Monitoring Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon and Commercial Finfish Habitat Use in the New York Lease Area

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Monitoring Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon and Commercial Finfish Habitat Use in the New York Lease Area OCS Study BOEM 2019-074 Monitoring Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon and Commercial Finfish Habitat Use in the New York Lease Area US Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Renewable Energy Programs OCS Study BOEM 2019-074 Monitoring Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon and Commercial Finfish Habitat Use in the New York Lease Area June 2019 Authors: Michael G. Frisk, Professor School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794. Evan C. Ingram, Graduate Student School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794. Keith Dunton, Assistant Professor Department of Biology, Monmouth University, 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, New Jersey 07764. Prepared under Cooperative Agreement M16AC00003 US Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Renewable Energy Programs DISCLAIMER Study collaboration and funding were provided by the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Environmental Studies Program, Washington, DC, under Agreement Number M16AC00003. This report has been technically reviewed by BOEM, and it has been approved for publication. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the US Government, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. This project was funded by both BOEM and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). REPORT AVAILABILITY To download a PDF file of this report, go to the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Data and Information Systems webpage (http://www.boem.gov/Environmental-Studies- EnvData/), click on the link for the Environmental Studies Program Information System (ESPIS), and search on 2019-074. The report is also available at the National Technical Reports Library at https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/. CITATION Frisk, M.G., Ingram, E.C., and Dunton K. 2019. Monitoring Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon and Commercial Finfish Habitat Use in the New York Lease Area. Stoney Brook (NY): US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. OCS Study BOEM 2019-074. 88 p. ABOUT THE COVER Photo: Atlantic Sturgeon by SUNY Stoney Brook ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to Brian Hooker (BOEM) and Kim McKown (NYSDEC) for their role in administering project funding. Additional financial support for ECI’s graduate studies was provided by the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research through the Mark B. Bain Graduate Fellowship. We appreciate the invaluable field assistance provided by Michael Fogg, Justin Lashley, Kellie McCartin, Jill Olin, Oliver Shipley, Amanda Stigliano, Joshua Zacharias and Catherine Ziegler. In addition, we are grateful for the assistance of Captain Christian Harter and the crew of the RV Seawolf, Captain James Nickels and the crew of the Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe, and Charles Witek III. i Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... iiii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................ iv List of Abbreviations and Acronyms .............................................................................................................. v Key findings ................................................................................................................................................... 6 1 Background ........................................................................................................................................... 7 2 Objective 1: Deploying the wind farm and connecting acoustic arrays .............................................. 9 3 Objective 2: Tagging of Atlantic sturgeon, finfish and elasmobranchs .............................................. 10 4 Objectives 3 & 4: Movement and telemetry analysis ......................................................................... 13 5 References .......................................................................................................................................... 32 Appendix A: Tables ..................................................................................................................................... 36 Appendix B: Maps ....................................................................................................................................... 67 ii List of Figures Figure 1. New York Call Area........................................................................................................................ 7 Figure 2. Map of transceiver locations NYLA................................................................................................ 9 Figure 3. Atlantic sturgeon length frequencies............................................................................................ 11 Figure 4. Winter flounder length frequencies .............................................................................................. 11 Figure 5. Black sea bass length frequencies .............................................................................................. 12 Figure 6. Summer flounder length frequencies ........................................................................................... 12 Figure 7. Common thresher length frequencies.......................................................................................... 13 Figure 8. Atlantic sturgeon detection count ................................................................................................. 15 Figure 9. Map of telemetered Atlantic sturgeon .......................................................................................... 16 Figure 10. Monthly counts of detected Atlantic sturgeon ............................................................................ 18 Figure 11. Atlantic sturgeon residence events at transceiver stations ....................................................... 19 Figure 12. Atlantic sturgeon residence events at all stations ...................................................................... 20 Figure 13. Monthly counts of SBU unique winter flounder for all arrays ..................................................... 23 Figure 14. Tags by station for black sea bass, winter flounder and summer flounder ............................... 24 Figure 15. Monthly counts of SBU unique black sea bass for all arrays. ................................................... 24 Figure 16. Monthly counts of SBU unique summer flounder for all arrays ................................................. 25 Figure 17. Monthly counts of all unique tags in NYLA array ....................................................................... 30 Figure 18. Monthly counts of all unique tags in connector array ................................................................ 30 Figure 19. Unique counts of all fish on all stations during study ................................................................. 31 iii List of Tables Table 1. Atlantic sturgeon detection summary ....................................................................................... 16,17 Table 2. Winter flounder detection summary .............................................................................................. 21 Table 3. Black sea bass detection summary ......................................................................................... 21,22 Table 4. Summer flounder detection summary ...................................................................................... 22,23 Table 5. Elasmobranch detection summary all stations ............................................................................. 26 Table 6. List of elasmobranchs detected NYLA .......................................................................................... 27 Table 7. List of all species detected NYLA ................................................................................................. 28 Table 8. List of all species detected in all stations ...................................................................................... 29 iv List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ACT Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry Network BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management CSE Council of Science Editors DOI US Department of the Interior ESP Environmental Studies Program ESPIS Environmental Studies Program Information System NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service NYLA New York Lease Area SBU Stony Brook University v Executive summary: During 2016-18 an extensive acoustic telemetry project was undertaken to monitor Atlantic sturgeon and commercially important species in the New York Lease Area study site (NYLA) located off the coast of New York (Figure 1). The study was conducted in an effort to collect data needed to assess potential impacts of development of the NYLA on environmental and socioeconomic concerns (BOEM 2014b). Specifically, the objectives of this project were to: (1) establish an acoustic telemetry array in the lease area and a nearshore connector array, (2) tag 100 Atlantic sturgeon and 118 individuals of other species, (3) estimate the total number and proportion of tagged individuals present in the NYLA and (4) estimate occurrence as
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