BOEM watches over California’s seabirds and marine mammals

Commissioned by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which received expressions of interest for wave and wind energy projects offshore central and southern California, the U.S. Geological Survey is surveying these areas under a four-year, $2 million study.    

The study, which started in 2017 and will continue until 2021, will serve to update BOEM’s understanding of the status and distribution of seabirds and marine mammals in areas off the coast of central and southern California where renewable energy projects may be proposed, as well as to relate this new information to that collected from other surveys on this section of the Pacific OCS over the last 40 years.

Seasonal aerial surveys will be carried out over a period of two to three years. These are designed to match those flown in the previous studies along historical transect lines between Cambria and the U.S-Mexico border.

In addition, finer-scale focal sites are established and surveyed in areas where there is a higher potential of renewable energy project development, including the Santa Rosa Flats, offshore of Morro Bay, offshore of Vandenberg Air Force Base, the western Santa Barbara Channel, and any other areas identified by BOEM.

The surveys will characterise the current diversity, distribution, and abundance of seabirds and marine mammals within the study area at a scale that is useful for assessment of renewable energy proposals.

Survey methodologies used in previous studies would be reviewed and modified, as necessary, to account for new technologies and equipment availability.

Previously collected data would be assessed and analysed to allow for comparisons with the newly collected data to identify changes in distribution and abundance of seabirds over the last 40 years.

In 2016, BOEM and the State of California have formed the California Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force to advance offshore wind and wave energy development opportunities in the state.

BOEM, which manages the exploration and development of the U.S. offshore energy and mineral resources, seeks to balance economic development, energy production, and environmental protection through oil and gas leasing, renewable energy development and environmental reviews and studies.