funders and researchers to promote regional coordination of fisheries and offshore wind research and monitoring initiatives. ROSA encourages funders to include this language within solicitations and integrate these tasks into agreements. Researchers should include these activities in their proposals. View language here.
• Data Policy
  • Developed & Available by RWSC here: https://rwsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Data_Policy_11Nov2024.pdf
  • ROSA is developing their own version of this Data Policy that will be available soon.
  • The Policy will apply to research supported by both ROSA and RWSC Research Funds and is designed to help inform other policies, contracts, and agreements so that wildlife, fisheries, and offshore wind research can advance knowledge, be used in decision-making, and have wide utility to researchers, government agencies, and others. We encourage funders to consider adopting this language to standardize data availability of wildlife and fisheries offshore wind research.
• Data Management & Sharing Plan (in progress)
  • A Data Management and Sharing Plan (DMSP) is a formal document that outlines how research data will be handled, stored, shared, and preserved throughout the lifecycle of a project. The plan should demonstrate the researcher’s commitment to good data management practices (e.g., FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and ensure that data are available for future research.
  • ROSA is currently developing a comprehensive Post-Award DMSP template, informed by updates from our Data Governance Program. An example of a Pre-Award DMSP, used during the application phase of our RFP process, can be accessed here. We encourage funders to include a data management component in their solicitations, prompting researchers to consider the full lifecycle of offshore wind fisheries data.
• Meaningful Fishing Industry Involvement
  • ROSA recommends that funders encourage researchers to partner with the fishing industry to promote a more inclusive and collaborative approach to offshore wind fisheries research. Meaningful partnership could include:
    1. Fishing industry participation in project development
    2. Fishing industry representation on project teams and project advisory boards
    3. Use of local fishing vessels in deployments
    4. Collaboration with fishing industry to validate and interpret research results

Research Planning

Funders are encouraged to use the tools below to guide internal prioritization and inform the selection of solicitation topic areas:

• FishFORWRD (above)
• Research Gaps Analysis (above)
• RWSC Planning Map – ROSA is collaborating with RWSC on a Research Planning Map that displays the locations (points, transects, areas) where wildlife, fisheries and environment data are being collected to support offshore wind research. This version of the map is incomplete and does not represent all the ongoing research and data collection activities with respect to offshore wind. Learn more about the plan to build and maintain this tool here.

The objective of the Offshore Wind and Fisheries Funder Coordination effort is to gather funding entities on the east coast to optimize research and monitoring dollars for fisheries and offshore wind. The meetings are held twice a year to bring together Atlantic Coast research funders to:

1. Avoid duplication by tracking ongoing research and planned solicitations and highlighting pertinent filled and remaining data gaps
2. Align solicitation policies such as data management, intellectual property rights, conflict of interest and others
3. Encourage and produce offshore wind fisheries research and monitoring data that is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR)

In addition to the funded projects within FishFORWRD, funders are encouraged to review the research topic areas listed in the solicitations below to avoid duplication of efforts and direct new funding opportunities toward addressing research gaps.

• Maine Offshore Wind Research Consortium | Research to Inform Responsible Floating Offshore Wind Development in the Gulf of Maine 2  (search for RFA # 202410193).
• Massachusetts Clean Energy Center | Offshore Wind Science and Research
• National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium | Solicitation 4.0 – Innovations in Floating Offshore Wind
• New Jersey Research & Monitoring Initiative |  Addressing New Jersey’s Highest Priority Research and Monitoring Needs for Environment, Wildlife, and Fisheries Associated with Offshore Wind
• Northeast Sea Grant Consortium | Fisheries and Offshore Wind Interactions RFP – 2024
• NOAA Fisheries | 2025 Sea Scallop Research Set Aside
• Responsible Offshore Science Alliance | Advancing Regional Solutions for Fisheries & Offshore Wind