Integrating Offshore Renewable Wind into the Marine Mammal Protection Act

Julia Gerringer is a student in the Master of Coastal and Ocean Policy program at UNC-Wilmington. She is a 2019 graduate from UNC-Wilmington with a bachelors of science in marine biology. Julia has worked as the grant coordinator at The Children’s Museum of Wilmington for almost two years, working on her writing skills and working with kids and their love of STEM. Julia has a passion for marine mammal conservation and community outreach. 

In 1972, the U.S. enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), establishing a moratorium on “takings” of marine mammals protecting which includes killing, harassment, hunting or capturing. The two main objectives of the Act are to 1) prevent marine mammals from depleting to a point where they are not functional in their ecosystem and 2) restore diminished populations to their optimum sustainable populations (OSP). When the MMPA was written, it was based on the losses of dolphins from tuna purse seine fishing and the depletion of marine mammals from commercial whaling.

However, the U.S. is entering into a new venture of offshore renewable energies, and questions remain about the potential effects on large migratory whales- this is the first time wind farms will be built along migratory corridors. 

Questions arise regarding the efficiency and efficacy under the MMPA for this new wave of technology and its relationship to marine mammals. Currently, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM), is the regulatory authority on offshore leasing for renewable wind energy. BOEM has the goal of securing as many leases as possible in order to secure profits for the U.S. Treasury and to follow guidelines for the MMPA.  

Figure 1: Four distinct phases of offshore wind planning process (BOEM). 

BOEM is required to conduct environmental assessments prior to construction of offshore wind areas (Phase 1; Figure 1). These assessments are sent to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to obtain an Incidental Take Authorization (ITA), allowing them to take marine mammals. This forms a conundrum, where a regulatory agency, BOEM goes through motions to “protect” marine mammals via environmental assessments, but they are allowed to take these marine mammals without any real consequences. 

And as these leases increase in number, NMFS may see a push to produce more ITA’s. This calls into question greenwashing of renewables, where renewables are seen as clean and having no negative impacts. However, it may be at the cost of not only marine mammals, but marine birds, sea turtles, fish and benthic organisms. 

The main emphasis of this analysis, is that offshore renewable energy is needed to progress our climate change policies, but it has potential population-level effects on five large, endangered whales. The Atlantic coast sees many species of marine mammals throughout the year along the OCS, each protected under the MMPA and five whales protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (fin, blue, sei, NARW and sperm whale). 

The North Atlantic right whale (NARW) was used as a case study to demonstrate the overlap between proposed offshore wind farms and the migration of NARW’s. The NARW is has around 370 individuals currently, with only around 90 breeding females. This makes them especially sensitive to any impacts or deaths (Figure 2). 

Figure 2: The map shows the Atlantic OCS. Blue and purple overlay: June and December distributions of NARW’s. In winter, NARW’s are in the Southeastern U.S. (Florida and Georgia), their birthing grounds. In spring they migrate North. The light shaded green portion are Seasonal Management Areas (SMA), where boats must reduce their speeds to lessen NARW strikes. The colored squares are the proposed offshore wind leases by BOEM, overlapping SMA’s and NARW migrations. Marine Cadastre. 

Concerns with offshore wind turbines and marine mammals are:

• Displacement
• Behavior disruption (feeding, breeding, socializing)
• Stress
• Prey abundance
• Distribution change

Direct deaths due to offshore renewables is not a high concern, rather indirect effects from pile driving and other aspects. These population-level effects will significantly impact endangered species. Areas of the MMPA that should be considered for amendment to account for this and to update the legislation include:

1. The definition of harassment should be changed to activities which meaningfully impact a marine mammal’s behavior which is significant to survival and reproduction. Currently, harassment is too broadly defined for a Level B harassment. 
2. Congress needs to more clearly define categories of activities that are allowed without authorization, those that require it and those that are prohibited.
3. Create an ecosystem-based approach to permitting through the MMPA, protect large-scale habitats rather than a species focus. 
4. Increasing resources to permitting agencies, lack of resources is contributing to a problematic permitting process.