NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — January 21, 2013 — A set of anti-fish barriers marked by an orange boom, white buoys and a stream of bubbles in the water is the first serious sign that momentum on the South Terminal project is scaling up.
The barriers, part of the environmental measures associated with the port development project, were installed the weekend of Jan. 12 and 13 in New Bedford Harbor, running roughly from the Schuster Corp. building to the Gifford Street boat ramps, said Assistant Harbormaster Victor Fonseca.
They alert boaters to a thinly woven net that drops almost to the bottom and is meant to keep winter flounder from releasing their eggs in the area and a silt curtain designed to contain materials disturbed during the construction, Fonseca said. Boats can pass to the boat ramp through an opening of about 75 feet cut off from the fish with a stream of bubbles pumped by underwater hoses.
"This is the first physical step towards that offshore wind energy future for Massachusetts," said Catherine Williams, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which is in charge of the project. "It's a great sign of things to come."
The state is pushing for the Marine Commerce Terminal, currently out to bid, to be completed in about 19 months once it starts.
The anti-fish barriers will be in place for at least a year, Fonseca said. The mitigation measures cost about $200,000, Williams said.
Winter flounder — also known as lemon sole — spawn in shallow, sheltered areas in estuaries, said Vincent Manfredi of the Division of Marine Fisheries, which was consulted on the project. The fish drop their eggs when temperatures appear to start warming again, he said.
The eggs hatch between 30 and 60 days later; the young flounder spend the summer eating and growing, benefiting from the warmer water temperatures and more abundant food in the estuary, he said.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times