Saving Seafood

Orsted announces Skipjack Wind Farm project may be delayed again

November 10, 2020 — The completion of one of two proposed wind farms off the coast of Ocean City may be delayed for the second time this year, according to the company in charge of the project.

The completion of the Skipjack Wind Farm, which is being built by Ørsted, is facing another delay, according to comments by Ørsted CEO Henrik Poulsen last week.

“Assuming the permitting process starts moving within the first quarter of next year, it appears highly likely that Revolution Wind, Ocean Wind, Skipjack and Sunrise Wind will be delayed beyond the previously expected 2023 and 2024 construction years,” said Poulsen during a call with investors on Oct. 28.

The Skipjack Wind Farm is a proposed offshore wind project currently in the planning and regulatory review process. The project is slated to be more than 19 miles off the coast of Ocean City and the Delaware coast, and was originally expected to be completed in 2022.

Read the full story at Delmarva Now

ASMFC Horseshoe Crab Board Sets 2021 Specifications for Horseshoe Crabs of Delaware Bay Origin

October 21, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved the harvest specifications for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. Under the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework, the Board set a harvest limit of 500,000 Delaware Bay male horseshoe crabs and zero female horseshoe crabs for the 2020 season. Based on the allocation mechanism established in Addendum VII, the following quotas were set for the States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland and the Commonwealth of Virginia, which harvest horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin:

The Board chose a harvest package based on the Delaware Bay Ecosystem Technical Committee’s and ARM Subcommittee’s recommendation. The ARM Framework, established through Addendum VII, incorporates both shorebird and horseshoe crab abundance levels to set optimized harvest levels for horseshoe crabs of Delaware Bay origin. The horseshoe crab abundance estimate was based on data from the Benthic Trawl Survey conducted by Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech). This survey, which is the primary data source for assessing Delaware Bay horseshoe crab abundance, does not have a consistent funding source. Members of the Delaware and New Jersey U.S. Congressional Delegations, with the support of NOAA Fisheries, have provided annual funding for the survey since 2016.

For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at 703.842.0740 orcstarks@asmfc.org.

A Delaware port could capture growing wind farm industry

September 11, 2020 — With several states committed to more than 8,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy in the next 15 years, Delaware could have a strong wind at its back for a burgeoning industry if an investor builds a port just north of Delaware City.

An 831-acre site near the Delaware City Refinery was recently endorsed by a University of Delaware study as a prime location to ship, store and assemble parts needed for wind farms as far north as Connecticut and as far south as the Carolinas. Turbines are growing larger – many are already taller than the Statue of Liberty – so there is greater need for large tracts of land within a 365-mile radius.

Right now there is only one East Coast marshalling port for wind turbine shipment in New Bedford, Mass., but three more are planned. Even with those online, it might not be enough for the projected market demand. Four ports could deploy 916 megawatts annually, but the UD report projects an annual deployment of up to 2 gigawatts under current contracts and state energy benchmarks – or more than twice the capacity of the operating and planned ports.

Read the full story at the Delaware Business Times

DELAWARE: DNREC adds ship to growing artificial reef

August 24, 2020 — On Aug. 13, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control sank the menhaden fishing boat Reedville at Reef Site 11. The coordinates of the sinking are N 38 40.423/ W 74 44.295. The ship sits in 87 feet of water and is 16 miles offshore from Indian River Inlet. She is 180 feet long and measures 38 feet from the keel to the top of the stack. With her cavernous hold, she is expected to be very attractive to both black sea bass and tog.

The Reedville was first commissioned as a Navy ship, then as an Army freight and supply vessel. When the ship was recommissioned as a menhaden purse seiner, she was named Reedville after the town in Virginia where the largest fish processing plant is located. The town is named after Capt. Elijah W. Reed, whose process for extracting fish oil from menhaden in the 19th century made him and the town very rich.

There are three other menhaden boats at Site 11 along with 997 New York subway cars, 86 Army tanks, eight tugboats, a fishing trawler and two barges. Last fall, a cruse ship was placed there as well.

Read the full story at the Cape Gazette

DELAWARE: DNREC Sinks Ex-Military Freighter for Artificial Reef

August 17, 2020 — The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has another vessel in its artificial reef.

On Thursday, the agency sunk the Reedville, originally a World War II and Korean Conflict-era coastal freighter. The supply ship is part of DNREC’s artificial reef 16 miles offshore and 87 feet deep. The reef also includes decommissioned ferries and the “Perfect Storm” ship, the Zuni-Tamaroa. DNREC says the artificial reef helps the local fish habitat and has become a popular angling destination.

“We continue to enhance the angling and recreational diving experience in Delaware by expanding our reef system, which includes 14 separate reef sites in the Delaware Bay and along the Atlantic Coast,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin. “When we sank Twin Capes two years ago as a centerpiece of the system, it was unmatched as an artificial reef for both providing fish habitat and a spectacular dive with its five decks for underwater exploration. Now with the Reedville, we’ve got four reefed vessels of the same class and we are putting it in a place that will be accessible, attract the most fish and where divers will want to explore, too.”

Read the full story at WBOC

Army-Navy freighter added to artificial reef off the Delaware coast.

August 14, 2020 — DNREC continued to bolster Delaware’s artificial reef system today by sinking the Reedville, originally a coastal freighter and supply ship, at a reef site 16 miles offshore.

The Reedville was converted to a commercial fishing vessel after military decommissioning and today found another new life as fish habitat and diving attract through DNREC’s artificial reef program.

The sinking of the 180-foot long Reedville was the reef program’s first deployment of a vessel since a retired Chesapeake Bay cruise ship was sunk late last year.

It came after the nationally-publicized and viral-videoed 2018 sinking of the retired Cape May-Lewes ferry Twin Capes onto the Del-Jersey-Land Reef, second only to Reef Site No. 11 as a popular fishing destination.

Because of the ship’s profile featuring a cavernous hold, the Reedville is expected to be a boon to two fish prominent in Delaware inshore waters, black sea bass and tautog. The area where vessels have been sunk does not have suitable habitat for some species.

Read the full story at Delaware Business Now

Summer flounder: good news on quota, but waiting for restaurants’ return

July 7, 2020 — The $25.2 million East Coast market for summer flounder — although a reliable bread-and-butter fish — has faced ups and downs in quotas over the years.

The 2020 commercial quota is 11.53 million pounds, while the recreational harvest limit is 7.69 million pounds. The highest percent of commercial allocation goes to Virginia (21.32 percent) and North Carolina (27.44 percent) while Delaware, Maine and New Hampshire have the smallest allocations.

Anecdotally, in the last few years, the price per pound for jumbo summer flounder (4 pounds or larger) decreased, with some vessels getting around 50 cents less per pound for jumbos compared to smaller sizes. As market conditions have shifted relative to quotas over the past few years, there is some speculation that markets prefer smaller product that fits better on a plate.

Now 2020 is the first full year with higher quotas for the fishery — but with the covid-19 crisis and its impact on markets globally, it remains to be seen if quotas will be fully utilized.

“It’s going to be very hard to predict summer flounder landings for 2020 at this point. Last year, the quotas were revised upward by about 50 percent, based on the new stock assessment, but that change wasn’t implemented until midyear,” says Kiley Dancy of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council staff.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Federal funds earmarked for Maryland, Virginia, Delaware fisheries hurt by coronavirus

May 15, 2020 — About $10 million in federal funding has been set aside to assist Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware fisheries hurt by the novel coronavirus.

Virginia fisheries are set to receive $4.5 million, Maryland fisheries will receive $4.1 million and Delaware fisheries will receive $1 million, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division.

Specifically, these funds will help address direct or indirect fishery-related losses as well as negative impacts to subsistence, cultural or ceremonial fishing caused by COVID-19, according to NOAA.

Fishery participants eligible for funding will be able to work with their state marine fisheries management agencies, territories or tribes to apply for these funds. In order to obtain funds, a business must have experienced a revenue loss greater than 35 percent of its prior 5-year average or experienced any negative impacts to subsistence, cultural or ceremonial fisheries

Read the full story at Delmarva Now

Delaware wind farm timeline delayed by one year

May 5, 2020 — A wind farm set to be built off Delaware’s coast should now be completed one year later than originally planned.

The company, Ørsted, says the turbines will now be built by the end of 2023 instead of 2022. Officials tell 47 ABC that Ørsted is receiving its “federal Notice of Intent” for the Skipjack Wind Farm later than originally anticipated. In a statement they say, “Ørsted remains firmly committed to working with our federal partners to complete Skipjack and provide clean, reliable offshore wind energy to 35,000 homes in the Delmarva region.”

According to Ørsted, “a Notice of Intent is a communication issued by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) during the federal permitting process announcing its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted by Skipjack Offshore Wind, LLC.”

Read the full story at WMDT

Commercial fishermen struggling to sell seafood amid restaurant closures

April 28, 2020 — Restaurant closures due to the coronavirus pandemic continue to cause a major disruption in the seafood supply industry – and as a result, some commercial fishermen have turned to new ways to sell their catch.

“Everything is just being devastated because of the coronavirus,” said Wes Townsend, a full-time commercial fisherman in Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Townsend has been fishing for about 44 years.

“Black sea bass is the main thing that we have. We also do lobster, certain times of the year we do rock fishing,” Townsend said.

This season, though, he’s catching a lot less — and not because of a lack of fish.

“This year, with the coronavirus, we have actually had buyers tell us, ‘Don’t go, we do not want your fish. We have no markets,’” Townsend added.

It’s something he said he’d never experienced before.

“We have never had the buyers tell us don’t go,” Townsend said.

With most restaurants closing their doors, the seafood supply industry has been suffering.

According to the most recent data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than two-thirds of seafood has been served at restaurants.

Read the full story at Fox News