News | Published on 25.02.19
This past week Dr. Drew Carey co-chaired the panel for the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea’s (ICES) Working Group on Marine Benthal and Renewable Energy Developments (WGMBRED) during their annual meeting in Brussels. ICES is the world’s oldest intergovernmental science organization and Dr. Carey joined the conversation between international scientists moving forward to ensure the health of coastal and offshore marine ecosystems among a rapidly expanding renewable energy economy. Meeting annually over a three-year period, the WGMBRED working group develops working plans and guidance concerning the effects of offshore wind energy and development on local fisheries and seafloor ecosystems. National leadership around the North Atlantic Ocean-including the United States and the EU-look to the guidance developed by this working group to further pursue offshore renewable energy interests while managing the ocean’s shared resources. Dr. Carey will join WGMBRED next year, and the work completed by this group will continue to aid future research in this area, where the complex relationships between energy developments influence the benthic communities along coastlines around the world.
Next year the working group is headed to Rhode Island! WGMBRED is scheduled to reconvene at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography in April 2020.
INSPIRE provides specialist desktop underwater acoustic modelling, impact assessment, and pre-construction decision-making services in support of offshore energy and marine infrastructure development, regulatory permitting, and mitigation optimization.
INSPIRE has been at the forefront of offshore wind development since the earliest U.S. projects, including Ørsted’s Block Island Wind Farm, and has supported more than half of all offshore wind developments in the United States.
Coexistence presents one of the greatest challenges for marine infrastructure development and fisheries. It requires not just effective monitoring but a holistic approach to project planning and execution that respects both ocean use and ocean users. At INSPIRE Environmental we are dedicated to achieving this balance as part of our commitment to the blue economy.
