Title: Marine Mammal Real Time Automated Detection and Oceanographic Sampling Project

Funding Agency: Orsted

Project Lead: Joe Brodie

Partners: Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Axiom

Period of Performance: 10/15/10-12/31/22

Project Summary:

ECO-PAM is a unique academic partnership with the goal to better understand the habitat as well as the presence, distribution and seasonality of the endangered North Atlantic right whale within Ørsted lease areas. A secondary and added benefit of the partnership will enable coastal communities to utilize the oceanographic data gathered to help with weather forecasting and predicting severe storms. The company plans to apply the project’s learnings to develop tailored processes and procedures to better protect the North Atlantic right whale during survey, construction and operation phases of their U.S. offshore wind farm portfolio. The ECO-PAM project will ensure the company can act to solve the global climate crisis, while preserving local ecosystems. The three-year project will rely on two sound detection buoys deployed by project partners at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Rhode Island, along with an unmanned automated glider deployed by RUCOOL to provide both oceanographic and audio detection data.