Saving Seafood

‘You’re impacting the whole resource’

September 19, 2018 — Fishermen and city officials raised the alarm Tuesday about potential wind turbines in prime fishing and scalloping grounds south of Long Island.

About 55 people attended a meeting with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to discuss the agency’s evaluation of possible offshore wind locations within a 2,300-square-mile portion of the New York Bight, between Long Island and New Jersey.

Scalloper Eric Hansen said 40 to 50 percent of the scalloping grounds fished by New Bedford scallopers is within the area the federal government is considering leasing to wind developers, and if fishing there becomes dangerous, people will fish harder in the remaining places.

“You’re impacting the whole resource,” he said.

Bureau staff said they want to narrow down the areas to be leased for wind turbines, not use the entire space.

“We have no intention of leasing that whole area,” BOEM spokesman Stephen Boutwell said in an interview before the meeting.

But fishermen were skeptical.

“That’s a hope and not a promise right now, from our perspective,” David Frulla, a scallop industry attorney, said in an interview. “We think this is way overboard and needs to be reconsidered. And we’re actively opposing it.”

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell addressed the meeting, calling the potential effect on fishing “very alarming.”

“There’s a right way and there’s a wrong way to allow for the development of offshore wind,” he said.

The federal agency has indicated to developers that 80,000 acres would be a reasonable project size — compared to the nearly 1.5 million acres contained within the four areas under consideration: Fairways North, Fairways South, Hudson North and Hudson South.

The mayor cited government data showing a quarter-billion dollars’ worth of scallops were harvested in the four areas over a five-year period ending in 2016. He said a small fraction of the total acreage would satisfy New York’s renewable energy goals, and that those goals could be satisfied by unused areas off Massachusetts that have already been through this process.

Amy Stillings, an economist with BOEM, said Mitchell framed the conversation well, and research does show a lot of fishing happens in the New York Bight.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

The New York Bight – a Hydra of Difficult Issues

September 18, 2018 — Amidst an atmosphere of possible resurgence in the domestic offshore oil energy, maritime stakeholders are also reminded that there is more than one kind of energy available for development off the four collective coasts of the United States. That process is underway in the Great Lakes; it has already happened off of New England. To that end, and last April, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a ‘Call for Information and Nominations.’

This ‘Call’ started a formal process for BOEM to gather information about developers’ interest in commercial wind energy leases in the Atlantic outer continental shelf. More specifically, this meant within sections of the New York Bight, the portion of the Atlantic extending northeasterly from Cape May Inlet in New Jersey to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island. The comment period was first set to close at the end of May, but it was extended to the end of July.

BOEM will use the comments to first gauge the interest among energy project developers, and secondly, to assess the broader concerns associated with possible wind energy projects within the Bight. There already is interest in this set of Call Areas. In December 2016, for example, BOEM received an unsolicited lease request from PNE Wind USA, Inc. (PNE) for 40,920 acres offshore New York. PNE seeks a lease to develop a 300–400 MW project, primarily within the Call Area Fairways South. Beyond this, BOEM’s map lists Statoil, US Wind and Ocean Wind as also having interests in various lease areas.

Curiously, offshore wind – that long awaited renewable source of energy – has as many detractors as its dirtier fossil fuel cousins.

Read the full story at Marine Link

NEFMC September 24-27, 2018, Plymouth, MA – Listen Live, View Documents

September 17, 2018 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a four-day meeting from Monday, September 24 through Thursday, September 27, 2018. The public is invited to listen-in via webinar or telephone.  Here are the details.

MEETING LOCATION: Hotel 1620 Plymouth Harbor, 180 Water Street, Plymouth, MA 02360; www.hotel1620.com.

START TIME: The webinar will be activated at approximately 1 p.m. on Monday, September 24 and at 8:00 a.m. each day thereafter.  However, please note that the meeting is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. on Monday and 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  The webinar will end at approximately 6:00 p.m. EST or shortly after the Council adjourns each day.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION: Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

CALL-IN OPTION: To listen by telephone, dial +1 (415) 655-0052.  The access code is 471-062-244.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  The agenda and all meeting materials are available on the Council’s website at September 24-27, 2018 NEFMC Plymouth, MA.

COMMENT DEADLINE:  Written comments must be received no later than 8 a.m., Thursday, September 20, 2018 to be considered at this meeting.

THREE MEETING OUTLOOK:  A copy of the New England Council’s Three Meeting Outlook is available HERE.

ADDITIONAL EVENT:  On Wednesday, September 26, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold an “open office” in the Plympton Room of the same hotel.  BOEM staffers will be on hand to solicit input and answer questions about offshore wind-related activities, including: (1) the New York Bight Area Identification; (2) the Vineyard Wind Draft Environmental Impact Statement; (3) the South Fork Wind Farm Construction and Operations Plan; and (4) other issues of interest to Council members and the public.

Learn more about the NEFMC here

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Public Meetings on New York Bight Offshore Wind

September 14, 2018 — The following was released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management:

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will be hosting three public meetings and a webinar to discuss feedback that we have received from a recently published Call for Information and Nominations (Call) for potential offshore wind energy leasing and development in the New York Bight.

The meetings will be held at the following locations:

Monday, Sept. 17, 2018
Riverhead, NY
Shade Tree Community Center
60 Shade Tree Lane
Aquebogue, NY
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018
New Bedford, MA
Waypoint Event Center at Fairfield Inn & Suites
Sea Loft Room
185 MacArthur Drive
New Bedford, MA 02740
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018
Long Branch, NJ
Long Branch Library
328 Broadway
Long Branch, NJ 07740
5:00 -7:45 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018
Webinar hosted by BOEM
https://orep.adobeconnect.com/nybightareaid/
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

At each meeting, BOEM will present its most recent analysis that incorporates comments received from the Call. In addition, there will be an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback to help inform BOEM’s decision-making process.

Read more from BOEM

Scientists discover hidden deep-sea coral reef off South Carolina Coast

August 28, 2018 — If you think Charleston, South Carolina, has plenty of history within its pre-Colonial grounds, just look at what’s been hiding 160 miles off the city’s coast for thousands of years: a giant deep-sea coral reef system. The chief scientist who helped make the discovery called it unbelievable.

Little is known about the natural resources of the deep ocean off the United States’ Southeast coast from Virginia to Georgia, so Deep Search 2018 was created to learn more by exploring the deep sea ecosystems. The project, consisting of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the US Geological Survey, is nearing the end of its 15-day voyage aboard the research vessel Atlantis.

Read the full story at CNN

Sturgeon, scallops and wind turbines

August 24, 2018 — Offshore wind energy companies are contending with many of the same environmental issues as other maritime industries in U.S. waters, and on a compressed timeline.

Pumped up by state policies encouraging renewable energy, and the Trump administration’s big buy-in to promote new domestic energy production, a dozen federal wind energy leases are already approved off the East Coast, and construction and operation plans for two projects are under review.

Deepwater Wind could have turbines on its South Fork Wind Farm off the east end of Long Island, N.Y., operational in 2020. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says developers have plans for 8.5 gigawatts capacity of offshore wind power, with construction picking up pace through the 2020s.

Renewable energy advocates hail this as a train coming down the track. Fishermen want scientists’ help to at least slow it down.

“We’re really hoping to partner with the scientific community in this process,” lawyer Anne Hawkins told an audience at the American Fisheries Society annual meeting in Atlantic City, N.J., this week.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Ocean science needs to catch up with offshore wind energy

August 23, 2018 — Construction could begin on East Coast offshore wind energy projects in the next couple of years, but the state of science to monitor their environmental effects is lagging badly, experts said at the annual American Fisheries Society meeting.

“We’re talking about building projects in a few years…yet we lack a built, on-the-ground monitoring program,” said Andrew Lipsky, a planning officer who leads research into offshore wind energy with the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states are “where all the electrical demands are,” said Brian Hooker, a marine biologist with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy’s renewable energy program. Those states are driving the demand and developers have a dozen approved federal leases, with BOEM now reviewing two construction and operation plans, Hooker said Tuesday at the AFS meeting in Atlantic City, N.J.

A daylong session featured presentations by researchers looking at how building arrays of wind turbines on the shallow continental shelf could affect fish populations, and the commercial fishing industry.

For all its promotion as a “green” technology, offshore wind power faces its share of environmental hurdles. Wind developers will need to deal with potential conflicts over marine mammals, including the highly endangered northern right whales that migrate near massive wind arrays proposed off Massachusetts.

For mobile gear fishermen, there is fear that large parts of the leases could be effectively off-limits to them because towers are too close together to safely trawl or dredge. Advocates for the scallop and surf clam fleets argue that turbine arrays will effectively create “sanctuaries” for shellfish that are available in abundance thanks to responsible management.

This spring industry advocates organized the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, to bring together diverse East Coast fishing fleets and operators to more effectively engage the wind industry and federal and state regulators.

Their goal is to “get better outcomes,” said Anne Hawkins of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, a Washington, D.C., law firm that represents scallop fishermen who have sued in federal court over New York offshore wind proposals.

Maps prepared by BOEM using federal fisheries data shows existing wind leases and potential future lease areas overlapping with the scallop fishery, based out of ports like New Bedford, Mass., and Cape May, N.J.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

NCFC Members Urge BOEM to Include Commercial Fishermen in Windmill Siting Decisions in the New York Bight

August 17, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Late last month, members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC) submitted two letters asking Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to consider the economic importance of the commercial fishing industry before deciding where to site windmills in the New York Bight.

367 individuals signed a national letter calling on Secretary Zinke not to rush offshore energy development and to ensure projects are “sited, constructed, and operated using the best scientific information available.”

“The Interior Department should provide for intelligent and deliberate offshore renewable energy development, rather than fall prey to the gold rush mentality promoted by BOEM and financially-interested wind developers, most of which are foreign-owned,” the NCFC members wrote.

The signers also invoked President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to support working class Americans.

“When President Trump campaigned and was elected, he promised to look after America’s working middle class, of which we are all a part,” the letter stated. “You will not be honoring the President’s commitment if you allow BOEM to lease ocean areas first, and ask and answer the necessary questions later.”

Another 103 individuals and 32 vessels and businesses from Massachusetts signed a separate letter asking BOEM to reconsider its plan to develop four offshore wind farms in the New York Bight. They specifically cited the damage such development would cause to important Northeast fisheries such as the scallop fishery.

“This is an ill-conceived idea that will cause irreparable economic harm within the fishing communities along the entire East Coast,” the signers wrote. “The harm to Massachusetts will be especially significant, given that it is the center of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery and contains major surf clam and ocean quahog operations.”

The letter pointed out that, on average, nearly $54 million is generated by scallop landings annually from the areas under consideration in the New York Bight, according to data from the National Marine Fisheries Service. An additional $8 million is generated by surf clam and ocean quahog.

 

East Coast Offshore Wind Outlook

August 16, 2018 — There is no question that 2018 is emerging as a watershed year for the offshore wind energy industry in the U.S., with several large wind farms having their site plans approved and states increasing their commitments and goals for offshore wind energy.

In the midst of this energy and excitement, we need to keep in mind that regional cooperation between developers, suppliers, and between the states is going to be critical to building a healthy and sustainable industry supported by a viable supply chain.

We use the term “co-opetition” to describe the combination of competition and collaboration, and apply it to remind the industry that no single state is going to own the entire supply chain. The U.S. offshore wind energy pie is big, and there is enough for every state so they don’t need to fight but work together on complex issues such as commercial fishing, navigation, environmental impacts, and supply chain development on a regional basis.

To those waiting for this technology to come online and start replacing fossil fuel power plants, a year or two or even five years may seem like a long time to wait, but timing projects so we have a “good pipeline” — a steady, consistent stream of projects throughout the 2020s — is important, so construction projects don’t stack up on each other and we don’t have huge, expensive pieces of customized offshore wind equipment and highly skilled labor forces standing idle one year and strained to the breaking point the next.

Read the full story at Wind Systems Magazine