​​This research project is designed to evaluate the impacts of offshore wind development on commercial fish species and benthic habitats and communities using a suite of state-of-the-art, non-lethal survey tools including an open cod-end video trawl, a towed off-bottom optical survey vehicle, and anchored and ropeless stationary camera systems. The project will provide data on changes in commercial fish and marine invertebrate abundance and distribution, and the relationship of both to habitat changes, the presence of new structures (turbine bases), and changing underwater noise levels. We expect this research to address the challenges of offshore wind development competition with other ocean needs like fishery-independent surveys used for management.

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