Final mini-SOW Tag You're It.docx

PC-22-04 Tag You’re It! Habitat Use of Whales of the U.S. West Coast and Hawai‘i

DESCRIPTION / SPECIFICATIONS / STATEMENT OF WORK

1. PURPOSE

The passage of the 2005 Energy Policy Act has increased interest in renewable energy development on the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and BOEM has already received five unsolicited applications to install floating wind turbines: two offshore Washington, one offshore Oregon, and one each offshore northern and central California. The overarching challenge with the development of new industries or technologies is trying to anticipate their effects on the environment. The purpose of this study is to collate and analyze existing telemetry data gathered from protected cetacean species along the U.S. West Coast and Hawai’i to better understand how these species use their ocean habitat. This type of analysis is crucial in supporting more accurate assessment of potential impacts of oil and gas decommissioning activities and offshore wind energy development, as well as providing insight into potential mitigative strategies.

2. BACKGROUND

BOEM has funded, and is currently funding, efforts to collect seasonal data on the occurrence and distribution of cetacean (whale, dolphin, and porpoise) species (BOEM 2021a; 2021b; 2020a; 2020b; 2017; 2014a; 2014b; 1999; 1983), as well as ambient soundscape data (BOEM 2021a), within the California Current Ecosystem. These efforts provide an important baseline and large-scale context for BOEM’s assessment of potential impacts to marine protected species. However, to make this information even more valuable, it is critically important to gain finer-scale, high-quality information at sufficient spatial resolution (nominal grids of 10-25 km depending on application) on whale movements, home ranges, residency times, seasonal shifts, hot spots of aggregation, and dive behaviors and relate these metrics to environmental variables such as sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a concentrations, and seafloor depth and slope (ideally over multiple concurrent years). These data would provide a 3-D look into how cetacean species use their habitat. The importance of these data, presented as spatially and temporally explicit layers, cannot be overstated when considering offshore floating wind energy development and the identification of potential mitigative strategies to minimize any potential impacts to these species as a result of these activities, as well as the timing of future conventional energy decommissioning activities, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

This information will feed directly into BOEM’s environmental assessments and decision documents and will help BOEM identify species of concern, as well as topics for future studies related to potential offshore floating wind energy impacts on marine mammal species along the U.S. West Coast and Hawai’i.

Oregon State University (OSU), the proposed Recipient of this cooperative agreement, has been collecting telemetry data for four species of baleen whales along the U.S. West Coast and Hawai’i for the past 30 years. Additionally, in the last 3-4 years, advanced satellite tags have enabled the collection of dive behavior data. Cascadia Research Collective (CRC), Marine Ecology and Telemetry Research (MarEcoTel), and the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific also have telemetry data in these areas. These data need to be collated, integrated, analyzed, and interpreted to be available to inform management decisions.

3. STUDY OBJECTIVES

The overall goal of this cooperative agreement is to integrate and interpret existing cetacean telemetry data to:

1. inform BOEM decisions related to the potential impacts to cetacean species in the Pacific from decommissioning and offshore renewable energy development activities;

2. identify opportunities for future research and inform future predictive modeling efforts;

3. provide scientific and stakeholder communities access to integrated data products.

4. STATEMENT OF WORK

The various streams of cetacean telemetry data held by OSU, CRC, MarEcoTel, and NIWC will be assessed for their quality and potential to improve our understanding of how these species use their ocean habitat. Prioritized subsets of these data will be collated, integrated, and analyzed to generate derived data products that will inform BOEM decisions regarding impacts to marine mammal species as a result of BOEM-permitted conventional energy decommissioning and offshore wind energy development activities in waters inshore and offshore California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawai’i. An 18-month project timeframe, commencing on the date of award, is anticipated to cost $300,000 to accomplish the objectives listed above and the tasks described below. This amount includes preparing a research design, logistics, communications, administration, project management, data collation, integration, and analysis, as well as report writing and the submission of one or more peer-reviewed journal articles, all of which are the responsibility of the Recipient.

5. TASKS

Task 1: Inventory of existing telemetry data on a regional scale

The Recipient will collate existing pertinent information to summarize tag deployments by species and location, including tag types, programming duty cycles and sampling resolutions, sensors, seasonality and/or time periods, and other pertinent information from data contributors who have data from cetacean species that occur in the waters offshore California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawai’i. These summaries will be organized in an accessible Excel format and will provide the basis for an objective characterization and assessment of the quality and potential of the data to contribute to the generation of integrated data products, as well as to identify potential data gaps/research needs that could be addressed in future efforts.

Task 2: Data integration and product development

The Recipient will integrate and analyze prioritized subsets of the collated data using state-of-the-art analytical methods to derive metrics such as residence time, home range, seasonal shifts, and aggregations. Using scientific computing and visualization packages such as R, Python, and GIS, these metrics will be related to environmental variables (e.g., sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a concentrations, and seafloor depth and slope) to produce temporally and spatially explicit raster and feature class layers (shapefiles) in a GIS-compatible format. Data integrity validation will be undertaken using accepted QA/QC protocols.

Task 3: Develop a summary

The Recipient will develop a table and accompanying text to describe the biases and limitations of available data, and will develop recommendations about next steps, including future monitoring and mitigation actions. Future phases of the project could iteratively revisit this table as more data become available.

Task 4: Prepare a draft and final report

The Recipient will prepare a final report that describes how the analysis was undertaken and summarizes the findings. The final report will include a description of the biases and limitations of available data and recommendations in terms of next steps, including future monitoring and mitigation actions.

Task 5: Prepare a peer-reviewed journal article

In collaboration with the BOEM Project Officer (PO) and ESP Representative (ESPR), the Recipient will co-author a research paper which summarizes the study findings and recommendations. The paper shall be submitted to a journal which delivers content that is open access in perpetuity.

6. SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY

The Recipient shall adhere to the Project Management Plan (PMP) that was submitted to the Contracting Officer (CO) and PO for monitoring all aspects of the requirements of this agreement.

Scientific integrity is vital to Department of the Interior (DOI) activities under which scientific research, data, summaries, syntheses, interpretations, presentations, and/or publications are developed and used. Failure to uphold the highest degree of scientific integrity will result not only in potentially flawed scientific results, interpretations, and applications but will damage DOI’s reputation and ability to uphold the public’s trust. All work performed must comply with the DOI Scientific Integrity Policy posted to https://www.doi.gov/scientificintegrity, or its equivalent as provided by their organization or State law.

7. MEETINGS, REPORTS, AND OTHER DELIVERABLES

7.1. Post-Award Meeting with BOEM

Within ten (10) business days of the award, the Recipient shall hold a post-award meeting with BOEM staff. The post-award meeting shall be held via video conference.

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss roles, responsibilities, working relationships, major milestones, and deliverables. At a minimum, the post-award meeting shall include: 1) directions from the CO and identification of the PO and other pertinent BOEM personnel; 2) a draft of the PMP from the Recipient (previously circulated among and reviewed by any key collaborators); 3) the proposed Schedule from the Recipient; and 4) an introduction and identification of any key collaborators by the Recipient. In addition, the Recipient will present the PMP including the purpose of the project, the scope, roles and responsibilities of the project team, the deliverables, the risks, the assumptions, the planned effort, and the deadline. During the post-award meeting, any outstanding issues will be addressed. No changes to the terms or conditions are authorized unless approved in writing by the CO via a modification to the agreement.

The Recipient shall:

· Provide an agenda to participants at least one week prior to the meeting;

· Provide Meeting Summary to BOEM for review and approval within two (2) weeks after the meeting; and

· Provide Revised PMP to the PO within two weeks after the meeting.

7.2. Revised Project Management Plan

The Recipient shall prepare and submit a revised PMP, indicating how the project tasking will be accomplished, by whom it will be accomplished, and identifying a schedule of milestones for completion, within two (2) weeks after the Post-Award meeting. The revised PMP also should indicate how any deviation from the performance schedule may be remedied by the Recipient. The revised PMP shall also include a Data Management Plan (DMP) that includes procedures to handle all collated field data, quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures, dissemination and distribution protocols, protocols for collecting and maintaining sensitive information, and archival procedures. BOEM will review the PMP and provide feedback to the Recipient within seven (7) calendar days after the Post-Award meeting, which the Recipient shall incorporate into the revised PMP. The Recipient shall submit the revised Project Management Plan within seven (7) calendar days of receiving BOEM’s comments.

7.3. Quarterly Progress Reports:

The Recipient shall prepare and submit quarterly progress reports to the PO as email or email attachment. The quarterly progress reports shall at a minimum include:

· A summary of all work performed during the preceding quarter and overall progress made against the schedule;

· A summary of significant technical, schedule, or cost problems encountered during the preceding quarter, including an assessment of their probable effects on meeting provisions of this agreement;

· A summary of any resolutions agreed to by the PO and CO regarding these problems;

· A list of all significant meetings held, or other contacts made in connection with the agreement during the preceding quarter, including a brief summary of the participants and subject, date, location, and outcome of each such contact or meeting;

· Summary of expenses incurred during the reporting period.

7.4. Draft and Final Annual Report

The Recipient shall prepare and submit a draft annual report to BOEM for review, twelve (12) months after award. The draft final annual report should include progress completed, milestones reached, timeline of upcoming milestones, and any potential challenges which may impede both the schedule and successful outcome of any tasks. It should be submitted in MS word format for BOEM review. BOEM will have two (2) weeks to review and provide comments.

The final annual report should include everything in the draft annual report, including addressing comments from BOEM, and be submitted in both MS Word and PDF formats two (2) weeks after receiving comments from BOEM. A cover correspondence on how comments were or were not accommodated should also be included. This report may be combined with the concurrent quarterly report.

7.5. Draft Final Report and Draft Technical Summary

The Recipient shall prepare and submit a draft Final Report and draft Technical Summary to BOEM for review sixteen (16) months after award. The draft Final Report should describe the study approach and results from Tasks 1-3 and should not simply be a compilation of previously published journal articles. The draft Technical Summary should be a concise summary (no more than a few pages in length) and cover all technical tasks. The Recipient shall prepare the draft Final Report with clear, concise writing at a level suitable to a technical audience familiar with the various facets of marine biology and renewable and conventional energy mitigation development. The draft Final Report will describe data gaps/research needs that would improve future risk assessments based on this work. The organization of the draft Final Report will be agreed upon between the Recipient’s Project Manager (PM) and the BOEM PO prior to preparation. The format of the draft Final report and draft Technical Summary shall conform to the specifications on BOEM’s web site: https://www.boem.gov/ESP-Data-and-Information-Specifications/.

Upon receipt of the draft Final Report and draft Technical Summary, BOEM will have thirty (30) days to review them and provide comments to the Recipient.

The Recipient shall not provide copies of the draft Final Report, nor any subsequent revisions prepared during the review process, nor data contained within, nor any portions thereof, to any parties prior to final acceptance by BOEM of the Final Report and Technical Summary. If a need arises to do so, the Recipient must obtain the written approval of the CO.

7.6. Revised Final Report and Technical Summary

The Recipient shall revise and finalize the draft Final Report and Technical Summary in response to BOEM’s comments, and will have thirty (30) days from receipt of BOEM’s comments to do so

The Recipient shall provide the rationale in a letter accompanying the revised Final Report and Technical Summary for any review comments not accommodated. Copies of the revised Final Report and Technical Summary, high-quality physical master copies, and searchable-text MS Word and PDF digital copies shall be provided to BOEM per the deliverable schedule. Bibliographic citations for the Final Report shall be provided to BOEM in EndNote® compatible format.

The disclaimer page in the draft and revised Final Report shall contain the following language:

“Study collaboration and funding were provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Environmental Studies Program, Washington, DC, under Agreement Number _____. 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 BOEM, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.”

7.7. Data Management

7.7.1. Data Format

All report files generated by this agreement shall be prepared in electronic and paper copies and be submitted according to the schedule and requirements described in the deliverable schedule and as agreed upon at the Post-Award Meeting. Text files shall be submitted in formats compatible with Microsoft (MS) Word® and Adobe Acrobat® (i.e., PDF); database files shall be submitted in a format compatible with MS Excel®.; and geographic data files shall be submitted using an ArcGIS file geodatabase (see Data Submission section below for more detail). Bibliographic references shall be submitted in a format compatible with EndNote®. Any DVDs and/or hard drives submitted shall be formatted with a system (e.g., New Technology File System [NTFS]) that is writeable by the current MS Windows® operating system.

If photographs, videos, or audio recordings are to be included with the reports, they shall be credited and free of copyright restrictions and suitable for copying. These figures shall have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. This digital requirement includes all tables, charts, graphs, and figures that were not prepared in MS Word, as well as photographs from other sources. No originals shall be mailed without prior backups.

If practicable, BOEM will store a copy of the data and/or data products and associated software on external hard drives or using other appropriate media depending on the nature and size of the products, as agreed to by the PM and the BOEM PO.

7.8. Geographic Data

Where applicable, derived geographic data products will be delivered in geodatabases (ArcGIS 10.2 or newer) on an external hard drive or other media acceptable to both parties. At a minimum, the geodatabases will include feature classes for polygons (shapefiles) and grids (rasters) displaying data and the results of analyses and models.

All detection feature classes will be in the WGS_1984 Geographic Coordinate System. Rasters will be created in an appropriate Projected Coordinate System for the area displayed, such as UTM zones 4, 5, 9, 10, or 11. (BOEM needs to select appropriate projection for larger geographic areas.)

All geographic data products will be adequately described with detailed metadata conforming to either Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, or the International Organization for Standards (ISO) Geographic Information – Metadata Standard 19115. Metadata will include detailed explanation of how the data were collected and analyzed.

7.9. Study Footprint

The Recipient will deliver a study footprint that geographically references the study area. The footprint should be developed in accordance with BOEM’s ESP Data And Information Specifications and ESP Study Footprint Guidance.

7.10. Project Webinar

At the conclusion of the study, the Recipient and appropriate technical leads will give a webinar to BOEM staff and invited participants summarizing the study and major findings. This webinar can be conducted in-person at BOEM’s Camarillo Office, or virtually.

7.11. Journal Publications and Presentations

The Recipient shall draft and submit one or more papers, in collaboration with BOEM, describing the effort and the results to a peer-reviewed scientific journal. This task shall be completed before the end of the period of performance of the agreement. While not a requirement under this agreement, presentations at public meetings are encouraged. The Recipient shall require of all investigators that all manuscripts intended to be published in journals and all abstracts or summaries prepared for oral/poster presentations based on this study be submitted to BOEM for review and comment prior to submittal to the journal or conference authority and any BOEM comments incorporated to the extent practical. All such publications and oral/poster presentations shall contain an acknowledgement of BOEM’s support that reads:

“Study collaboration and funding were provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Environmental Studies Program, Washington, D.C., under Agreement Number _____.”

8. SECTION 508 COMPLIANCE

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (found at 29 U.S.C. 794d) requires access to and use of information by individuals with disabilities. A deliverable such as electronic reports (e.g., PDF files) to be placed on the web (either on the agency’s web server or the company’s), video footage, or other electronic data such as CD-ROMs to be distributed, are subject to Section 508 guidelines. Simplified, this means that PDF files need to be formatted so that they are “readable” by assistive technology devices such as screen readers. Video footage must be closed captioned. CD-ROMs which contain HTML, PDF, or word processor files must be accessible.

9. DUE DATES AND DISTRIBUTION OF DELIVERABLES

Deliverable products shall be submitted to the addresses shown in Section 10, in accordance with the following schedule:

Deliverable

ESPR—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word or PDF) PO—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word or PDF) CO—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word or PDF) Post-Award Meeting within ten (10) business days after award.

Post-Award Meeting Summary within two (2) weeks after the meeting.

Revised PMP within two (2) weeks after the meeting.

ESPR—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word or PDF) PO—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word or PDF) CO—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word or PDF) First Quarterly Progress Report – ninety (90) days after award, and every three (3) months after that.

PO—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word) CO—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word) Twelve (12) months after award. BOEM will have 2 weeks to review and comment.

ESPR—One (1) electronic copy (PDF) PO—One (1) electronic copy (PDF) CO—One (1) electronic copy (PDF) Two (2) weeks after receipt of BOEM’s comments on the Draft Annual Report.

PO—One (1) electronic copy (MS Word) CO—One (1) electronic copy of transmittal letter only Sixteen (16) months after award. BOEM will have thirty (30) days to review and comment.

ESPR— Two (2) electronic copies (MS Word and PDF) PO— Two (2) electronic copies (MS Word and PDF) and one (1) hard copy; 3 DVDs (each with a MS Word and a PDF copy) CO—One (1) electronic copy of transmittal letter only Within thirty (30) days of receipt of BOEM’s comments on the Draft Final report and Draft Technical Summary, or resolution of issues.

ESPR—One (1) electronic copy of transmittal letter only PO—Two (2) copies on BOEM-approved media or approved data archive.

CO—One (1) electronic copy of transmittal letter only Concurrent with the submission of the Final Report.

Prior to the end of the period of performance.

ESPR— One (1) electronic copy of draft manuscript(s) and presentation(s); and one (1) electronic copy of journal publication(s) PO—One (1) electronic copy of draft manuscript(s) and presentation(s); and one (1) electronic copy of journal publication(s) CO—One (1) electronic copy of transmittal letter only Draft manuscript(s) and draft presentation(s) including associated tables and figures to be sent to PO for review prior to formal submission. May be done any time prior to the end of the period of performance.

Reprints within one week of receipt from journal.

10. ADDRESSES FOR DELIVERABLES

Chief, Division of Environmental Sciences (DES Chief) U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 45600 Woodland Road, MSC VAM-OEP Sterling, VA 20166 environmentalstudiesprogram2@boem.gov

Contracting Officer (CO) Paula Barksdale U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Acquisition Management Division Acquisition and Financial Assistance Branch 45600 Woodland Road, VAE-AMD Sterling, VA 20166

(703) 787-1743 paula.barksdale@bsee.gov

Project Officer (PO) Dr. Desray Reeb U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Pacific Regional Office 760 Paseo Camarillo, Suite 102 Camarillo, CA 93010

(805) 384-6396 desray.reeb@boem.gov

ESP Representative (ESPR) Jacob Levenson U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Environmental Programs 45600 Woodland Road, MSC VAM-OEP Sterling, VA 20166

(703) 787-1710 jacob.levenson@boem.gov

References:

BOEM. 1983. Central and Northern California Marine Mammal and Seabird Study. https://marinecadastre.gov/espis/#/search/study/20375 BOEM. 1999. Oregon and Washington Marine Mammal and Seabird Studies. https://marinecadastre.gov/espis/#/search/study/20204 BOEM. 2014a. 2014 California Current Cetacean & Ecosystem Assessment Survey (CalCurCEAS): Final Report to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management regarding surveys of Windfloat and Wave Energy Areas. https://www.boem.gov/PR-14-OBS/ BOEM. 2014b. Pacific Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment (PaCSEA): Aerial Seabird and Marine Mammal Surveys off Northern California, Oregon, and Washington, 2011-2012. https://espis.boem.gov/final%20reports/5427.pdf BOEM. 2017. Spatial Database for the At-Sea Distribution and Abundance of Seabirds and Marine Mammals off Southern California: 1999-2002. https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/57c75faae4b0f2f0cebed52e BOEM. 2020a. Pacific Marine Assessment Partnership for Protected Species. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. https://marinecadastre.gov/espis/#/search/study/100179 BOEM. 2020b. California Current Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey and Use of Data to Produce and Validate Cetacean and Seabird Density Maps. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. https://marinecadastre.gov/espis/#/search/study/100116 BOEM. 2021a. Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Cetaceans in the California Current Ecosystem Using Drifting Archival Passive Acoustic Monitoring. https://www.boem.gov/PC-20-04 BOEM. 2021b. Seabird and Marine Mammal Surveys Near Potential Renewable Energy Sites Offshore Central and Southern California. https://www.boem.gov/pc-17-01/