This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Research Plan 2023 project "Guiding research and best practice standards for the sustainable development of Offshore Renewables and other emerging marine industries in Australia". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata.

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Australia is entering a phase of rapid development of offshore renewable energy (ORE) projects and there is an immediate need to ensure these developments occur in a socio-ecologically sustainable manner. This project used a systematic approach to identify existing environmental and cultural data and best-practice monitoring standards to inform the sustainable development of ORE projects (primarily wind) in Australia and enabling regulatory decisions to be compliant with Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure (OEI) Act requirements.

Focus areas of the data inventory were:

• Seabed geomorphology and habitat characterisation.

• Interactions with oceanography; eg the potential influence on coastal processes including sediment transport.

• Interacting species and habitats; eg seabirds, shorebirds and migratory terrestrial birds, mammals, fish, sharks and rays, and invertebrates.

• Potential impacts of installation, operation, and decommissioning; eg habitat modification (including dredging/impact to wetlands), installation noise, ongoing noise and electromagnetic fields, vessel activity, collision risk and barrier effects on birds.

• Monitoring needs and associated best practices.

• Indigenous communities affected by ORE development areas.

This project ran in conjunction with a second project ( https://www.nespmarinecoastal.edu.au/project/3-21) that addressed the immediate priorities of regulators, with a focus on the confirmed area of declaration for ORE off the east Gippsland coast, Victoria. Critical to informing the direction and focus of both these projects was guidance from an ORE Program Steering Committee comprised of representatives from relevant sections within DCCEEW, NOPSEMA, and MaC Hub partners involved in the project.

Outputs

• Inventory of existing information and associated sources for the following thematic areas: seabed geomorphology and habitat, oceanography, species and habitats, affected indigenous communities, ongoing monitoring needs and associated best practices, potential impacts of installation and operation [data inventory]

• Final project report [written]