10.82144/8acd358e 69482ca4-c584-4514-85ae-97d166891dae https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1818 153f8079-a5b2-42aa-85af-f2cd72801a2e zd_1818 MichelleVukovichNormandeau Associates, Inc.Primary contact jwillmott@normandeau.com https://remote.normandeau.com OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

A328 LSRC building Durham NC 27708 US

seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

A328 LSRC building Durham NC 27708 US

seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu distributor MichelleVukovichNormandeau Associates, Inc.Primary contact jwillmott@normandeau.com https://remote.normandeau.comowner 2026-04-28 eng Original provider: NYSERDA, APEM, Normandeau Associates Dataset credits: NYSERDA, APEM, Normandeau Associates Abstract: In support of New York State's commitment to incorporating offshore wind into its energy portfolio, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) embarked on a multi-year ultrahigh-resolution aerial digital survey of marine resources in a 12,650 square nautical mile offshore planning area (OPA) in 2016. The OPA encompasses the waters of the New York Bight from Long Island southeast to the continental shelf break. Surveys are conducted on a quarterly basis, timed to coincide with periods of abundance of avian and marine species vulnerable to impacts from offshore wind activities. This report summarizes the results of the first two surveys conducted in July–August and November 2016. Each survey collected images covering at least 7% of the OPA. Of the more than 700,000 images collected within the survey area during these two surveys, 3.8% (27,135 images) contained organisms, including 38 bird, 17 fish, 5 whales, 7 dolphin, 1 seal, and 4 sea turtle species. Some seasonal patterns were evident. During the summer survey, the vast majority of the organisms observed were rays (8,388 images) or birds (1,893 images). During the fall survey, birds predominated (12,352 images). Shearwaters, storm-petrels, and terns were substantially more abundant in the summer while ducks, gannets, gulls and phalaropes were substantially more abundant in the fall. Turtles, sharks, and large bony fishes were all most abundant in the summer, though present in the fall. Number of images with marine mammals was similar in both surveys. Spatial patterns were apparent in some taxonomic groups. A number of species tended to occur in nearshore waters including large gulls and least, royal and Sterna terns. Turtles typically occurred inshore of the 70 m isobath. Audubon's, sooty, and Cory's shearwaters clustered in the northeast corner of the OPA. Whales, Audubon's shearwaters, and black-capped petrels were most common near the shelf break. While sharks exhibited no clear patterns, rays showed some tendency to cluster off the mouth of New York Harbor. Large bony fishes typically occurred in deeper waters. Results from the surveys will be incorporated into efforts to identify suitable areas for development of offshore wind projects. OccurrenceGBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type.xmlObservationGBIF Dataset Subtype Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_subtype.xml Marine BiologyVisual sightingMarine Animal SurveySeabirdsMarine mammalsSea turtlesVisual SightingAircraft N/A This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License. https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1818 North Atlantic,New York Bight -73.6675 40.4307 40.4307 40.1517 2016-07-27 2017-05-16 Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). speciesAlca tordaRazorbill speciesAlle alleDovekie speciesCalonectris diomedeaCory's shearwater familyCarcharhinidaerequiem sharks speciesCaretta carettaLoggerhead sea turtle familyCentrarchidaeSunfishes speciesCetorhinus maximusBasking shark familyCheloniidaeSea turtles classChondrichthyesCartilaginous fishes speciesChroicocephalus philadelphiaBonaparte's gull orderCiconiiformesCiconiiformes speciesCoryphaena hippurusDolphinfish familyDelphinidaeDolphins speciesDermochelys coriaceaLeatherback sea turtle subclassElasmobranchiiCartilaginous fishes speciesFratercula arcticaAtlantic puffin speciesGavia immerCommon loon speciesGavia stellataRed-throated loon familyLaridaeGulls speciesLarus argentatusHerring gull speciesLarus delawarensisRing-billed gull speciesLarus marinusGreat black-backed gull speciesLepidochelys kempiiKemp's ridley speciesMasturus lanceolatusSharptail mola speciesMelanitta nigraBlack scoter speciesMola molaOcean sunfish speciesMorus bassanusNorthern gannet orderMyliobatiformesstingrays genusPhalaropusPhalaropes orderProcellariiformesTube-nosed Swimmers speciesPuffinus lherminieriAudubon's shearwater speciesRachycentron canadumCobia speciesRhinoptera bonasusCownose ray familySphyrnidaeBonnethead sharks genusSternaTypical Terns speciesSterna hirundoCommon tern speciesSternula antillarumLeast tern speciesThunnus thynnusAtlantic bluefin tuna N/A notPlanned MichelleVukovichNormandeau Associates, Inc.Primary contact jwillmott@normandeau.com https://remote.normandeau.com NA NA NA MichelleVukovichowner NA 2026-04-28T11:39:47-04:00 dataset Vukovich, M. 2020. Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy - WEA 2016. Version 1.2.0. Dataset published in OBIS-SEAMAP. https://doi.org/10.82144/8acd358e. APEM and Normandeau Associates prepared for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. 2018. Digital Aerial Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy - WEA 2016. Data downloaded from OBIS-SEAMAP (http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1818) on yyyy-mm-dd OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page UTF-8 Interactive map https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1818 FGDC Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1818/fgdc EML Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/1818/eml OBIS-SEAMAP zd_1818 zd_1818