An expansion of wind energy is well worth pursuing off the coast of Massachusetts.
But that expansion should not come at the expense of the fishing industry, and it appears that the latest wind energy initiative by the Obama administration once again puts commercial fishing — along with the jobs it creates and preserves and the food it provides for this region and beyond — at the bottom of its priority totem poll.
Those in the industry and their representatives at the Statehouse and in Congress who profess to be advocates for fishermen should intervene now to make sure an already endangered industry does not remain at the bottom of that priority list.
For this initiative comes in the form of the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement already asking wind energy companies to notify it of any interest they have in leasing portions of a massive, 2,200-nautical-square-mile sector of the ocean, south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
That area contains some of the richest fishing grounds off the coast of Massachusetts.
According to David Goethel, a commercial fisherman and member of the New England Fishery Management Council's Habitat Committee, "a half billion dollars worth of seafood comes out of this area."
Read the complete editorial from The Gloucester Times.