The Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) and the Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative (RWSC) have developed a joint Data Management & Sharing Plan (DMSP) template to support coordinated, high-quality data stewardship across U.S. Atlantic offshore research projects.
A DMSP is a formal document that outlines how research data will be handled, stored, shared, and preserved throughout the lifecycle of a project.
The U.S. Atlantic Offshore Research (RWSC & ROSA) DMSP template is designed for any organization to organize and communicate how offshore data will be generated and made available from studies of wildlife, fisheries, and ocean ecosystems in U.S. Atlantic waters. The template integrates guidance from the RWSC Data Governance Subcommittee and the ROSA Data Governance Program, embedding recommended repositories, data standards, and standardized data sharing timelines to promote consistency across projects.
The template is organized in sections including roles and responsibilities, research inputs (data from a third party) and 16 different types of research outputs across wildlife, fisheries, and ecosystem research. The research outputs most relevant to offshore wind fisheries research are:
- Fishing Gear & Biological Sampling Data
- Fisheries Socioeconomic & Human Dimensions Data
- eDNA
- Acoustic Telemetry
- Biological Oceanography
- Code, Software, and Related Tools
- Data Products
RWSC, ROSA, and partner funders are using the shared template to track and compile information about data being produced across programs, timelines for data and data product availability, and locations where data are being stored consistent with the repository recommendations made by RWSC and/or ROSA. Additionally, the burden for both funders (who will not need to create their own templates) and researchers (who will not need to learn new templates for each funder) is reduced.
Researchers can create DMSPs using the template via the DMPTool.org online click-through wizard. Funders can use the recommendations and instructions provided below in their future solicitations and research agreements.