Appendix E – Biological Survey Results • Seal Haul-Out Survey • SAV Survey • Benthic Habitat Assessment - will be provided in the Supplemental COP per the departure schedule Seal Haul-Out Survey Aerial Seal Haul-out Surveys Ocean Wind Offshore Windfarm Contact Information: Julia Robinson Willmott Principal Scientist NORMANDEAU ASSOCIATES INC. 4581 NW 6th Street, Suite H Gainesville, FL 32609 [email protected] 352-327-3262 Aerial Seal Haul-out Surveys Ocean Wind Offshore Windfarm Prepared For Ocean Wind Offshore Windfarm 100 Oliver Street, Suite 2610 One International Place Boston, MA 02110 Prepared By Normandeau Associates, Inc. 4581 NW 6th Street, Suite A Gainesville, FL 32609 (352) 372-4747 www.normandeau.com APEM Ltd Riverview A17 Embankment Business Park Heaton Mersey, Stockport SK4 3GN www.apemltd.co.uk July 16, 2019 Ocean Wind Offshore Windfarm Aerial Seal Haul-out Surveys Contents List of Figures .............................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgments......................................................................................................... v 1 Summary ................................................................................................................. 1 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 3 Background ............................................................................................................. 2 3.1 Seal Species in New Jersey .................................................................................................... 2 3.2 Haul-out Conditions ................................................................................................................. 4 3.3 Great Bay ................................................................................................................................. 7 3.4 Sandy Hook .............................................................................................................................. 8 3.5 Barnegat Light .......................................................................................................................... 9 4 Methods ................................................................................................................. 10 4.1 Weather Conditions ............................................................................................................... 12 4.2 Target Extraction and Quality Control .................................................................................... 12 5 Results .................................................................................................................. 13 5.1 Visual Survey ......................................................................................................................... 13 5.2 Aerial Digital Survey ............................................................................................................... 13 6 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 16 7 References ............................................................................................................ 17 Appendix A: Example Images .................................................................................... 18 Appendix B: Locations of Bird Flocks ...................................................................... 19 Appendix C: Species Found in Imagery during Survey ........................................... 21 DISCLOSURE STATEMENT The data contained in all pages of this document have been submitted in confidence and contain trade secrets and/or privileged or confidential information, and such data shall be used or disclosed only for evaluation purposes, provided that if a contract is awarded to this proposer as a result of or in connection with the submission of this proposal, the client shall have the right to use or disclose the data herein to the extent provided in the contract. This document includes data that shall not be disclosed outside of the purposes of this submittal and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed—in whole or in part—for any purpose other than for evaluation purposes. APEM-Normandeau 2019 iii Ocean Wind Offshore Windfarm Aerial Seal Haul-out Surveys List of Figures Figure 1. New Jersey coastline showing the extent of the seal haul-out Survey Area. ................ 2 Figure 2. Harbor seal haul-out study area for the 1996–2011 survey (Source: Toth et al. 2018) ................................................................................................................................ 6 Figure 3. Three known annual seal haul-out locations in New Jersey (Source: Conservation Wildlife Foundation New Jersey 2019). .................................................. 7 Figure 4. Great Bay’s seal haul-out site in New Jersey. ................................................................ 8 Figure 5. Sandy Hook’s seal haul-out sites in New Jersey. ........................................................... 9 Figure 6. Barnegat Light’s seal haul-out sites in New Jersey. ..................................................... 10 Figure 7. Barnegat Light seal locations. ....................................................................................... 14 Figure 8. Sandy Hook seal locations. ........................................................................................... 14 Figure 9. Fish Island–Great Bay seal locations. ........................................................................... 15 Figure 10. Sandy Hook bird flock locations. ................................................................................. 19 Figure 11. Barnegat Light bird flock locations. ............................................................................. 19 Figure 12. Fish Island bird flock locations. .................................................................................... 20 List of Tables Table 1. Harbor seals stranded along NJ coast, 2011–2015* ....................................................... 3 Table 2. Gray seals stranded along NJ coast, 2011–2015* .......................................................... 3 Table 3. Hooded seals stranded along NJ coast 2001–2005* ...................................................... 4 Table 4. Harp seals stranded along NJ coast, 2011–2015* .......................................................... 4 Table 5. Seal Data from Rutgers University Marine Field Station ............................................ 11 Table 6. Blank Images Detected in Each Survey Area .............................................................. 13 Table 7. Number of Targets Detected and Sent for Identification ............................................. 15 Table 8. Number of Targets Identified to Species ...................................................................... 15 Table 9. Number of Bird Flocks and Minimum, Maximum and Mean Sizes ........................... 16 APEM-Normandeau 2019 iv Ocean Wind Offshore Windfarm Aerial Seal Haul-out Surveys Acknowledgments Normandeau–APEM would like to thank the following people for information provided during planning, execution, and reporting phases of this research: Jacalyn Toth Sullivan Adjunct Professor School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Stockton University Galloway NJ and Robert A. DiGiovanni Jr. Chief Scientist Atlantic Marine Conservation Society PO Box 932 Hampton Bays, NY 11946 APEM-Normandeau 2019 v Ocean Wind Offshore Windfarm Aerial Seal Haul-out Surveys Amendment Record Revision Number Date Change Details By 1 July 16, 2019 Insert information on flight speed in methods JRW 2 August 5, 2019 Add image labels, Acknowledgements, Contact Information JRW APEM-Normandeau 2019 vi Ocean Wind Offshore Windfarm Aerial Seal Haul-out Surveys 1 Summary Surveys were commissioned along the New Jersey coastline to find information on seal species presence. Original survey design called for surveys to occur between two hours before and two hours after low tide. An investigative survey flight was conducted in accordance with these conditions but no seals were found. Further research into seal patterns of activity suggested that many seals preferred to approach the coast nearer high tide. The survey crew remobilized and captured aerial digital imagery in suitable conditions along 215 km of coastline. Areas around known seal haul-out locations were intensively surveyed, as was the area around potential cable landing sites. Approximately 29,000 images were captured during the digital aerial survey flight, of which 19,000 were captured along the coast but not in the main areas of interest. Approximately 9,500 images covering 64 km2 contained 45 seals and 310 bird flocks. The seals were≈ identified as probable harbor seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina). Bird flocks represented gulls, ducks, auks, shorebirds, geese, crows,≈ vultures, and egrets. The survey areas were intensively covered by overlapping imagery and the numbers of seals found during the surveys reflects seal activity for the optimal combination of tide and weather conditions at this time. 2 Introduction The APEM–Normandeau Team was contracted by Ørsted to conduct an aerial digital survey to identify seal haul-out locations and census the numbers of seals at each. Areas with