We are conducting a study of spatial data across five U.S. territories (Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) to characterize each region’s marine environment, benthic habitat, and wildlife (including fishes, coral, seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals), and identify where there are gaps in information. This work will support the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) wind energy planning in the U.S. territories. The resulting report, maps, and data will support responsible management decisions regarding renewable energy projects in the future.
Why We Care
U.S. territorial waters are now open to consideration for offshore renewable energy projects. BOEM regulates the leasing and operation of renewable energy projects in federal waters and is required to conduct environmental analyses to understand the potential impact of these projects on humans and marine environments. BOEM has partnered with NCCOS to obtain the necessary spatial information about biological and physical resources. NCCOS’s biogeographic assessment process can provide the curated data products and tools needed by BOEM to conduct reviews of future offshore wind project proposals, make sound decisions about energy project management, and mitigate their potential impacts on humans and wildlife.
What We Are Doing
We are compiling existing, readily available datasets to describe the oceanic environment, benthic communities and habitat, and the spatial distribution of seabirds, marine mammals, sea turtles, and fish in the waters surrounding Guam, CNMI, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Special consideration will be given to organisms that are likely to be impacted by offshore wind projects, have a protected or endangered status under the federal government, or have economic value.
Final products will include:
• reports describing biogeographic patterns in the waters around these four U.S. territories
• spatial data layers and metadata used in these analyses
• models and analytical products developed from our spatial data compilation
• an interactive, online mapping tool showing key datasets of interest
• web mapping services that can be ingested by other online data portals
This study is jointly funded by BOEM and NCCOS, and input data will come from a variety of federal, state, academic and non-governmental partners.
Benefits of Our Work
• The biogeographic assessment will establish a baseline for BOEM to review future renewable energy plans and manage their impacts.
• The assessment will highlight where data gaps exist and help prioritize what future data collection may occur.
• The products of this study will be made available to other federal partners, territorial agencies, and stakeholders in U.S. territories to inform additional ocean and coastal planning activities in the future.