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Environmental Effects Monitoring Program Annual Report: 2017

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Environmental Effects Monitoring Program Annual Report: 2017 Environmental Effects Monitoring Program Annual Report: 2017 January 2018 Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy PO Box 2573, Halifax, NS B3J 3N5 (902) 406-1166 www.fundyforce.ca Executive Summary The Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) is Canada’s leading research centre for the demonstration and evaluation of tidal in-stream energy conversion (TISEC) technology. This technology (commonly known as “in-stream tidal turbines”) is part of an emerging sector designed to generate electricity from the ebb and flow of the tide. It also has application in river systems and has the potential to introduce another non-carbon emitting source of electricity to the Nova Scotia electrical grid. The first demonstration in-stream tidal energy turbine was operational at the FORCE site for a short time in 2009 and removed in 2010. There were no turbines present at FORCE until Cape Sharp Tidal Venture (CSTV) deployed a two-megawatt demonstration turbine in November 2016 and began a commissioning process. In April 2017, CSTV announced the turbine would be disconnected for temporary retrieval; on June 15th, the turbine was retrieved and moved to Saint John, New Brunswick shortly thereafter. Environmental effects monitoring programs (EEMPs) began at FORCE 2009; to-date, over 90 tidal-related research studies have been completed or are underway with funding from FORCE and the Offshore Energy Research Association. In 2016/2017, EEMP work is being conducted with academic and research partners, including the University of Maine, the Sea Mammal Research Unit Consulting (Canada), Envirosphere Consultants, Acadia University, Luna Ocean Consulting, JASCO Applied Scientists, Ocean Sonics, and Nexus Coastal Resource Management. The following document is a 2017 summary of mid-field monitoring work at the FORCE site that has taken place this year. The 2017 EEM Program has completed approximately: 11 days of lobster surveys using 48 traps, ~ 130 hours of hydro-acoustic fish surveys, 334 days of C-POD data collection resulting in >1,300 ‘C-POD days,’1 16 seabird surveys, bi-weekly beach surveys, and four marine noise surveys. At the start of 2017, monitoring activities took place in relation to an operational turbine and continued throughout 2017 in the absence of a deployed in- stream tidal turbine. Monitoring is scheduled to continue into 2018. Year 1 reports on fish, marine mammals, and seabirds have undergone review by FORCE’s environmental monitoring advisory committee (EMAC)2 and are included as appendices to this report. Lobster monitoring: FORCE’s Lobster EEMP consists of a lobster catchability study in collaboration with NEXUS Coastal Resource Management. The goal of this study is to measure whether the presence of a turbine affects the number of lobsters entering traps. Commercial lobster traps are used to compare catch volumes in different proximity to the turbine location. The first lobster catchability study took place in October-November 2017. During the survey, 48 traps were successfully deployed, with a 98% recovery rate. Trap drift was minimal during the 1 ‘C-POD days’ refers to the number of days total C-PODs were deployed times the number of C-PODs deployed. 2 EMAC membership is available online at: www.fundyforce.ca/about/advisory-committees. 1 operation (~60 m on average), and a total of 351 lobsters were caught and released during the study. This amounted to an estimated total weight of 281.16 kg of lobster. Average daily catch rates ranged from 4.79-8.99 kg trap-1 (n= 7-8 traps per day for 6 days) across both study rings. FORCE’s 2018 EEMP will include one additional lobster catchability study, to be completed during turbine operation. Fish monitoring: FORCE and the University of Maine are conducting a fish-monitoring program using a downward facing hydro-acoustic echosounder (the University of Maine has experience conducting similar monitoring programs for a tidal energy project in Cobscook Bay, Maine). The goal of this program is to describe and quantify fish distributional changes that reflect behavioural responses to the presence of a deployed turbine. Three 24-hour surveys were complete pre-turbine deployment (May, August, and October 2016) and well as four 24-hour surveys during the operation of the Cape Sharp Tidal turbine (November 2016, January 2017, March 2017, and May 2017), which included additional efforts to ensure data collection at the Cape Sharp Tidal turbine. Additional fish surveys were completed after the removal of the Cape Sharp Tidal turbine in July, August, and November 2017. Surveys identified peaks in fish abundance in November and January, with a smaller peak in May. The density of fish at turbine height was highly variable across tidal stage, time of year, and location within the FORCE site. Preliminary findings suggest no significant effect of the turbine on the density of fish in the mid-field of the turbine or on fish vertical distributions, but more data collection during turbine operation is needed. Hydroacoustic surveys will continue ~1-2 times per season in 2018. In addition to the hydroacoustic surveys, FORCE has deployed five fish tag receivers from the Ocean Tracking Network throughout its test site. Five more receivers of a new design will be deployed at the site in 2018 in collaboration with Dr. Mike Stokesbury at Acadia University. Marine mammal monitoring: The goal of the marine mammal monitoring program is to detect changes in the distribution of marine mammals (predominately harbour porpoise at the FORCE site) in relation to operational in-stream turbines. In collaboration with the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), marine mammal presence was monitored using 3 to 5 C-PODS deployed on a near-continuous basis in the mid-field of the turbine location pre- and post-turbine installation in 2016-2017. Five C-PODS are currently collecting data at the site, and will be recovered in January for annual maintenance. Re-deployment will occur ~2 weeks after recovery in January. In 2016 and 2017 porpoises were detected on 98.4% of days, with presence varying by time of year, current speed, tidal height, time of day, and the lunar cycle. Initial results provide no evidence of permanent avoidance in the mid-field of the turbine, but there was a temporary decline in detection rate post turbine installation (41-46%), likely due to vessel activity. Tidal 2 height was a more important factor in driving variation in porpoise abundance, with a 12-fold greater impact on detection rate than the presence of the turbine. In addition, FORCE has continued its a beach walks and public observation program for marine mammals. Seabird monitoring: The main objectives of the seabird monitoring program are to obtain site- specific species abundance and behaviour data, which can be used to establish whether the presence of a turbine causes displacement of surface-visible seabirds and marine mammals from habitual waters and to identify changes in behaviour. Fifteen shore-based surveys were completed by Envirosphere Consultants in 2017, including observations during and post-turbine operation, to be compare with pre-turbine data collected in 2016. Initial results show seasonal peaks in water-associated birds in spring and fall, consistent with known migratory patterns of species of loons, cormorants, gulls, waterfoul, and alcids. There was also a late spring and early summer occupation of the site by locally breeding Black Guillemot and Common Eider. Seabird abundances were low during summer. Initial results suggest no significant effect of turbine operations on seabird abundance, but a formal statistical analysis of the data will be performed in 2018. Marine noise monitoring: The goal of FORCE’s acoustic monitoring program is to measure both ambient (in the immediate surroundings) and noise generated by in-stream turbines for prediction of the potential effects of this noise on marine life. Acoustic monitoring is being accomplished using drifting hydrophone systems, deployed at the site in October 2016 and March 2017. Data analysis is ongoing in collaboration with JASCO, Ocean Sonics, and GeoSpectrum Technologies. Initial results indicate that the main sources of noise in the study area included sediment movement associated with tidal flow and nearby vessel activity. Preliminary analyses indicated that drifting hydrophones were able to pick up sounds from the OpenHydro turbine in March 2017, demonstrating that drifting hydrophone systems are effective for measuring ambient and turbine-associated noise. The 2018 marine noise monitoring program will include several more rounds of drifting data collection, timed to occur at varying points during the lunar cycle to more fully characterize the range of ambient sounds in the study area. Additional drifts will also be conducted while a turbine is in operation at the site, to gather data regarding turbine-associated noise. FAST sensor platforms: Independent of EEM programs, FORCE is also conducting marine life effects research through its Fundy Advanced Sensor Technology (FAST) program that utilizes a series of subsea instrument platforms. While EEM addresses immediate, regulated monitoring objectives, FAST supports sensor innovation that may also yield important monitoring-related insights while advancing EEM capabilities for future regulated programs. FAST-1 has been deployed and recovered with an acoustic zooplankton and fish profiler (to assess zooplankton and fish density and depth distribution); FAST-2 will soon be deployed with 3 a dynamic mount with a Tritech Gemini
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