KINGSTON - A team from the University of Rhode Island will monitor biodiversity and lost or abandoned fishing gear - dubbed 'ghost gear' - surrounding an offshore wind project under construction with the help of a three-year, $2.5 million grant from Ørsted A/S. The team effort, Monitoring Technologies for Ghost Gear and Ecosystem Biodiversity, is led by URI in collaboration with several groups including, Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, INSPIRE Environmental, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego. The project will focus on reducing ghost gear's environmental effects on the area surrounding Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners' Revolution Wind, which is under construction 15 miles east of Block Island. "Offshore wind has the potential to fundamentally transform the state of Rhode Island by providing clean energy to all of our citizens and reducing the greenhouse gas footprint of our state," said Anthony Marchese, dean of URI's College of Engineering. "The College of Engineering at URI is pleased to partner with Ørsted to ensure that environmental impact is minimized while maximizing the full potential of offshore wind." Ghost gear can be traps, nets and fishing lines and is something fishermen say they can't remove because of regulations, safety concerns and time constraints, said David Bethoney, executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation. Adding to the issue are new and more durable materials, like synthetics, that are used to make fishing gear. Many fishing lines are made from the synthetic chemical, polypropylene, that breaks down and releases harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Gillnets, traps and other kinds of fishing gear can also catch marine life, harming both food resources and endangered species. A key goal of the project is to find ghost gear hotspots by surveying the ocean floor around Revolution Wind. This project will allow the team to better understand the relationship between offshore wind and ghost gears off the coast of Rhode Island, Bethoney said. It also includes future work in turbine fields and removing ghost gear from federal waters. "Offshore turbine structures offer a new challenge in the accumulation and removal of ghost fishing gear within wind farm arrays," said Bethoney The research will look into using remotely operated vehicles to monitor ghost gear around wind turbines. The team also plans on finding cost-effective, image-based tools to find ghost gear. Once they identify the tools, the team plans on assessing the interactions between ocean life with ghost gear using site sonar, underwater acoustics and video monitoring. The study results are meant to provide wind farm developers with techniques for tracking and removing ghost gear around wind turbines as well as give a greater understanding of how ghost gear affects biodiversity. It was not immediately clear when the research would begin or how long the project is expected to take. Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at [email protected].