Saving Seafood

DELAWARE: Offshore wind bill heads to Delaware Senate floor after contentious hearing

June 6, 2025 — Democratic lawmakers faced more than an hour of angry public comments on June 2 from residents who largely slammed their proposal to retroactively strip Sussex County Council of its ability to deny a permit for an offshore wind farm – one of the most controversial energy projects in recent memory.

But in the end, the members of the Senate Environment, Energy and Transportation Committee nonetheless advanced the bill to be considered by the full Senate.

Opponents of the proposal say it’s an example of government overreach, while Democrats and environmental groups supporting the bill say it’s necessary to address Delaware’s energy needs.

The bill is slated for a vote in the State Senate next week, after legislators return to session following the state’s budget markup hearings. Should it pass there, the Delaware House of Representatives would then consider the bill.

Read the full article at Spotlight Delaware

US Wind proposes USD 20 million in compensation funds for commercial fishers in Maryland, Delaware

May 22, 2025 — US Wind has agreed to provide USD 20 million (EUR 17.8 million) in compensation to commercial fishers and related businesses in the U.S. states of Maryland or Delaware who have been impacted by the development of wind power off the coast of Maryland.

In 2014, US Wind secured an 80,000-acre federal lease area in the Atlantic Ocean, with plans to build a wind energy facility just over 11 miles off the shores of Ocean City, Maryland. As part of securing a lease, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) determined that wind energy developers must compensate the commercial fishing sector for any potential lost revenue caused by construction.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Wind Offers $20 Million to Local Fishermen under New Proposal

May 15, 2025 — Offshore wind developer US Wind has entered memoranda of understanding with Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) in which the company has proposed $20 million in support to local fishermen.

According to a press release from US Wind, the agreements with the states were developed in response to watermen feedback as US Wind continues to pursue a project off Sussex and Worcester Counties. The Trump Administration’s reversal of a Biden-era push for offshore wind has left the future of the project uncertain.

“This proposal — one of the biggest investments in commercial fishing in the region – demonstrates our commitment to the fishing industry and the local community in which we’ll operate,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, US Wind CEO. “The funding will provide direct support to commercial and charter fishermen, grants for local businesses, and support for harbor maintenance and infrastructure. We’re looking forward to continuing our work with local fishermen and the states of Maryland and Delaware to finalize this unprecedented agreement.”

US Wind says $13.5 million of the $20 million proposal would go to the following in Maryland:

-Grants for fishing businesses in the harbor to continue the offloading of catch and ice services;

-30 years of funding for West Ocean City Harbor maintenance, such as dredging requested each year by the community, dock and shore stabilization

-Substantial money for gear development, marketing of local seafood, fishing business development, and incentives for new commercial fishermen.

Read the full article at WBOC

DELAWARE: Conservationists and fishing industry wrangle over how or whether to protect horseshoe crabs

April 11, 2025 — Delaware conservationists and the commercial fishing industry are still searching for ways of protecting horseshoe crabs and the species that depend on them while allowing fishermen to make their living without being further restricted by state quotas.

Ahead of the springtime arrival of thousands of horseshoe crabs to spawn on Delaware beaches, environmentalists and some state lawmakers are discussing a possible bill that would ban the harvest of the ancient creatures in Delaware waters.

But the case for banning the harvest for bait – as New Jersey did in its waters more than a decade ago — is weakened by data from several credible sources showing that the population of the ancient creatures in Delaware Bay is increasing, thanks to a ban on the harvesting of female crabs imposed since 2012 by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a federal regulator.

Still, it’s not clear whether growing numbers of horseshoe crabs spawning on the beaches are also increasing the quantity of crab eggs that sustain shore birds, notably the red knot, during their globe-spanning migrations. Egg-density, a crucial measure of the crabs’ ability to feed the birds, is still just a fraction of what it was before red knot numbers crashed starting in the late 1990s when too many horseshoe crabs were removed from bay beaches by the commercial fishing industry.

The knot’s failure to recover in any significant way since then was cited by the commission in its decision for the last two years to continue its ban on harvesting female crabs, while issuing quotas to Delaware and the three other bay states – New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia – for the harvest of the far more numerous male crabs.

After deciding for the last two fishing seasons against allowing the female harvest to resume, the commission is now considering extending that for multiple years, and held a public hearing last month to gather comments.

Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, which implements horseshoe crab quotas set by the commission, said it remains opposed to any restart of the female harvest.

Read the full article at Delaware Public Media

DELAWARE: Could a blue crab hatchery be coming to Delaware?

April 4, 2025 — Delaware’s blue crab commercial fishery is larger than all the other fisheries in the state combined. If Dan Mills has his way, he’ll be adding to that fishery by building the state’s first blue crab hatchery.

Mills went before the state’s Advisory Council on Shell Fisheries in early March. The demand is high, but the wild stock is dwindling, said Mills, on why he’s looking into the project. The potential for job creation is there too, he said.

Mills went before the council to gauge their interest in the project. For the hatchery to get off the ground, two state laws would have to change – one related to not being allowed to have juvenile crabs in his possession; another related to not being allowed to have sponge crabs, females with eggs, in his possession. Mills suggested the laws could be changed to allow possession if the juvenile crabs are hatched and the sponge crabs are kept in an aquaculture system.

There was some discussion about whether local watermen would want the additional competition, but a general consensus was reached that there are blue crabs coming into Delaware from other states, so a hatchery wouldn’t add much more. In the end, council seemed to have a favorable view on the plan, but it ultimately said Mills would have to get the laws changed, and that would take an act of the General Assembly.

Read the full article at the Cape Gazette

DELAWARE: Ørsted follows through with $5.2M land deal in Sussex

February 26, 2025 — Despite withdrawing plans for its Skipjack projects off of the coast of Delaware last year, Ørsted recently purchased a 64-acre property near Harbeson for $5.2 million.

The purchase, made under the business name Skipjack Offshore Energy, LLC., is the result of an agreement struck by the Danish wind turbine developer several years ago as conversations were swirling about the development of a wind farm in the area.

Ørsted Spokesperson Maddy Cronin confirmed the purchase and told the Delaware Business Times in an email, “This transaction is tied to an agreement struck in October 2023, prior to Ørsted’s decision to reposition the project. Pursuant to that October 2023 agreement, the transaction was finalized this month. Any future plans for the property would be subject to federal and local permits.”

Read the full article at Delaware Business Times 

DELAWARE: Ørsted buys 64 acres of land near Harbeson for $5.2 million

February 24, 2025 — Under the name Skipjack Offshore Energy LLC, Danish-based power company Ørsted has purchased a 64-acre piece of property near Harbeson for $5.2 million.

Located at the intersection of Walker and Diamond Farm roads, the piece of property encompasses the open field from Diamond Farm Road to the Anthem development. According to Sussex County sales records the sale was finalized Jan. 31.

Ørsted’s offshore wind competitor US Wind has been in the news recently as that company makes its way through the federal, state and county approval process, but this is the first time there’s been an Ørsted development locally in more than a year.

Ørsted has the development rights for an offshore wind farm on two federal lease sites in federal ocean waters off the coast of Delaware. Combined, the contiguous sites stretch from Rehoboth Beach south to Bethany Beach, and if fully built out, could produce 966 megawatts.

In January 2024, Ørsted announced it was still moving forward with development plans for the project, but withdrawing from a deal with the Maryland Public Service Commission to find better terms.

Read the full article at the Cape Gazette

Biden protects Delaware’s coast from offshore drilling

January 14, 2025 — With the clock ticking down on his time in office, President Joe Biden announced Jan. 6 that he has permanently protected more than 625 million acres of the U.S. ocean from offshore drilling.

Delaware’s coastline falls within this ban. In all, the area includes the entire eastern U.S. Atlantic coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico; the Pacific coast along California, Oregon, and Washington; and the remaining portion of the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area in Alaska.

“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” said Biden in a statement announcing the ban.

This isn’t the first action to protect Delaware’s coastline from offshore drilling. Back in 2018, state legislators passed two bills prohibiting oil and natural gas drilling in state waters.

Read the full article at the Cape Gazette

How a Maryland county tried to sway a Delaware vote on offshore wind

January 14, 2025 — In early December, a new website appeared online urging Sussex County, Delaware, residents to contact their council members and tell them to deny a permit for a proposed offshore wind farm.

The website – StopOffshoreWind.com – materialized days before the Sussex County Council’s vote on the permit, which would allow for construction of an electrical substation needed by US Wind Inc. to build its massive ocean-based power plant.

StopOffshoreWind.com included the names and contact information for council members, as well as an online message form under the phrase, “Write a Letter to your Sussex County Councilmembers.”

“Tell the Sussex County Council to DENY this permit,” it said.

What it did not show were the names of the people or companies that had created and funded it.

Spotlight Delaware has since learned that the website was the creation of a coalition of Maryland wind farm opponents, funded and led by the government of Worcester County, home to Ocean City, a summer beach hotspot that is the primary driver of the county’s tourism-centered economy.

And, many of the local business owners there believe the sight of windmills 15 miles offshore would make the beaches less attractive to tourists.

Zach Bankert, executive director of the Ocean City Development Corp., said his group had led local opposition to offshore wind development in past years. But, with a staff of just two employees, he said the operation was too small to be effective, which is why the county’s Office of Tourism and Economic Development recently took it over.

Read the full article at Maryland Matters

DELAWARE: Carney, DNREC agree to $128M in wind-power benefits

January 10, 2024 — The plot thickens on offshore wind-power generation in Delaware as outgoing Gov. John Carney and the state’s environmental control agency agreed this week to permit offshore wind-power cabling through Delaware state parks, including Delaware Seashore State Park north of Bethany Beach.

Carney and DNREC officials have signed agreements with U.S. Wind to provide renewable energy, community and lease benefits to Delaware and its residents — worth more than $128 million — as the company builds two proposed offshore wind-power projects already approved by the federal government.

The Caesar Rodney Institute (CRI), joining offshore wind-power opponents, has filed an appeal of the decision of DNREC officials to permit U.S. Wind to “bring transmission lines from a proposed offshore wind farm under the Indian River Bay and through wetlands.”

Read the full article at Costal Point