December 15, 2022 — Amid an absence of a federal framework or authority, nine Northeast states have set out to develop a regional fund to compensate the fishing industry for impacts and economic losses caused by offshore wind development. After more than a year of discussion, they are now seeking feedback from both the wind and fishing industries.
Fishermen worry about gear loss and damage, loss of historic fishing grounds, negative impacts to fish habitats, increased insurance costs, and longer trips (and thus increased fuel expenses) as a result of wind development. They want the farms to avoid fishing grounds entirely, but when that’s not possible, regulations first call for minimization and mitigation. Compensation comes in when the conflicts cannot be avoided or minimized.
Due to a lack of a federal, standardized system, compensation up to this point has been decided on a project-by-project and state-by-state basis, including for Vineyard Wind south of Martha’s Vineyard, which allocated about $21 million for Massachusetts fishermen over the lifespan of the project.
“This has resulted in inconsistencies in estimating impacts to fisheries and the agreed-upon funds used to compensate for such impacts,” wrote the nine states to Amanda Lefton, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), in a November of 2021 letter, adding the current approach may create inequities for the fishing and wind industries.
To address this, the states have been working to establish a “fund administrator” — which they say they assume will be funded by wind developers — that would, in a consistent way, collect funds, review claims and dispense funds to fishermen across the region for economic losses caused by offshore wind projects.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Light