Saving Seafood

As Offshore Wind Ramps Up, Scientists Flag Potential Impacts

August 21, 2023 — Last year, the Biden administration announced an ambitious goal: enough offshore wind to power 10 million homes by 2030. The move would reduce carbon emissions, create jobs, and strengthen energy security. It would also help the United States — which was responsible for just 0.1 percent of the world’s offshore wind capacity last year — catch up with renewable energy leaders like China and Europe.

The plan is already well underway: Massive turbines are rising off the coast of Massachusetts, and more projects are planned up and down the U.S. coastlines. Advocates say these turbines, and other offshore projects around the world, are a crucial tool in minimizing the effects of climate change: The technology is touted as clean, renewable, and plentiful. And, since offshore wind farms aren’t located in anyone’s backyard, they are, at least in theory, less prone to the political pushback onshore wind power has faced.

The fishing industry fears wind farms will affect their ability to yield a profitable catch — especially since the windy, shallow waters that support a rich diversity of sea life also tend to be ideal locations for turbines. Some scientists say these fears have been overblown — a 2022 study, for example, concluded that the Block Island Wind Farm located off the coast of Rhode Island does not appear to negatively impact bottom-dwelling fish. (Coastal regulators in the state of Rhode Island mandated the study be conducted and paid for by wind farm developers.) Others, like [Rutgers University’s Dr. Daphne] Munroe, say specific fisheries such as Atlantic surfclams will be significantly affected.

Surfclam fishing in wind farm areas, said Munroe, is logistically difficult, if not impossible, since vessels use dredges that drag though the sand to collect the clams. The presence of power cables on the ocean floor, she said, would make it too dangerous to use this kind of equipment around wind farms.

Installed boulders surrounding turbine foundations will also create obstacles, according to Munroe. “Each of the foundations is going to have what’s called scour protection,” she said. “So basically, big boulder fields that are going to be placed around the base of the turbine foundation in order to prevent the sand from scouring away.”

Read the full story at Undark

U.S. Wind Energy Is (Finally) Venturing Offshore

April 4, 2022 — Capturing offshore wind in the U.S. has long been an uphill battle, with various stumbling blocks in the terrain. Objections from fisheries, skepticism from conservationists and tenuous support from tourism have all stalled development in the past decade. That is, until May of 2021, when the U.S. Department of the Interior approved construction of a sprawling wind facility several miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

The project marks the first large-scale offshore wind undertaking in the U.S., and includes 62 turbines that will power more than 400,000 homes and businesses. But it almost didn’t happen. Under the Trump administration, the project’s approval halted, while broader national momentum behind alternative energy solutions slowed. The country’s only other offshore wind facility, with just five turbines spinning off the coast of Rhode Island since 2016, looked like it would not have any company for years. That site, Block Island Wind Farm, produces 30 megawatts, or enough energy to power up to 17,000 homes. After President Joe Biden took office, however, he promised a 1,000-fold increase in offshore wind energy production in the U.S. by 2030. Approving the ambitious Vineyard Wind project marks the first big step.

U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) researchers still puzzle over how turbines in oceans affect birds and fish. They recently started trying to assess the impact through the Realtime Opportunity for Development Environmental Observations  project, which conducted research when the foundation work began on Block Island in 2015. The researchers will report on other offshore wind projects as operations begin in the next several years. So far, they’ve found that during the noisy pile-driving phase of construction, the abundance of winter flounder decreased. However, other kinds of flatfish were not significantly impacted. The researchers also noted that almost immediately, mussels, sea stars and anemones began covering the submerged turbines. Future studies will add data on marine life impact and likely inform industry approaches.

Read the full story at Discover Magazine

The Answer Is Blowing In The Wind

January 12, 2022 — The US Department of the Interior is scheduled to hold its first offshore wind lease sale this week. The move is important as one of many necessary mechanisms to lower reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate warming levels. As a renewable energy source, turbines blowing in the wind have few effects on the environment. Pervasive in Europe, they reduce the amount of electricity generation from fossil fuels, which results in lower total air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

Not all constituents are in favor of the New York Bight project. The fishing industry is especially in opposition, revisiting their previous contention about the 5 Rhode Island offshore wind turbines in the Block Island Wind Farm. Fast forward to 2022. Within the bight, commercial fishermen fish for scallops, summer flounder, and surf clams, among other species. In a letter sent in April, 2021, New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell wrote the Central Bight and Hudson South were established on “significant” scallop fishing grounds. He proposed the removal of a five-mile strip along the eastern boundary of Hudson South to minimize fishery impacts.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), which is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses, has risen as a main oppositional voice to the New York Bight offshore wind project. The group has argued that fishers should receive compensation for losses caused by turbines in commercial fishing grounds.

For example, the group filed a Petition for Review in the First Circuit US Court of Appeals regarding the Secretary of the Interior’s 2021 decision approving the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind energy project, a 62-turbine project under construction off Martha’s Vineyard.

Read the full story at CleanTechnica

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

How Do Offshore Wind Farms Impact Ocean Ecosystems?

March 12, 2021 — There’s no denying that renewable energy technology has become increasingly popular. It’s more common for households and businesses to choose solar, geothermal, and other options for power. These clean, never-ending resources hold real promise for a healthier planet.

However, we can’t ignore that some of these solutions come with implications. The world’s offshore wind farms are just one example. Take a look.

This specific renewable energy source has various financial and environmental advantages, such as job creation, reduced emissions, and industry growth. It’s more typical to see wind farms on land, where several wind turbines spin continuously to generate energy. But offshore wind farms have become an alternative.

If you install wind turbines at sea, you don’t have to sacrifice any land. This point helps negate complaints about how “unsightly” wind turbines can appear. Plus, you don’t have to disrupt neighborhoods. It’s true that winds blow stronger across the water, which means we can produce more power from offshore wind farms, too.

Read the full story at Energy Central

Senate Commission Wants Answers Regarding Exposed Block Island Wind Farm Cables

February 18, 2020 — A Senate commission wants to know who is to blame and who is going to pay to bury the exposed electric cables from the Block Island Wind Farm.

The Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) said its geologist recommended before construction of the offshore wind facility that Deepwater Wind, now owned by Denmark-based Ørsted, bury the two cables 6-8 feet deep using a process known as horizontal directional drilling.

Deepwater Wind, however, relied on an independent engineering report that concluded the 12-inch-diameter cable could be buried at a depth of 2-4 feet using a devise called a jet plow.

According to CRMC executive director Grover Fugate, CRMC’s governing board relied on the independent report to approve the more shallow depth using the jet plow process.

Fugate explained at a recent commission hearing that the jet plow was preferred because it uses a high-pressure spray of water to quickly create a trench and bury the cable. That worked for the sandy seafloor further offshore, but when the jet plow encountered the boulders and cobble near Block Island’s Crescent Beach it simply rose over the impediments and buried the cables at a shallow depth.

The 34,500-volt power line from the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm reaches shore at Fred Benson Town Beach and leaves the island for Narragansett at Crescent Beach to the north. Keeping portions of the cables buried at Crescent Beach has been a struggle for the past four years.

Read the full story at EcoRI

Block Island Wind Farm to go offline in fall to rebury cable

February 10, 2020 — The electric cables for the Block Island Wind Farm were supposed to be buried in trenches at least four feet below the seabed, but workers couldn’t get down as far as they wanted, and over the last four years waves have exposed portions of the transmission lines that run to and from a beach on the island.

Now, Orsted, the Danish company that owns the five-turbine offshore wind farm that is the first in the nation, plans to rebury one of the two cables starting in the fall. Orsted, which has offices in Boston and Providence, says it should be able to do all the work at Crescent Beach in the off-season and wrap up the project by Memorial Day in 2021.

But for an indeterminate amount of time during construction, the 30-megawatt wind farm, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, will have to go offline.

Orsted says it will be “solely responsible for paying for this work,” according to a statement from the company.

“Ratepayers will not bear any of these costs,” the company said.

It would not disclose the project’s price tag.

Orsted’s cable runs from the wind farm to the island. The second cable, which connects the island to the mainland electric grid, is owned by National Grid, the main electric utility in Rhode Island. National Grid is also working on plans to rebury its cable, which is expected to happen around the same time, but the company has yet to release details to the public.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

Vineyard Wind Delays Hold Up Other Offshore Projects

September 9, 2019 — The Vineyard Wind project is a major test of the offshore wind industry. The 84-turbine project is hailed as the first large utility-scale power source, after the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm went on-line in December 2016.

As a pilot project, Block Island showed that the United States can profitably produce and deliver offshore wind energy, and create jobs. More than a dozen other proposals have followed, and new federal wind-lease areas are expected along the East Coast.

Vineyard Wind, with 800 megawatts of electric capacity, is presumed to clear the way for more than 10 gigawatts of power coming from the waters off southern New England.

Read the full story at EcoRI

Coast Guard Rescuers test skills on 5-turbine wind farm at Block Island

September 3, 2019 — Offshore rescuers are sharpening their skills at and near the Block Island Wind Farm, in what are early preparations for the Atlantic Coast’s nascent offshore wind industry.

But a Rhode Island commercial fishing group has said practicing on five turbines, all in a row, can’t be considered a real test for what is expected to be hundreds of wind turbines in grid patterns offshore south of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the coming decade.

“It’s not really a farm,” said Richard Fuka of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance.

The U.S. Coast Guard has completed a case study on the Jan. 1 sinking of the F/V Mistress 3 or 4 miles from the Block Island wind farm to determine if the presence of the five turbines had any impact on the agency’s search and rescue operation. The results of the study are expected to be shared with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the key federal permitting agency for the offshore wind industry. The study has not been released publicly yet.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Two fishermen are missing after boat capsizes off Block Island, R.I.

January 2, 2019 — The Coast Guard and a good Samaritan were searching Tuesday for two missing fishermen after their boat capsized early New Year’s Day off Block Island, Rhode Island, officials said.

The captain of the Mistress issued a mayday call at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday to say the fishing boat was taking on water near Block Island Wind Farm, which is nearly 4 miles from shore, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe