August 9, 2024 — Squid operations at the Port of Hueneme are set to move to the Ventura Harbor in the next few years. The Port of Hueneme’s commercial fishing operations will be relocated to Ventura Harbor in the next several years, a win-win for both parties, officials announced Aug. 1.
MASSACHUSETTS: Federal, state officials attend Nantucket Select Board meeting to address Vineyard Wind turbine incident
August 8, 2024 — Federal and state officials attended the Nantucket Select Board meeting on Wednesday to address ongoing concerns about the damaged wind turbine that has cast debris onto the island’s beaches since early July.
“There are still parts of the blade that are remaining on the turbine,” said Roger Martella, the chief sustainability officer of GE Vernova, the blade’s manufacturer. He estimated it to be about seven to eight percent of the mass of the blade.
Martella said that on Thursday, if weather permits, crews plan to remove that remaining part of the blade that’s currently at risk of falling into the ocean.
One resident asked if the high winds expected from Tropical Storm Debby could loosen other blades.
But Martella said that was not likely.
“The storm is not a risk for the turbines or the blades or anything like that,” Martella said during the meeting, which was livestreamed.
MASSACHUSETTS: New offshore wind projects delayed by state, including areas off Martha’s Vineyard
August 8, 2024 — It’s going to be at least another month before contenders for the state’s fourth, and largest, offshore wind procurement will be unveiled.
The state Department of Energy Resources on Tuesday indicated in a letter submitted to Department of Public Utilities Secretary Mark Marini that selection of projects will be postponed until Sept. 6. The agency’s evaluation team was originally scheduled to announce the selected bids and the start of negotiations on Aug. 7.
“The additional time is needed to consider any impacts to this solicitation from the recently announced federal grant to New England states through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation Program for projects to invest in regional electric infrastructure to ready the onshore transmission system for offshore wind,” the letter reads.
ALASKA: For Cook Inlet gillnetters, life’s not easy in the EEZ
August 8, 2024 — As Cook Inlet drift gillnetters finished their first sockeye salmon season under the joint state-federal management regime, the harvest came in at about half of what they had hoped it would be. The fish were there, they say, but scant openings in federal waters prevented their rightful share of the harvest.
The cumulative Inlet catch as of July 31 shot past the 1.7 million mark, which was ahead of the 10-year average but lagging behind the 20-year average of 3.1 million. With some fish expected to return in early August, the final harvest could hit 2 million.
Of that total, 1,319,965 sockeyes were caught in state-managed waters within three miles of the shoreline, but only 310,340 fish came from the federally-managed U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which encapsulates the majority of Cook Inlet waters beyond three miles from shore.
In the advent of the season, the industry braced for complications within the entwined management systems. For the first time in the history of the fishery, drift netters needed to procure a federal permit in addition to their state-issued, limited entry permits, and comply with federal mandates, but the bigger concern was that limited openingsinfederal waters would leave too many uncaught salmon.
Read the full article at National Fisherman
MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind turbine debris makes it to Cape Cod
August 7, 2024 — Debris from the failed Vineyard Wind Turbine has washed ashore in Falmouth, town officials said, weeks after a blade broke off and fell into the ocean.
The turbine, manufactured by GE Vernova and part of the Vineyard Wind project, failed on July 13. The debris has scattered across nearby beaches, angering residents on Nantucket.
A preliminary investigation by GE found that the failure was due to a manufacturing deviation.
In a statement, Falmouth says it found what they believe to be wind turbine debris in the water and on the shoreline at Black Beach, Cahpoquoit Beach, Woodneck Beach, and Old Silver Beach.
MASSACHUSETTS: FDA issues warning on oysters potentially contaminated with Campylobacter jejuni
August 7, 2024 — The Food and Drug Administration is asking businesses to avoid either selling or buying certain oysters from Lewis Bay, Massachusetts, over fears that the seafood could be contaminated with Campylobacter jejuni.
The advisory affects restaurants and retailers in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, and Pennsylvania who purchased the oysters from July 1 to July 18.
The move comes after the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries closed an oyster site after an outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni illnesses associated with consumption of oysters from two lease sites in Lewis Bay.
Two certified dealers, Chatham Shellfish Co. and Island Creek Oysters, recalled the oysters.
MAINE: Maine Department of Marine resources halts shellfish harvest due to water contamination
August 7, 2024 — Areas for shellfish harvesting have been closed due to contaminated runoff from recent heavy rainfall.
Maine’s Department of Marine Resources says it’s closed areas of the Freeport-Harpswell coast after rain showers carried animal waste into waters where shellfish feed.
Parts of Scarborough, Brunswick, and Yarmouth are also closed due to waste runoff.
Bryant Lewis at MDMR says that filter feeders like the shellfish in these areas are of special concern when water is contaminated like this.
MAINE: Failure of wind turbine blade off Cape Cod raises questions for Maine officials
August 6, 2024 — The collapse of a wind energy turbine blade off Massachusetts in mid-July exposed a weakness in communications about environmental and mechanical hazards, raising an issue that Maine may have to address as it plans its own wind power presence in the Gulf of Maine.
Debris from the broken turbine blade, about 350 feet long and manufactured by GE Vernova, washed up on Nantucket beaches. Residents posted photos of fiberglass and foam littering the tony island’s beaches. The online images sparked a tug-of-war between environmentalists who said the incident should not set back efforts to promote zero-carbon energy and skeptics who said the incident proves that wind energy can pollute the environment.
“Obviously, it’s not great,” said Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine. But busted wind turbines washing up on beaches is far less damaging than oil from broken tankers or off-shore drilling sites, he said.
“The most concerning thing for Nantucket was the delayed direct notification to our community,” Brooke Mohr, chair of the town’s select board, said in a recent interview.
Vineyard Wind, the developer of New England’s first utility-scale offshore wind project, informed the town at 5 p.m. July 15, two days after the incident, she said. Vineyard Wind did not respond to an email seeking comment on Mohr’s account.
MAINE: Shellfish contamination warning: Harvesting shut down from Freeport to Harpswell
August 6, 2024 — After the heavy rain the state saw fall over the weekend, officials are shutting down shellfish harvesting along Maine’s southern coast for contamination concerns.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources says people should not harvest clams, mussels, and oysters from Freeport to Harpswell.
DELAWARE: Delaware’s Blue Economy is Growing
August 6, 2024 — With its 381 miles of coastline, Delaware is a logical home for growing the “blue economy” – a new business and social classification that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines as “a knowledge based economy, looking to the sea not just for extraction of material goods, but for data and information to address societal challenges and inspire their solutions.”
Delaware has long enjoyed a vibrant beach-and-coastal economy driven by recreation and tourism and by commercial sea fishing. In the1800s, shipbuilding along Wilmington’s waterfront was a thriving industry.
Today, Delaware is building on that base with a blue economy that depends on technological innovation and public and private cooperation. Already, the first steps are being taken. They include establishing an industry supporting offshore clean-energy wind farms all along the Atlantic coastline, reinvigorating seafood-producing aquaculture businesses and building a virtual incubator to grow small, technology-driven research and development ventures that attract established businesses looking for centralized coastal locations.
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