September 21, 2018 — Offshore windmills may be the future of energy here, but they’re presently a source of agitation to commercial fishermen.
A vocal group of them, who aren’t necessarily opposed to windmills but just the placement of them on or near fishing grounds, which if you ask them is anywhere the water is salt, gave the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management their two cents at a public meeting Thursday.
BOEM oversees offshore wind for the U.S. Department of Interior and is in the planning stages of selecting ocean floor off the New Jersey coast for windmill placement.
The agency was at the Long Branch Public Library to present information collected in a recent public comment period and call for interest among offshore energy companies.
“All of these areas are prime scallop grounds. We’re not going to take any of this lying down,” said Arthur Osche, a member of the Point Pleasant Fishermen’s Dock Co-operative.
Osche was referring to fishing grounds in Hudson North and Hudson South, two designated wind farm lease sites that start about 17 miles east of the coastline here.
The two sites are grouped into the New York Bight Call Area, which also contains two lease sites off the Long Island. The four sites total 2,047 square nautical miles, which is equivalent 2,710 square miles on land.
BOEM’s officials announced they have nine energy companies waiting to potentially make a bid on the lease areas.
Scallops are the state’s most valuable seafood commodity. In 2016, the commercial scallop harvest brought in $123 million, according to National Marine Fisheries Service data.
Fellow co-operative dock member Jim Lovgren said if their access to the grounds is restricted by the windmills then they should be paid for the economic loss.
“Mark off the area and then compensate us,” said Lovgren.
U.S. commercial fishermen can be compensated for property and economic loss due to energy development on the outer continental shelf through the Fishermen’s Contingency Fund.