Science for Informed Decisions
BOEM must comply with numerous environmental statutes, regulations, and executive orders to carry out its mission. BOEM is dedicated to acquiring and using the highest quality scientific information in support of Bureau decisions. To that end, the Environmental Studies Program (ESP) employs a rigorous planning, review, and procurement process to meet the nation's environmental research needs for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) resource assessments.
ESP staff from Headquarters and Regional program offices prepare the annual Studies Development Plan (SDP) to cover a two-year planning period. The plan includes brief study descriptions or profiles that describe proposed studies for the upcoming fiscal year and for one successive year. Proposed studies are evaluated for program relevance, programmatic timeliness, and scientific merit.
BOEM has formulated its Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Studies Development Plan covering all BOEM energy and minerals activities. It includes studies proposed for Alaska, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific OCS areas.
Additionally, BOEM consults with the Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment as a source of independent, scientifically credible, and objective information on topics of interest for the environmental studies and assessment activities and to support discussions on relevant issues. Collectively, these inputs contribute to the development of research plans.
BOEM maintains a complete description of ongoing BOEM studies by region. Each listing describes the research being conducted, the scientific discipline, the institution performing the work, the cost of the effort, timeframe, and any associated publications, presentations, or affiliated web sites.
Previous SDPs
2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | 2020-2022 | 2019-2021 | 2018-2020 | 2017-2019 | 2016-2018 | 2015-2017 | 2014-2016 | 2013-2015 | 2012-2014 | 2011-2013
National Studies List
While the SDP serves a primarily internal planning function, it is a publicly available document and is used to communicate the proposed studies both internally within BOEM and externally with potential partners and other interested parties. The SDP and resulting studies undergo peer review at several stages to ensure the quality of the work proposed. When completed, the annual SDP forms the basis for the National Studies List (NSL), which represents the proposed studies for a given fiscal year, subject to the availability of funds.
To formulate the NSL, each region and program develops a priority order for their studies proposed. These lists are evaluated again by Headquarters, principally considering program relevance, timing, and budgetary constraints. Discussions are conducted with each of the regional/program offices, and when consensus is achieved, the NSL is recommended for approval. Once the annual appropriations for the Department have been approved, studies on the NSL are procured via competitive procurements, cooperative agreements with a State institution or university, or through inter/intra agency agreements with other Federal agencies. BOEM highly values studies procured through the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) with other governmental, industry, academic, tribal, non-governmental, and foundation partners. This allows all the parties to leverage financial, human, maritime, and other technological assets to meet mission objectives. BOEM's ESP seeks innovative approaches and technologies to help us advance the science program.
It is important to note that the NSL is subject to change throughout the course of the year as conditions warrant and due to budgetary constraints.
National Studies List for 2025
| NSL # | Study Title | Discipline | Procurement Type | BOEM Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Requests | ||||
| AK-25-01 | University of Alaska Coastal Marine Institute | Habitat & Ecology | Cooperative Agreement | Burril |
| AK-25-02 | Assessment and Minimization of Avian Collision and Displacement Risk Associated with Renewable Energy Infrastructure in the Cook Inlet Planning Area, Alaska | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Burril |
| AK-25-03 | Passive Acoustic Monitoring for Cetaceans in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Interagency Agreement | Bonsell |
| AK-25-04 | Distribution and Abundance of Threatened Steller’s Eiders in the Cook Inlet Planning Area: Use of Photographic Monitoring and Satellite Telemetry | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Burril |
| Continuing Requirements | ||||
| AK-20-07 | Early Detection Plan for Marine Non-Native Species on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) | Fates & Effects | Interagency Agreement | Burril |
| AK-22-01 | Lower Cook Inlet Fish and Invertebrate Community Composition, Distribution, and Density | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Burril |
| AK-24-01 | Updating Lower Cook Inlet Seabird Colony Counts | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Burril |
| AK-24-03 | Alaska Coastal Marine Institute | Information Management | Cooperative Agreement | Burril |
| NSL # | Study Title | Discipline | Procurement Type | BOEM Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Requests | ||||
| AT-23-01 | Gulf of Maine Socioeconomic Impacts of OCS Wind Development on Fishing | Socio-Economics | Contract | Chaky |
| AT-23-04 | Baseline Tourism and Recreation Along the Gulf of Maine | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreemen | Chaky |
| AT-23-06 | Offshore Wind Turbine Visibility Study | Socio-Economics | Contract | McCarty |
| AT-24-01 | BOEM Offshore Wind Energy Facility Emission Estimating Tool Version 3.0 | Air Quality | Contract | Hogan |
| AT-25-01 | Maintenance of the Northwest Atlantic Seabird Catalog | Information Management | Interagency Agreement | Bigger |
| AT-25-02 | Behavioral Response Workshop for North Atlantic Right Whales | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Contract | Baker |
| AT-25-03 | Baleen Whale Behavior and Biological Sampling During Construction of Offshore Wind Farms | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Interagency Agreement | Baker |
| AT-25-04 | Integrating High-quality Movement Data from Proxy Species into the Stochastic Collision Risk Assessment for Movement Model | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Bigger |
| AT-25-05 | Applying Distributed Acoustic Sensing Technology to Monitor Large Whales at Atlantic Offshore Wind Areas | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Cooperative Agreement | Guan |
| Continuing Requirements | ||||
| AT-22-06 | Mapping abundance, distribution, and foraging ecology of gray seals in the North Atlantic | Marine Mammals and Protect | Interagency Agreement | Wisman |
| AT-22-07 | Exploring the Connectivity Among Offshore Wind Turbines | Fates & Effects | Cooperative Agreement | Jensen |
| AT-24-03 | Ocean Environmental Monitoring and Sound Propagation Study at Mid-Atlantic Shelfbreak Offshore Wind Area | Physical Oceanography | Cooperative Agreement | Guan |
| AT-24-04 | Collecting Fisheries Ecological Knowledge (FEK) for Use in Gulf of Maine Offshore Wind Planning | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreement | Jensen |
| NSL # | Study Title | Discipline | Procurement Type | BOEM Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Requests | ||||
| GM-25-01 | Gulf of Mexico Environmental Justice Fact Book: Coastal Communities Affected by Activities on the Outer Continental Shelf | Socio-Economics | Contract | Reuther |
| GM-25-02 | Air Quality Modeling in the Gulf of Mexico Region - 2025 Update | Air Quality | Interagency Agreement | Ren |
| GM-25-03 | Airborne Air Emission Surveys of Oil and Gas Activities in the Gulf of Mexico Region | Air Quality | Interagency Agreement | Ren |
| Continuing Requirements | ||||
| GM-21-01 | Offshore Analysis of Seafloor Instability and Sediments (OASIS Partnership) With Applications to Offshore Safety and Marine Archaeology | Physical Oceanography | Cooperative Agreement & Interagency Agreement | Damour |
| GM-22-03 | Long-Term Coral Reef Monitoring at Flower Garden Banks (FGB), Gulf of Mexico: 2023-2026 | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Caporaso |
| GM-22-05 | Reevaluating BOEM’s Guidelines for Identifying Submerged Pre-Contact Archaeological Sites in the Gulf of Mexico | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreement | Damour |
| GM-22-06 | Benthic Community Characterization at BOEM “No Activities Zones” | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Caporaso |
| GM-24-02 | Northern Gulf of Mexico Monitoring for Protected Species | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Interagency Agreement & Contract | Karrigan |
| GM-24-03a | Gulf Coast Community and Cultural Impact Baselines Survey | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreement | Sorset |
| USGS Requirements | ||||
| GM-23-01 | Assessing Avian Collision-Risk for Offshore Wind Development in the Gulf of Mexico: A Remote Sensing Approach | Habitat & Ecology | USGS | White |
| NSL # | Study Title | Discipline | Procurement Type | BOEM Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Requests | ||||
| PC-25-01 | Guidance on Compensatory Mitigation to Achieve Net Positive Impacts of Offshore Wind Energy to Seabirds | Fates & Effects | Cooperative Agreement | Pereksta |
| PC-25-02 | Probability Analysis of Derelict Fishing Gear Interactions with Floating Offshore Wind Mooring Systems Offshore California | Fates & Effects | Cooperative Agreement | Reeb |
| PC-25-03 | Ichthyoplankton Entrainment Assessment for High Voltage Direct Current Cooling Systems | Habitat & Ecology | TBD | Schroeder |
| PC-24-02 | Traditional Native Hawaiian Voyaging and Cultural Fishing and Boating Practices on the OCS | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreement | Wright |
| PC-25-04 | Impacts of Floating Offshore Wind Subsurface Infrastructure to Hydrodynamics, Biogeochemistry, and Primary Productivity in the Pacific OCS | Physical Oceanography | Cooperative Agreement | Kojima |
| PC-25-05 | Comprehensive Vulnerability of Marine Birds to Inform Offshore Wind Energy Development Throughout Waters Surrounding Pacific Offshore Continental Shelf of Hawaiʻi | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Pereksta |
| PC-25-06 | Updating Climate Science Integration into BOEM Pacific Decision-making | Information Management | TBD | Kojima |
| Continuing Requirements | ||||
| PC-22-01 | Kaiwi Channel, Hawai'i Traditional Cultural Landscapes | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreement | Potter |
| PC-22-03 | Birds, Bats, and Beyond: Networked Wildlife Tracking along the Pacific Coast of the U.S. | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Pereksta |
| PC-22-07b | Maritime Heritage of the U.S. Pacific Islands | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreement | Ball |
| PC-23-01 | BOEM-MARINe (Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network) | Habitat & Ecology | Cooperative Agreement | Zaleski |
| PC-23-02a | Pacific Marine Assessment Partnership for Protected Species (PacMAPPS) II: Hawaiian Archipelago | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Interagency Agreement | Reeb |
| PC-23-03 | Facilitating Resilience and Adaptation in Commercial Fisheries in Response to Offshore Renewable Energy Development and Climate Change | Socio-Economics | Interagency Agreement | Schroeder |
| PC-23-04 | Characterization of the Distribution, Movements, and Foraging Habitat of Endangered Leatherback Turtles in Designated Critical Habitat off the U.S. West Coast, Phase I | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Interagency Agreement | Reeb |
| PC-24-03 | Characterization of Water Column Habitats to Understand Potential Impacts from Deepwater Energy and Mineral Development | Habitat & Ecology | Cooperative Agreement | Potter |
| NSL # | Study Title | Discipline | Procurement Type | BOEM Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Requests | ||||
| MM-24-01 | Developing a Critical Minerals Environmental Assessment Framework for Critical Minerals Activities | Habitat & Ecology | Contract | Le |
| MM-25-01 | Coastal Marine and Ecological Classification Standard Application: Offshore Energy and Minerals Development | Information Management | Cooperative Agreement | Turner |
| MM-25-02 | Updating the Dredging Project Emissions Calculator | Air Quality | Contract | Bucatari |
| MM-25-03 | Modeling Food Web Effects from Dredging | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Hansen |
| MM-25-04 | Environmental Evaluation of the Critical and Hard Offshore Mineral Programmatic Reference | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Interagency Agreement | Cofield |
| MM-25-05 | Regional Interconnectivity of Mobile Marine Organisms among Gulf of Mexico Sand Shoals | Habitat & Ecology | Cooperative Agreement | Rice |
| Continuing Requirements | ||||
| MM-22-02 | Sturgeon Response to Dredge Activities and Recovery After Trawl Capture Near Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Sand Resources | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Hansen |
| MM-22-03 | Fish Fry: Frying Pan Shoals Ecosystem Dynamics | Fates & Effects | Cooperative Agreement | Bucatari |
| MM-23-03 | Accounting for Scale Bias in Marine Minerals Studies | Habitat & Ecology | Cooperative Agreement | Hansen |
| MM-24-02 | In Situ Sampling at a Historic Equipment Test Site on the Blake Plateau | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Rasser |
| USGS Requirements | ||||
| MM-21-03 | Environmental Impacts of the Deepsea Ventures Seabed Mining Equipment Test on the Blake Plateau | Habitat & Ecology | USGS | Rasser |
| MM-22-02 | Sturgeon Response to Dredge Activities and Recovery After Trawl Capture Near Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Sand Resources | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | USGS | Rasser |
| NSL # | Study Title | Discipline | Procurement Type | BOEM Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Requests | ||||
| NT-25-01 | Sound Source Characterization of Dynamic Positioning Systems: Field Verification | Fates & Effects | Contract | Reeve |
| NT-25-02 | Developing a Reliable Biosurveillance Monitoring System for Offshore Energy Activities Using Environmental DNA | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | White |
| NT-25-03 | Vibroacoustic Sensitivity and Subacute Biological Effects of Economically Important Fishes and Shellfishes from Marine Renewable Energy Development | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Guan |
| NT-25-04 | High-performance Computing and Technical Support for BOEM’s Aerial Imagery Monitoring Surveys | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | White |
| NT-25-05 | Inventory and Assessment of Coastal and Submerged Archaeological and Historical Sites along the U.S. Caribbean Territories | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreement | Moore |
| NT-25-06 | Offshore Wind Farm Impacts on the Hydrodynamics and Biogeochemistry in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands | Physical Oceanography | Cooperative Agreement | Ji |
| Continuing Requirements | ||||
| NT-19-07 | Archaeological Investigations in Support of Development of Energy and Mineral Resources on the US Outer Continental Shelf | Socio-Economics | Contract | Horrell |
| NT-20-03 | Next Generation of Animal Telemetry: NASA Payload Development | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement & Cooperative Agreement | Levenson |
| NT-21-01 | Facilitating Strategic Partnerships in Support of the Presidential Memo on Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Mueller |
| NT-22-01 | Capacity Building and Collaboration with the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag Tribes | Socio-Economics | Cooperative Agreement | Horrell |
| NT-22-02 | Offshore Air Quality (AQ) from NASA’s Satellites and Related Experiments | Air Quality | Interagency Agreement | Wecht |
| NT-22-03 | Understanding Impacts of Habitat Modifications on Commercial Fisheries and Apex Predator Distribution | Habitat & Ecology | Contract | Levenson |
| NT-23-01 | Addressing Key Information Gaps in Acoustic Ecology of North Atlantic Right Whales | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Cooperative Agreement | Levenson |
| NT-23-02 | NASA Aircraft Measurements in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) | Air Quality | Interagency Agreement | Wecht |
| NT-23-09 | Offshore Wind Farm Impacts on Pacific Upwelling, Nutrients, and Productivity | Habitat & Ecology | Interagency Agreement | Kilpatrick |
| NT-23-11 | Substrate-Borne Vibroacoustic Disturbances from Offshore Wind Construction: Measurements, Physical Characteristics, and Propagation | Fates & Effects | Cooperative Agreement | Guan |
| NT-24-01 | National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil Spill Occurrence Rates | Fates & Effects | Cooperative Agreement | Ji |
| NT-24-03 | Socio-Cultural and Economic Impacts of Changing Energy Trends | Socio-Economics | Contract | Mansfield |
| NT-24-06 | Using Coast Guard’s AIS Vessel and Federal Aviation Administration’s NextGen Helicopter Data to Track BOEM-Authorized Activities | Air Quality | Contract | Wecht |
| NT-24-x08 | A Biogeographic Assessment of the U.S. Territories | Information Management | Interagency Agreement | Rasser |
| NT-24-x12 | Establishing a Baseline Offshore Monitoring Program of Birds, Cetaceans, and Turtles in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands" | Marine Mammals and Protected Species | Interagency Agreement | White |