This report outlines monitoring activities and results of data analyses conducted at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy test site in the Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy during July through September 2025. Specifically, this report highlights results of environmental monitoring activities conducted by FORCE and other research and development activities conducted at the FORCE site. This report also provides a summary of international research activities around tidal stream energy devices.

Key updates in this report include:

• As part of the Tidal Task Force on Sustainable Tidal Energy Development in the Bay of Fundy Final Report in 2024, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has adopted a step-by-step approach for tidal stream projects, permitting the installation of a single device with comprehensive environmental monitoring; insights gained from this initial monitoring then guide decisions regarding additional device deployments. The Eauclaire Orbital Tidal Array 1 is expected to be the first project at FORCE to follow this “staged” process through a Fisheries Act Authorization.
• FORCE has partnered with Innovasea and a series of other collaborators on an Ocean Supercluster funded project to advance the application of artificial intelligence for monitoring fish around hydroelectric and tidal stream energy projects called Hydroaware. This quarter, standard contrast and reflective targets were added to the field of view of the cameras mounted on the platform currently in use by the project.
• FORCE has initiated a Mi’kmaq Ecological Knowledge Study in partnership with the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM). The study will draw on Mi’kmaw knowledge and engagement to inform tidal planning; work is expected to commence next month.
• This month, Natural Resources Canada announced $8.2M for the Ocean Sensor Innovation Platforms (OSIP) project led by FORCE in collaboration with Acadia University, CMM, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and many other partners. Central to the project is the deployment of an autonomous, floating platform for sea-surface environmental monitoring alongside submersible sensor systems deployed on the seafloor. In future tidal turbine deployments, sensors and methods tested by these platforms will capture essential data on fish–turbine interactions, addressing one of tidal energy’s greatest challenges: accurately measuring and monitoring risk to marine species.