DECEMBER 2021 NEWS
Dear ROSA Community,

I hope you all are enjoying the start of the holiday season. While the year-end break is almost upon us, we at ROSA are continuing to drive forward our work on improving data sharing, establishing a regional research framework, and planning for ROSA-funded research. We will be discussing 2022 priorities for these projects at our upcoming Advisory Council meeting on December 20th and hope that you will join us. Please see the details in the following section, as well as some reflections from the symposium we co-hosted at the American Fisheries Society (AFS) annual meeting in November.

Upcoming Advisory Council Meeting to Address 2022 Priorities

The December 20th Advisory Council meeting, to be held from 1-4 pm EST, will focus on key initiatives for next year related to the following topics:

  • Data Sharing: RPS North America will present its report with recommendations for standardizing and sharing fisheries resource data to better understand the impacts of offshore wind on ecosystems. This presentation will be followed by a discussion about next steps ROSA might undertake to strengthen data sharing, including exploring if ROSA should lead a workshop on Data Coordination, Management, and Access for Pre-Construction Survey Data in the first quarter of the new year.
  • Regional Framework: Mike Pol and I will provide an update on ROSA’s work on a regional framework and then we will have a conversation about how ROSA will proceed with developing the framework, including issuing a request for proposals (RFP) early in the year to create a framework by June 2022.
  • ROSA-Funded Research: Mike and I will present the goals for a small pilot of ROSA-funded research to be undertaken in 2022 and then we will have a dialogue about key areas/themes that should be the focus of a RFP, as well as criteria that should be used to evaluate proposals.

The decisions that are made at this Advisory Council meeting will frame the organization’s work for the first half of 2022. If you have thoughts on the above-outlined topics, please bring your ideas and questions to the meeting. You can register for the meeting (which is open to the public) here and view the agenda here. Information related to previous Advisory Council meetings can be found on our Advisory Council website page.

AFS Symposium Stimulated Fruitful Conversations

The symposium that ROSA co-hosted at the American Fisheries Society annual meeting in November provided an excellent platform for talking with interested parties about ROSA’s work and how to achieve regional research goals. The audience was very engaged, which led to discussions about how science can inform planning, assessments, and mitigation of impacts; how to think about research at a regional scale, even if a project is focusing a specific area and/or on a topic that relates to a particular location; sampling design; lessons that have already been learned; and how to disentangle offshore wind effects from those of climate change. You can listen to this Facebook Live panel discussion from the meeting if you would like to hear some of the dialogue. Each of the talks in the symposium was well-attended; it was wonderful to connect in-person with a range of experts who are interested in science at the intersection of offshore wind and fisheries.
 
As we get near to closing down our work for 2021, I find myself reflecting on the many individuals – including all of you – who have helped advance ROSA’s agenda this year. Thank you so much for your partnership and your commitment to ROSA’s mission. Our work would not be possible without our collective commitment to collaboration.

I look forward to seeing many of you on the 20th!
Best Regards,

Lyndie Hice-Dunton, Ph.D.
Executive Director, ROSA