Offshore WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition 2018

Sessions Speakers Buzz

e-Poster: Maximizing the Potential of Protected Species Observer Data (Room Station 1)

17 Oct 18
8:30 AM - 8:40 AM

Tracks: Posters, Siting, Wildlife & Environmental Monitoring

Protected Species Observers (PSOs) are deployed offshore on variety of industry as a regulatory requirement to implement monitoring and mitigation intended to minimize potential impacts to marine wildlife from exposure to sound. PSOs collect data including monitoring effort, survey and sound source operations, and detections of marine wildlife, including marine mammals as a regulatory requirement. However, PSO data has the potential to be valuable outside of achieving compliance with reporting requirements. The large volume of data that is collected across large areas make it a power analysis tool; for example, in the Gulf of Mexico where energy exploration has been active for over 20 years, more than 22,000 detections of protected species have been accumulated. Studies have been commissioned to analyse PSO data for general trends in species presence and to determine the potential effects of sound exposure on animal behaviour.