The following was submitted to the Block Island Times today by Ørsted:
Boston, MA – Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind is proud to announce an exciting and innovative partnership with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the University of Rhode Island (URI), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to launch the Ecosystem and Passive Acoustic Monitoring (ECO-PAM) project. Ørsted signed an initial memorandum of understanding with Rutgers University in May 2019 to support academic research activities related to offshore wind. The ECO-PAM project will be in addition to this initial funding agreement.
The company plans to apply the project’s learnings to develop tailored processes and procedures to better protect the North Atlantic right whale during survey, construction and operation phases of their U.S. offshore wind farm portfolio. The ECO-PAM project will ensure the company can act to solve the global climate crisis, while preserving local ecosystems.
The goal of this unique academic partnership is to better understand the habitat as well as the presence, distribution and seasonality of the endangered North Atlantic right whale within Ørsted lease areas. A secondary and added benefit of the partnership will enable coastal communities
