From the Executive Director

Dear ROSA Community:

Spring at ROSA has been a busy time as we make progress on our regional science program. We are continuing to advance our first Regional RFP, focused on regional solutions for fisheries and offshore wind. We appreciate the thoughtful proposals we received and the engagement from our technical merit reviewers, and we look forward to project selection announcements in the coming weeks.



It was a pleasure to connect with so many partners in May at the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Forum and Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission Spring Meeting, and we were excited to join with a broad array of attendees at our recent Data Governance briefing. We shared about the progress being made by both Working Groups and inviting new Program collaborators.

In this issue of our newsletter, you will find the announcement of a new state supporting partner, updates on our Peer Review of Research Gaps Analysis, a welcome to our summer interns, and news about ROSA's fifth consecutive year co-hosting a symposium at the American Fisheries Society annual meeting. 

Looking ahead, we’re focused on leading objective and transparent science in support of the broader ocean community. We look forward to continued collaboration with partners on our new Data Governance Program and the upcoming award announcements of our Regional Research Program. Together, we can set the stage for a responsible and sustainable future for our ocean.

Warm regards,

Reneé Reilly, Ph.D.

Executive Director

renee@rosascience.org

State support plays a crucial role in helping us drive innovative research and policy initiatives that benefit our coastal communities and marine ecosystems. We look forward to continued collaboration as we enhance marine science and promote responsible ocean stewardship.

ROSA Data Governance Program Update

In our last newsletter, we described how our Data Governance Committee had prioritized two data types and formed working groups. Those groups, one centered on image data (for example, stills of the seabed from drop cameras or video from baited cameras) and the other on fishing gear data (from bottom trawls, gillnets, pots/traps, and others) have now met twice.

We’re fortunate to have many of the primary data collectors using these methods in our working groups. A wide range of topics were discussed, and the need to develop metadata tools and standards for project level metadata, as well as templates for data sharing agreements, were raised in one or both groups. We’re still on track to meet our goals of drafting standards by August. Stay tuned!

This year, ROSA Research Director Mike Pol and Research Program Manager Tricia Perez will both be participating in a session on Offshore Wind, Fish, and Fisheries – Emerging Knowledge and Future Applications at the AFS Annual Meeting. Tricia will be presenting on Identifying Offshore Wind and Fisheries Research Gaps Using the FishFORWRD Database, and Mike is co-convening the session.

This marks the fifth consecutive year that ROSA has developed and led a session on offshore wind at the Annual Meeting, in collaboration with a team including people from TetraTech, BOEM, NYSERDA, NMFS, and other groups. Presentations from earlier sessions can be found on our website here.

June Advisory Council Meeting

The next ROSA Advisory Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 18th from 1:00 to 4:00 pm EST. The agenda is posted on the Advisory Council Meeting Page, where you can also view previous Advisory Council meeting information.

Save the Dates - Upcoming 2025 ROSA Advisory Council Meetings:

Thursday, September 25th

Thursday, December 18th

As a reminder, all Advisory Council meetings are open to the public; please plan to join us!

ROSA to Hold Peer Review of Research Gaps Analysis

This summer, ROSA is holding a peer review process with subject matter experts for the Research Gaps Analysis completed in 2024. The ROSA Research Gaps Analysis creates a common understanding of progress made and research still needed to understand the impacts of offshore wind on fish and fisheries on the U.S. East Coast. This Gaps Analysis aims to be a resource for funders, researchers, and offshore wind developers to identify and address the most critical research needs moving forward.

In 2024, ROSA staff and consultant, wsp, completed the first Research Gaps Analysis, drawing on research needs identified by our community (sourced from 17 different documents) and project metadata from FishFORWRD (Fish and Fisheries Offshore Wind Research Database). This process included consolidating overlapping or duplicative research needs into a set of “summarized research needs.” We then reviewed the objectives of ongoing and completed research projects in FishFORWRD and matched them to these summarized needs—highlighting where research gaps remain. This gaps analysis and a ranking survey from Advisory Council members, Research Advisors, and other stakeholders was used to inform the topic area selection of ROSA’s Regional RFP 01.

Subject matter experts have been recruited to serve as peer reviewers to assess the accuracy and validity of our results. Peer Reviewers have been divided into 6 teams of 2-3 experts each to address the 11 research categories covered in the Research Gaps Analysis and FishFORWRD. Final Research Gaps Analysis results will be uploaded to FishFORWRD, described in a final report, and presented to the ROSA community. These results will inform the topic area selection of the next ROSA Regional RFP.

Maryam Krauss is a Master of Environmental Management student at Duke University, concentrating in Coastal and Marine Systems. She recently earned a B.S. in Animal Ecology, with a focus on Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, from Iowa State University. Her academic background includes research on fishing behavior in California’s Bay Area, fisheries in the Midwest, and global policies surrounding preferential access areas (PAAs) for small-scale fisheries. Maryam’s research experience combined with her upbringing in Malaysia has fueled her passion for marine conservation, especially in megafauna and fisheries science. 

Tori Newton is also pursuing a Masters of Environmental Management degree at Duke University concentrating on coastal and marine systems and community engagement and environmental justice. She received her undergrad degree from Boston College with a major in biology and a minor in environmental studies. Growing up on the South Shore of Massachusetts, Tori naturally developed a fascination with the ocean that sparked her passion for marine science. From a young age she developed a deep appreciation for the ocean and marine ecosystems and hopes to help protect and conserve them.

ROSA staff have identified a number of tasks tailored to our interns’ skill sets that will contribute importantly to meeting our objectives. They will be joining us in early June and working with us until early August. 

ROSA on the ROAD

Before you go, we invite you to follow ROSA on LinkedIn and Instagram for the latest updates and information on offshore wind fisheries research and monitoring along the East Coast.