Management & Regulation Archives

Port of New Bedford to Host Joint In-Person/Virtual Meeting with BOEM on Proposed New York Bight Offshore Wind Leases

August 3, 2021 — The following was released by the Port of New Bedford:

On Friday, August 6, from 3 to 5 PM, the Port of New Bedford will host an in-person meeting with fishermen and industry advocates on the impacts of proposed offshore wind leases in the New York Bight. Representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will attend the meeting virtually. The meeting will highlight fishing industry concerns over offshore wind development, particularly in relation to the valuable scallop fishery, which has helped make New Bedford the nation’s most valuable fishing port for 20 consecutive years.

Fishing industry owners and boat owners are encouraged to post the attached flyer to ensure their staff know about the meeting and can make their voices heard. Reporters are also encouraged to attend the meeting, which will help shape the future of offshore wind in the New York Bight.

While representatives from BOEM will be attending virtually, the in-person gathering hosted by the Port of New Bedford will take place at the Fairfield Inn and Suites. Discussion topics to be covered include:

Enhanced fishermen engagement requirements in the Final Sale Notice
Number, size, orientation, and location of the proposed lease areas
No build transit routes through the lease areas
Potential prescribed layouts in the leases
Science, Monitoring and Mitigation

More information on the event is included below.

WHO:
Representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Stakeholders in New England’s Commercial Fishing and Scallop Industry

WHEN:
August 6, 2021 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

WHERE:
Fairfield Inn and Suites
185 MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, MA
Waypoint Meeting Facility

New Slow Zone Southeast of Nantucket to Protect Right Whales

August 3, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces a new voluntary right whale Slow Zone. On August 1, 2021, our aerial survey team sighted the presence of right whales southeast of Nantucket, MA. The Slow Zone is in effect immediately through August 16, 2021. Mariners are requested to route around this area or transit through it at 10 knots or less.

VOLUNTARY Right whale “SLOW Zone”

Mariners are requested to avoid or transit at 10 knots or less inside the following areas where persistent aggregations of right whales have been detected. Please visit www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/shipstrike for more information.

Slow Zone Coordinates:

Southeast of Nantucket Island, MA

41 01 N
40 21 N
069 00 W
069 52 W

Give Right Whales Room

North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. NOAA is cautioning boaters and fishermen to give these endangered whales plenty of room. We are also asking all fishermen to be vigilant when maneuvering to avoid accidental collisions with whales and remove unused gear from the ocean to help avoid entanglements. Commercial fishermen should use vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths.

Right Whales in Trouble

North Atlantic right whales are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Scientists estimate there are only about 400 remaining, making them one of the rarest marine mammals in the world.

North Atlantic right whales are NOAA Fisheries’ newest Species in the Spotlight. This initiative is a concerted, agency-wide effort to spotlight and save marine species that are among the most at risk of extinction in the near future.

In August 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared the increase in right whale mortalities an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which helps the agency direct additional scientific and financial resources to investigating, understanding, and reducing the mortalities in partnership with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and outside experts from the scientific research community.

More Information

Recent right whale sightings

Find out more about our right whale conservation efforts and the researchers behind those efforts.

Download the Whale Alert app for iPad and iPhone

Acoustic detections in Cape Cod Bay and the Boston TSS, as well as other regions along the eastern seaboard.

Details and graphics of all vessel strike management zones currently in effect.

Reminder: Approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law.

Spread the Word!

All boaters, or interested parties, can sign up for email notifications and selecting “Right Whale Slow Zones” under the Regional New England/Mid-Atlantic subscription topics. You can also follow us on Facebook (@NOAAFisheriesNEMA) and Twitter (@NOAAFish_GARFO) for announcements.

Watch our video on Right Whale Slow Zones.

Recent Feature Stories about Right Whales

Listening for Right Whales in the Gulf of Maine

Make Way for Right Whales

10 Things You Should Know About Right Whales

Questions?

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

Offshore Wind Industry Faces Pushback From Commercial Fishing Groups

August 2, 2021 — Wind farms along the Atlantic coast — including offshore Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey — are facing major opposition from commercial fishermen.

Since the Block Island Wind Farm began operating off the coat of Rhode Island in 2016, many commercial fishermen have pushed back against the industry. They claim the turbines are navigational hazards and obstacles to ocean access.

Michael Marchetti, a Rhode Island commercial fisherman, said commercial fishing requires larger areas of space to accommodate fishing gear. He said the turbines are an obstacle to catching fish.

“There’s no way you’re going to build a major series of structures over any large amount of water without impacting commercial fisheries,” he told Zenger.

Marchetti said commercial fishing takes places year-round, in all weather conditions. Even with radar technology, he said, wind turbines can be navigational hazards in the fog and rain.

Jon Grant, a lobsterman based out of Block Island, said most of the commercial fishermen and lobstermen he knows are against offshore wind farms.

Meanwhile, recreational fishermen tend to support the offshore wind industry because the underwater structures act as artificial reefs and attract fish.

Read the full story at The Tennessee Tribune

eVTR Instructional Webinar Next Tuesday Afternoon

August 2, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The second in a series of instructional webinars to provide vessel operators and others with a walkthrough of GARFO’s two electronic vessel trip reporting applications- the Fish Online Web app, and the Fish Online iOS app- will be held Tuesday, August 3 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM.

This webinar is focused on operators in Port Agent Josh O’Connor’s area of Southern New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

Future instructional webinars will include demonstrations of the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program’s (ACCSP) eTrips/mobile v2 and eTrips online applications. Other eVTR applications may also be included in these webinars. Anyone is welcome to join any webinar.

How Do I Join?

More information can be found on our webpage for this series: How to Use Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting Apps. This page includes webinar login information.

Questions?

Contact your local Port Agent.

Biden admin begins review of first N.C. offshore wind farm

July 30, 2021 — The Biden administration is beginning its environmental review of the first offshore wind project proposed off North Carolina, which is in a race to jump-start the industry before a Trump-era moratorium kicks in next year.

The Kitty Hawk offshore wind farm, developed by Avangrid Renewables, would be a 69-turbine wind array off the coast of the state’s Outer Banks. It could power up to 700,000 homes.

The 800-megawatt project would sit roughly 27 miles from North Carolina shores and more than 40 miles from Virginia Beach, where two transmission cables would land to connect with PJM Interconnection’s onshore grid.

An Avangrid analysis of the project forecasts a $2 billion economic impact from the project, much of that in Hampton Roads, the port region in Virginia that will serve as a home base to stand up the project.

The offshore wind farm would serve both Virginia and North Carolina renewable energy targets but is particularly important for North Carolina, where the Trump administration ordered a moratorium on offshore energy leasing shortly before leaving office. That moratorium begins in mid-2022 and lasts for 10 years.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) last month signed an executive order to stand up 8 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2040 in the state.

Read the full story at E&E News

2021 Atlantic Cod Stock Management Workshops

July 30, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The New Hampshire Sea Grant, New England Fishery Management Council, and NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center will be hosting a workshop series focusing on the management implications of restructuring Atlantic cod stocks from August 12 – September 20.

This five-part series will focus on the management implications of a potential split in Atlantic cod stocks into five distinct biological stocks, instead of the two that are currently managed. These workshops follow up on the previous series that focused on the science behind the decision and draws from the 2020 report by the Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Working Group.

Presentations by technical experts will be followed by an open public discussion ensuring information is available to best inform the cod stock assessment process.

Registration is required to participate.

Floating wind turbines could rise to great heights

July 30, 2021 — On July 16th Royal Dutch Shell, an oil and gas company, and Scottish Power, a subsidiary of Iberdrola, a Spanish electricity utility, made an announcement. They were, they said, jointly submitting proposals to the British authorities to build, off the coast of Scotland, the first large-scale set of floating wind farms in the world. At the moment, the largest floating farm is a six-turbine, 50mw array which is due for completion next month in the North Sea, 15km from Aberdeen. The consortium, by contrast, has said it is thinking in gigawatts (gw).

Offshore wind farms with foundations in the seabed are now part of the energy mix in several places. In the past four years their capacity has nearly doubled, from 19gw to 35gw, and amortised costs have dropped by a third, from $120 per mw-hour to $80. They are, however, of limited deployability, being restricted to waters shallower than about 60 metres.

Read the full story at The Economist

Reminder: The Gulf of Mexico Gray Triggerfish Recreational Season Reopens August 1, 2021

July 30, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Key Message:

NOAA Fisheries reminds anglers that the Gulf of Mexico gray triggerfish recreational season reopens August 1, 2021. The gray triggerfish fishing year is from January 1 – December 31 with two recreational seasonal closures of January 1 – end of February and June 1 – July 31. NOAA Fisheries will monitor recreational landings. If landings reach or are projected to reach the annual catch target, NOAA Fisheries will close recreational fishing for gray triggerfish for the remainder of the fishing year.

Read the full release here

Reduced Fishing Season Length for the Harvest of Spiny Lobster in Federal Waters off Puerto Rico for the 2021 Fishing Year

July 29, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

What/When:

Harvest of spiny lobster (commercial and recreational) in federal waters off Puerto Rico will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on August 22, 2021, and will re-open at 12:01 a.m., local time, on October 1, 2021.

Why This Closure Is Happening:

The annual catch limit for spiny lobster in Puerto Rico is 327,920 pounds. Based on the average of the three most recent years of available landings, from the 2017-2019 fishing years, NOAA Fisheries determined that the annual catch limit for spiny lobster was exceeded.
As a result, an accountability measure is applied, reducing the length of the 2021 fishing season for spiny lobster in federal waters of Puerto Rico. Harvest of this species will close at the date and time specified above.
This closure is necessary to protect the spiny lobster resource in federal waters off Puerto Rico.

During The Closure:

During the closure, spiny lobster in or from federal waters off Puerto Rico may not be harvested, possessed, purchased, or sold, and the recreational bag and possession limit for spiny lobster in or from federal waters off Puerto Rico is zero.

Attention: Fish Online (FOL) eVTR App for iOS users

July 29, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

This notice applies to all vessel operators currently using the iOS FOL app to report eVTR’s. If you have not already done so please update your current version of FOL for iOS to the newly released version 3.1.12. This version provides more information in the alerts when an error occurs during the submission process.

What to Do:

Upon opening the app please note the app version located at the bottom of the screen. If you’re running an older version (anything other than version 3.1.12), there is often a green bar running across the page saying ”Update Available” that you can click to download the current version.
If you’re running an older version and the update bar is not visible, go to the Apple App Store on your device and search for “NOAA Fish Online” and click “Open”. This will update your device to the current version.

Warning: When updating the app there is no need to delete or uninstall the older version before proceeding. Deleting the app will remove all submitted and unsubmitted trips from your device. Deleted unsubmitted trips cannot be recovered. Submitted trips will always reside safely in the GARFO database and are easily accessible and are available for download.

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