From the Executive Director

Dear ROSA Community:

Our staff have been hard at work since our last newsletter! The Regional Science Program's first projects are moving ahead this fall, the descriptions and fact sheets are below. This issue also includes our final update on ROSA's collaborative work on co-design of floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine.

You will find the latest information about the upcoming Data Governance in Motion workshop, updates on the NEW Research Gaps Analysis tab in FishFORWRD, and a report-out from our symposium at the American Fisheries Society annual meeting, among other informative news items. 

As November brings a season of reflection and gratitude, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to the valued partners whose engagement and support enables our science to thrive. Thank you for all you do and for continuing to partner with us.

Warm regards,

Reneé Reilly, Ph.D.

Executive Director

renee@rosascience.org

Five Regional Research & Monitoring Projects Launched

• Supporting Fisheries Access in the Gulf of Maine through Scenario-testing and Visual Simulations of Floating Offshore Wind and Fishing Operations, Gulf of Maine Research Institute
• Evaluation of Technologies for Trawl and Dredge Vessels to Safely Operate within Offshore Wind Farms, UMassDartmouth School for Marine Science & Technology
• Connectivity and Dispersal of Black Sea Bass, Centropristis striata, in Southern New England, UMassDartmouth School for Marine Science & Technology
• An Analytical Framework to Assess the Regional Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms and Evaluate Fisheries Monitoring Plans, UMassDartmouth School for Marine Science & Technology
• Disentangling Environmental Variability and Offshore Wind Activity on Fish Presence, New England Aquarium

ROSA Data Governance Program

ROSA Research Gaps Analysis Live

ROSA is proud to announce the launch of the new Research Gaps Analysis tab in FishFORWRD v2.2.0 update. The Gaps Analysis tool is designed to help users quickly understand how research needs are currently being addressed by projects within FishFORWRD and support highlighting where critical needs remain across offshore wind fisheries science.

As part of this update, FishFORWRD now includes 21 additional research projects, all of which are reflected in the Research Gaps Analysis and summarized in the updated Executive Summary. 

The Gaps Analysis consolidated duplicative research needs into “Summarized Research Needs” and matches current and ongoing project objectives to those Summarized Research Needs. The gaps analysis evaluates each Summarized Research Need (SRN) and classifies it as:

• Under Exploration – one or more existing projects are addressing the need (based on their objectives), or
• Research Gap – no projects were identified as addressing that need.

Importantly, even SRNs labeled "Under Exploration" may still have partial gaps, such as being limited to specific regions, methodologies, or species groups. The new tab makes these distinctions easier to visualize and explore.

Click here for a short video on how to use the tool.

Want help applying the Gaps Analysis results?

ROSA is available to support agencies, developers, research institutions, and funders in using the Research Gaps Analysis to inform project selection, topic area development, and solicitation design. If you would like a walkthrough or tailored discussion on how the analysis aligns with your priorities, please reach out - we are happy to collaborate.

NEW Cite FishFORWRD in your proposals, solicitations, and publications using the following citation:

Responsible Offshore Science Alliance. (2025). Fish and Fisheries OffshoRe Wind Research Database (FishFORWRD) (2.2.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17407480

Request for Public Comment: Draft Regional Standards for OSW Project-Level Monitoring

ROSA encourages partners and stakeholders to review and comment on NOAA Fisheries’ Draft Regional Standards for Offshore Wind Project-Level Monitoring, which outlines recommended, regionally-tailored monitoring approaches to evaluate effects of fixed-foundation offshore wind (focused on the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Southern New England). Public comments are being accepted now through November 3, 2025.

Please review the draft and submit feedback to ensure monitoring standards reflect on-the-water realities and stakeholder priorities. 

Regional Research Coordination Webinar

ROSA & RWSC continue to play a central role in coordinating funders and project teams across the region as dozens of new research efforts get underway. On September 22nd, ROSA hosted a public webinar in partnership with RWSC to showcase our coordination activities and invite researchers launching new or ongoing projects to share plans and opportunities for collaboration. The session generated strong interest and we’re already scheduling a follow-up in early 2026. Click here to view the Sep. 22 webinar slides. To learn more about upcoming regional research and monitoring projects Register for the December ROSA Advisory Council meeting.

This multi-year project developing fishing-informed floating offshore wind (FOSW) designs, funded by the Dept. of Energy through the National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium (NOWRDC), brought together offshore wind design engineers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, the project’s lead), ROSA staff, and Everett Rzsezowski and Damian Brady from the University of Maine. Although project funding terminated prematurely, ROSA was able to complete many of the tasks involved ahead of schedule and the project will conclude with useful and interesting results in the form of a final report. ROSA and partners hope to produce additional publications.

First, expert fishermen provided estimates of how much space was needed to fish different commercial and recreational fishing gears. These spatial needs were used by the NREL engineers to develop FOSW array designs that made room for fishing. These designs were then shown to the original fishing experts as well as other fishermen. A second set of designs were developed based on their feedback. In the Gulf of Maine, a third round of interviews were conducted and new designs were developed from that additional input. In the Mid-Atlantic, a third round of interviews were not possible due to funding changes, so reactions to the second set of designs could not be collected. The final reports will include assessment of the costs to annual energy production from the different fishing informed designs. 

Save the Date

December Advisory Council Meeting

The next ROSA Advisory Council meeting will be held on Thursday, December 18th from 1:00 to 3:00 pm EST. Click here to register.

The meeting agenda will be posted on the Advisory Council Meeting Page, where you can also view previous Advisory Council meeting information.

2026 ROSA Advisory Council Meeting Dates Coming Soon

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

American Fisheries Society Presentations

Presentations and posters from the 2025 Offshore Wind, Fish, and Fisheries session at the American Fisheries Society’s Annual Meeting are being posted to ROSA’s website. This is the 5th consecutive year that ROSA has collaborated with our dedicated partners to co-host this event.

Many thanks to this year’s co-organizers and authors (as well as those from the previous 4 years!) who gave permission to share their work.

On October 8-9 ROSA staff and interns attended the TechSurge on Fisheries and Benthic Monitoring, hosted by the Marine Technology Society, in partnership with Rhode Island Sea Grant, University of Rhode Island, and the Northeast Regional Ocean Council. Experts from across sectors explored advancements in monitoring technologies and practices that support responsible offshore development. ROSA moderated several panels, including one focused on perspectives from members of the fishing community and cooperative researchers. The event’s closing panel included the RWSC, NERACOOS, on regional science coordination along the Atlantic Coast. The complete program highlighted advancements in fisheries and benthic mapping technologies, the use of technology to transition from traditional survey methods, and monitoring technologies applicable to offshore development. 

L to R: ROSA Research Program Manager Tricia Perez, Research Director Mike Pol, and Executive Director Renee Reilly

ROSA on the ROAD

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.