Data for the Revised Marine Bird Collision and Displacement Vulnerability Index for Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Wind Energy Development

To better inform continued offshore wind energy development in the region, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center (USGS-WERC) has updated the database of marine bird vulnerabilities to offshore wind energy infrastructure (OWEI) in the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region (POCS; waters within the Exclusive Economic Zone off California, Oregon, and Washington). The installation of OWEI at sea may affect marine birds by increasing the risk of mortality from collision with OWEI (Collision Vulnerability) and disturbance and displacement from suitable habitats (Displacement Vulnerability). For the marine bird species present in the POCS, USGS-WERC updated relative scores of Collision Vulnerability (CV) and Displacement Vulnerability (DV) to OWEI based upon new research and data, additional species present in the POCS, and an evolved understanding of the application and utility of the index. The metrics used to produce the CV and DV scores in the 2024 Vulnerability Index are flight activity, percent time spent flying at rotor swept zone height, macro-avoidance rate, and habitat specificity. Metric values were generated from over 150 published literature sources. The methods of generating metric values and calculating CV and DV from those values are described in the accompanying Data Report. This Vulnerability Index database can be used by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and other resource managers to evaluate potential impacts associated with siting and construction of OWEI within the POCS. For example, the relative vulnerability scores in this database can be compiled with species distribution and density information for areas in the POCS where offshore renewable energy development is being considered to evaluate potential marine bird impacts.

Our 2017 Vulnerability Index database is no longer hosted online, but available upon request. Hereafter, we will refer to the original and the updated databases as “2017” and “2024”, respectively.