BOEM

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deployed very-high resolution (VHR), multi-camera sensor arrays on fixed-winged aircraft to develop digital aerial imagery surveys in support of the Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS). In 2021, AMAPPS collected over 1.8 million images from aerial surveys over the Atlantic Ocean Outer Continental Shelf, which includes data from migratory, summer, and winter seasons.

Monitoring whales and seals is of broad interest to BOEM, academic institutions, commercial operations and other Federal entities. Advancements in very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) have tremendous potential for developing an operational system to detect marine mammals worldwide.

BOEM is required to analyze the air quality impacts from Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas activities as mandated by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

BOEM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey are collaborating to foster research on deep learning methods that automate remote sensing data for wildlife population surveys. The Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS), in its third phase, is developing automated ways to rapidly filter and subset digital aerial imagery of marine birds, cetaceans, and sea turtles.

BOEM is required to analyze the air quality impacts from Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas activities to the States as mandated by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).