It has been five years since the last workshop designed to examine these issues, and a great deal has changed in the interim. The Conference will provide a venue for the discussion of these issues and reporting on completed and current projects, and we solicit abstracts for poster and oral presentations. It will also provide perspectives on agency needs for environmental information, and breakout groups of invited experts will evaluate critical needs. The first day of the meeting will be open to the public but limited by available space, controlled by registration. Register Now

Additional information, documentation, and materials for participants will be available at http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/rec/

Conference Goals

Marine renewable energy is planned for development on the Outer Continental Shelf off Oregon and much of the Pacific Northwest, focused on extraction of energy from wind and waves. Multiple issues related to siting and environmental considerations remain to be resolved. Research programs are addressing diverse questions regarding environmental effects while state and federal entities more forward with plans and processes for project siting and permitting. These developments, most of which have taken place in the last five years, create a need to gather this information together, assess the current research inventory, and identify the gaps and priorities for new research associated with marine renewable energy.

The Oregon Marine Renewable Energy Environmental Science Conference has three major goals.

The first goal is to showcase primary research that has recently taken place or is currently underway addressing environmental questions associated with wave and wind energy development in the Pacific Northwest.

The second is to synthesize new research and existing information and distill it into products that agencies and resource managers can use to carry out their planning and management duties.

The third goal is to identify gaps in our understanding of the technologies or potentially affected systems that then can be used for scientists, managers and funders to determine where to focus future research efforts.

Registration

Online Registration is Closed
Please contact OSU Conference Services at 1-800-678-6311 for on-site registration options.

Attendee registration includes:

Wednesday, November 28:
– All program related materials
– Light breakfast
– Morning break
– Lunch
– Evening Reception

Abstracts

Abstracts for posters and/or 3 minute ‘lightning round’ highlights to be presented the evening of November 28 are encouraged. We are particularly interested in papers that describe recent (completed in last 5 years) or current research on environmental effects of wave or offshore wind in the Pacific Northwest. Abstracts for evening posters or lightning round summaries are now being accepted.

Abstracts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format, Title at top followed by the author(s) affiliation and email contact for the first author. The body of the abstract should be no less than 250 words and no longer than 500 words, and one figure may be included with the abstract in jpeg format; abstracts will be put on a website prior to the meeting, and will be included in the proceedings volume from the workshop.

Conference Objectives

• Assemble scientists with relevant expertise, key regulatory agency staff, and stakeholders in a workshop setting conducive to free information exchange.
• Identify existing and planned scientific research that addresses environmental concerns associated with the development of marine renewable energy;
• Identify data gaps related to evaluation of environmental effects and the scientific approaches needed to address these data gaps;
• Improve communication among all stakeholders in marine renewable energy development off Oregon;
• Develop workshop products (website, proceedings document) that will make this information broadly available to all Oregon marine renewable energy stakeholders.

George Boehlert, Oregon State University
Caren Braby, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Mary Elaine Helix, BOEM
Sarah Henkel, Oregon State University
Paul Klarin, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development
Ann Scarborough Bull, BOEM
Donna Schroeder, BOEM