Project

BOWLINE: Baseline Offshore Wind Livelihood Impact Needs Exploration

Assessing the potential socioeconomic impacts of floating offshore wind development.

This project helps improve our understanding of potential social, economic, and cultural impacts of floating offshore wind development on Maine’s fishing communities. We are collaborating with expert partners and fishing community members to assess on-the-water and shoreside factors that shape these impacts. The combination of economic modeling, ethnographic research, and direct input from fishermen in this project will promote transparent, science-based decision-making and ensure that offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine is pursued responsibly and equitably.

Project Goals:

Conduct a scenario-based economic assessment of potential on-the-water and shoreside impacts of floating offshore wind development on Maine’s fishing communities.
Conduct a socio-cultural assessment of on-the-water and shoreside impacts, exploring community values, history, and identity through the collection of “Stories from the Sea” and a comparative case study of select Maine communities.
Engage with Maine’s fishing communities and other key stakeholders through a Project Advisory Committee (PAC), which will meet at key project milestones to play an active role in shaping the project’s assessment methodologies and interpreting findings.

Funded by the Maine Department of Energy Resources (DOER), GMRI, and partners from the University of Maine and University of Rhode Island, we are assessing the social, economic, and cultural dimensions of floating offshore wind development in Maine. This work builds on recent state-led efforts to better understand how offshore wind could intersect with the fishing industry and coastal communities.

Through a literature review, stakeholder engagement, and a collaborative research approach, the project team is developing tools to help identify and measure potential community-level impacts of floating offshore wind development on Maine’s fishing industry, from shifts in fishing activity to cultural and economic change. The project will engage a Project Advisory Committee composed of Maine’s fishing industry representatives and coastal community members to guide study design, survey development, and interpretation of results. Taken together, this project will expand our understanding of how floating offshore wind development may present challenges and opportunities for the region.

Explore the project overview slides for more information.

Stay up to date

If you would like to receive research updates and stay up to date on this project as well as our other work focused on offshore wind, subscribe to our Offshore Wind Newsletter.

Subscribe now