Dear ROSA Community,
I hope that you had a nice summer and were able to spend some time with family and friends. I had a few short breaks with my family, which were lovely, and am now advancing the many projects we have planned for the fall: developing the research framework, working with our consultant on the Fisheries Resource Data Project, presenting at a number of conferences, furthering the Advisory Council’s priorities, and fundraising to support ROSA’s ongoing efforts. Read the following updates to learn more about our priorities for the next few months.
Next Advisory Council Meeting to be held September 24
The next Advisory Council meeting will focus on data: why we are collecting data on fisheries and offshore wind, how we can achieve regional data sharing, and ROSA’s role in data coordination and standardization will be discussed. The meeting will be held from 1-4 pm EST on September 24th. The agenda for this meeting can be found on our website, as well as agendas, presentations, and meeting summaries from prior meetings. All Advisory Council meetings are open to the public; we hope you will attend and invite others interested in ROSA’s mission to join us. Please register for the meeting here.
Advancing the Research Framework
Mike Pol is working hard on priorities identified by the Advisory Council, including establishing a regional fisheries approach/framework. A key focus for his work over the past month has been developing a pilot project for data sharing across several monitoring projects. Mike also outlined the Council’s recommendations for gear standardization, which have been shared with all who served on the panel related to this topic at our June Advisory Council meeting, as well as parties in Maine who are grappling with this issue at this very moment. We will continue working on these topics in coming months, including putting out a request for proposals for a consultant to help us create the regional framework.
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Expanding the Science Discussion
Mike Pol and I are participating in a number of conferences and meetings, helping to spread the word about ROSA’s work and partnering with others to advance the discussion about sound science at the intersection of offshore wind and ecosystems (see the following). If you are attending any of these conferences, please let me know; I would love to connect with you – and please join in the discussion at the sessions where Mike and/or I will be presenting.
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International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum (IPF): I took part in two panels -- “Collaborative Science at the Science-Policy Interface” and “What’s love got to do with it? The role of ocean user coexistence in building offshore wind at scale” – on August 25th at the IPF conference, which was attended by more than 1,000 people. IPF is sponsored annually by the Business Network for Offshore Wind.
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International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Annual Science Conference: I will be presenting about ROSA, “Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA): Establishing regional research and monitoring for offshore wind and fisheries in the U.S.,” in a session focused on offshore wind on September 9th.
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New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Learning from the Experts series: Emily Shumchenia, Ph.D., Director of the Regional Wildlife Science Entity (RWSE), and I will be presenting on regional science related to the intersection of offshore wind and ecosystems on September 15th.
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Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society (AFS): Mike and I are co-organizing a symposium with others in the field titled “Interactions Between Offshore Wind, Fisheries, and Fisheries Resources” for the meeting, which will be held from November 6th-10th. My presentation is titled "Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA): Advancing coordinated regional research and monitoring for offshore wind and fisheries" and Mike's is titled "Considerations for Gear Standardization for Research and Monitoring in Offshore Lease Areas.” We will also be an exhibitor in the trade show. Please stop by our table if you attend this meeting; we would love to see you.
Staying Connected
This summer, we reached out to members of the ROSA Board, Advisory Council, and Research Advisors, seeking feedback on their understanding of ROSA’s mission, comments on the content and timing of Advisory Council meetings, and feedback on our communications. Highlights of the results follow:
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Understanding of ROSA Mission: We are pleased to report that 81% of respondents rated their understanding of ROSA’s mission as a 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being “not at all well” and 5 being “extremely well”).
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Advisory Council Meetings: Based on feedback from the survey, we will continue meeting quarterly for the foreseeable future. Respondents ratings on content and format were generally favorable, and many provided us with ideas for topics we might cover at future meetings.
- Communications:
- More than 90 percent of respondents listed our newsletter as one of their top three choices for receiving information about ROSA.
- Some respondents requested more information about ROSA’s ongoing work, so we aim to get updates out regularly on our projects and partnerships.
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Respondents expressed an interest in open conference calls and sector-specific calls. We would be happy to host more of these calls and are eager to hear about topics of interest for these calls. If you have suggestions, please reach out to me at lyndie@rosascience.org or Mike at mike@rosascience.org.
It will be nice to see many of you at the upcoming Advisory Council meeting, as well as at conferences. I hope your fall is off to a great start and I look forward to collaborating with you on ROSA’s priorities.
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Best Regards,
Lyndie Hice-Dunton, Ph.D.
Executive Director, ROSA
Landscape photo courtesy of Ørsted
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