Saving Seafood

DELEWARE: DNREC inches closer in deciding whether to lease land to US Wind

June 8, 2024 — Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources (DNREC) and Environmental Control hosts another public engagement event on the state’s involvement in a developing offshore wind project.

While offshore wind development company US Wind is working with Maryland to develop a physical offshore wind farm, Delaware’s 3 Rs Beach is the proposed access point to transmit the power into the Delmarva regional grid.

US Wind’s Senior Director of External Affairs Nancy Sopko says the project would decommission the coal-fired Indian River Power Plant and upgrade the transmission system to handle the wind-generated energy.

“To coincide with the decommissioning of that power plant to put massive amounts of clean energy on the grid at that point, we think is a really positive story for Delawareans and Marylanders,” Sopko said.

Read the full article at Delaware Public Media

Lawmakers Discuss Delaware Offshore Wind Bill, Delawareans React

April 25, 2024 — On Wednesday, Delaware lawmakers discussed Senate Bill 265, also known as The Delaware Energy Solutions Act of 2024, which lays the framework for the state to buy offshore wind energy.

The bill essentially paves the way for increased use of carbon-free energy sources and a commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions in Delaware.

Under the bill, Delaware would be able to solicit bids for the purchase of offshore wind energy ranging from 800 to 1,200 megawatts.

Proponents of the bill, like Rehoboth Beach resident Jim Bovender, are enthusiastic about its potential environmental benefits.

Read the full article at WBOC

Whales navigate a perilous route off the NJ Shore

January 23, 2023 — At any given time, 50 or more vessels, ranging from massive cargo ships to small fishing boats, are motoring off New Jersey’s 127-mile coast from New York to Delaware.

The smaller vessels often travel at just a few knots per hour, while larger ones run to 20 knots (23 mph) or more.

Little wonder whales sometimes crash into one of them, receiving what amounts to giant-sized headaches or fatal blows.

Two whales that died in January and were stranded in Atlantic City and Brigantine showed evidence of blunt force trauma associated with vessel collisions. Opponents of  have suggested survey vessels are to blame, but officials suggest otherwise.

Walt Nadolny, a professor emeritus at SUNY Maritime College in New York, has been teaching students for two decades how to avoid whale strikes before they head to sea as merchant mariners.

“The odds are ridiculously low” that the whales struck a slow-going survey vessel, said Nadolny, who has no affiliation with an offshore wind company.

Orsted, a global offshore wind company that started in Denmark, is set to build New Jersey’s first wind farm but has not started construction. In January, it has had one vessel at a time on the water totaling little more than seven days.

Nadonly surmises that it’s highly unlikely an offshore wind surveying vessel, which normally would travel at 8 to 10 knots (9-11 mph), could cause a fatal blow to a whale. Rather, he said, fatal collisions typically occur with bigger ships traveling at least 18 knots (21 mph) or more. Usually only large commercial ships travel that fast.

For example, on Friday morning the Maersk Pittsburgh container ship with a gross tonnage of 74,642 was traveling off the coast of Long Beach Island from New York City to Charleston at almost 21 knots (24 mph), according to tracking provided on marinetraffic.com. Multiple other container ships were traveling at similar speeds.

Many of those fast ships, Nadolny noted, often come from, or are headed to, the busy ports of New York/New Jersey or the Delaware Bay toward Philadelphia. The ships are required to reduce speed only as they near the ports, but they often follow voluntary speed restrictions farther out.

Read the full article at phys.org

Some Delaware Fishermen Remain Hopeful Amid Potential of Federal Money, Busy Summer

April 26, 2021 — On a recent sunny afternoon in April, groups of people sat on the edge of the dock at Anglers Marina in Lewes, where large charter and fishing boats loomed on blocks behind them.

The captains, crew members and other anglers at the marina are preparing for an expected busy spring and summer after the COVID-19 pandemic spurred activity in some parts of the industry, while slowing and suspending it in others.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Report Assesses Mid-Atlantic Coast’s Economic Vulnerability to Climate Change

April 17, 2018 — ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean: 

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) today released a first-of-its-kind report at the Mid-Atlantic scale that examines the vulnerabilities of several critical economic sectors to climate change. The report quantifies the potential impacts of threats like sea level rise, rising ocean temperatures and changes in the ocean’s chemistry to communities and businesses in 63 counties and independent cities along the coast from New York to Virginia.

The challenges are especially pronounced in the Mid-Atlantic, the most densely populated stretch of coastline in the country. The region’s waterfront is home to America’s largest city, New York; two of its busiest ports in New York/New Jersey and Hampton Roads, Virginia; and iconic beach destinations that have entertained summer tourists for generations.

The analysis considered the ramifications of both temporary flooding events and the permanent inundation of some areas that would occur if sea levels were to rise by 3 or 6 feet by the year 2100 – two scenarios that are commonly assumed by planners throughout the region. Among the findings:

  • Approximately 14.6 million people live in Census tracts adjacent to the ocean, Chesapeake or Delaware bays. In the 3-foot scenario, the resulting flooded area could affect 1.7 million people and in the 6-foot scenario, 2.1 million people.
  • Today, 912,000 housing units would be vulnerable to flooding in the 3-foot scenario and 1.1 million in the 6-foot scenario. These include 212,000 seasonal units in the 3-foot scenario and 248,000 in the 6-foot scenario.
  • Approximately 557,000 jobs would be vulnerable in the 3-foot scenario and 974,000 in the 6-foot scenario.

In the 3-foot scenario, Delaware has the highest average vulnerability, followed by the counties/cities of Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. At six feet, New York has highest average vulnerability, followed by Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. The region’s major urban centers’ vulnerability to severe disruption increases significantly if sea level rises more than 3 feet.

“No community or business in the Mid-Atlantic will be spared from the impacts of climate change,” said lead author Charles Colgan of the Center for the Blue Economy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. “This is not simply a threat to waterfront areas. With everything from jobs to the housing market being tightly bound to ocean-dependent industries, every coastal community, whether beachfront or further inland, has some vulnerability.”

Significant and perhaps rapid shifts in habitat brought about by climate change will challenge commercial fishing and government agencies to move quickly to adapt fishing practices and management policies. From Maine to North Carolina, a 25 percent loss of catch is possible for species affected by climate change, which would translate to a 20 percent decline in annual value.

The report offers guidance on some strategies that are effectively being employed throughout the Mid-Atlantic to adapt to climate change. For example, the report suggests governments at all levels can follow the model provided by the region’s ports, which are considering climate change in their designs as they rehabilitate or replace infrastructure. Natural defenses such as the restoration of wetlands and marsh grasses were identified as cost-effective means for addressing the threats of retreating shorelines and encroachments from coastal development.

“Natural infrastructure reduced coastal property damages by $650 million during Superstorm Sandy,” Colgan said. “In many cases, even local governments and NGOs can begin taking on these nature-based projects without the need for major grant support or government intervention.”

The report, “Climate Change Vulnerabilities in the Coastal Mid-Atlantic Region,” was prepared as part of the MARCO-led “Planning for a Changing Ocean” project, which aimed to better understand how a changing climate impacts our ocean and the Mid-Atlantic’s diverse marine ecosystems, coastal communities and economies. The project examined the implications for resilience of current trends, including increased acidification of coastal and ocean waters, the availability of offshore sand resources and shifting marine life habitats. The effort was a collaboration of MARCO and the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute, made possible by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Learn more at: www.midatlanticocean.org