Saving Seafood

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

DELAWARE: Delaware council rejects permit critical to development of wind farm off Ocean City coast

December 19, 2024 — In a dramatic move, members of Sussex County Council in Delaware rejected an application crucial to the completion of a new wind farm off the Atlantic coast. The proposal, which was rejected Tuesday in a 4-1 vote, was at the center of a monthslong debate in Sussex County.

If approved, it would have allowed Renewable Development, a subsidiary of US Wind, to connect high-voltage cables from the Indian River to a new substation adjacent to the Indian River Power Plant in Dagsboro.

US Wind, a Maryland energy company owned in part by an Italian infrastructure firm, said in a statement that it will appeal the decision.

Now with the future of the project uncertain, Sussex County taxpayers will likely be on the hook to fund the county’s opposition to US Wind’s appeal and a potential future lawsuit.

Even with the rejection, the US Wind project is not dead, but significantly hampered and likely looking at further delays. It can still find another way to bring its cables ashore if it should lose its appeal.

Read the full article at Maryland Matters

Maryland county takes on international offshore wind company to save commercial fishing jobs

December 18, 2024 — On the largely undeveloped Delmarva peninsula – which is surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and includes portions of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia – local lawmakers are getting ready to take on a major international wind power company in an effort to save its crucial commercial fishing industry.

The Worcester County Commissioners in Maryland approved a resolution on Tuesday to acquire two properties in West Ocean City Harbor through eminent domain, which US Wind plans to develop into an operations and maintenance facility as it constructs a wind farm off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. The action was taken in an effort to protect the county’s historic commercial and sport fishing industries.

The commissioners passed the resolution as US Wind, a subsidiary of Italian-based Renexia SpA, plans to construct a 353-foot-long-by-30-foot-wide concrete pier at the harbor to service vessels used to construct a proposed wind farm consisting of up to 118 turbines at least 15 miles off the coast of Ocean City. Along with the pier, the company plans to install 383 feet of bulkhead.

The two properties the county plans to acquire are currently being used by Southern Connection Seafood and the Martin Fish Company, which are the only two commercial seafood wholesalers in the area where watermen can offload and sell their catches.

The county’s plans for the two properties include developing a long-term lease with the existing owners, allowing them to continue serving the needs of the commercial fishing industry, according to the resolution that was passed.

“The commercial fishing industry is an integral and essential part of Worcester County’s economy,” the resolution reads, adding that it, along with the sport fishing industry, are dependent on commercial marine support in and around West Ocean City Harbor.

Read the full story at FOX Business

DELAWARE: US Wind gets green light from Delaware for offshore wind project What happens now?

December 11, 2024 — Delaware’s environmental division has approved three permits needed for US Wind’s offshore wind project off of the Maryland coast.

DNREC announced Monday, Dec. 9 that US Wind’s permits to utilize Delaware’s land to connect the turbines to a new substation were approved with stipulations that would require the company to employ mitigation strategies and fund certain conservation efforts around the Delaware beaches.

“This is an important step forward,” said Jeff Grybowski, US Wind CEO. “After a thorough, science-based review by DNREC’s experts, and feedback from the public, we are thrilled to have secured these final approvals to move forward on delivering massive amounts of clean energy to the region. Offshore wind will help lower electricity bills for the people of Delaware, satisfy the region’s critical need for more electricity and improve air quality across the state, all while supporting good local jobs.

Read the full article at Delaware Online