Saving Seafood

Could Seismic Tests Harm Fish?

June 16, 2016 — Fish might not have fancy communication equipment like whales and dolphins, but they do have their specialized ways of navigating through an ocean filled with predators and mobile food sources. And these honed adaptive responses could potentially be harmed by seismic air guns.

But as the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management continues to review the effects of proposed seismic surveys on marine mammals in the Atlantic, an environmental advocacy group is putting out alarms that the tests’ potentially ill effect on fish will be glossed over in the review process that is close to completion.

“There are fisheries impacts that are not very well understood, and now is the time to do these reviews,” said Zachary Lees, ocean and coastal policy attorney for Clean Ocean Action, a New Jersey-based nonprofit group.

Eight companies are currently seeking to conduct seismic surveys in areas off the southern Atlantic coast between Delaware and Florida to look for oil and natural gas resources. Although oil leases in the Atlantic have been canceled until at least 2023, the federal government is moving forward with mapping the sea floor for hydrocarbon deposits.

After approving a final programmatic environmental impact statement, or PEIS, on seismic surveys in 2014, BOEM was made aware earlier this year of new information on protected marine mammals that triggered additional review.

Read the full story at CoastalReview.com

Public Meetings on New York Offshore Wind

June 16, 2016 — The following was released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management:

On June 2, 2016, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announced the proposed lease sale and Environmental Assessment (EA) for commercial wind energy leasing on 81,130 acres offshore New York.

BOEM will hold five public meetings in June to provide an overview of the EA findings regarding potential site assessment (e.g., placement of meteorological and oceanographic survey equipment), and site characterization surveys (e.g., cultural and natural resource surveys), and offer additional opportunities for public comments. The meetings will begin at 6:00 p.m. in an open house format with a brief presentation starting around 6:30 p.m. The meetings will be held at the following locations:

Monday June 20, 2016

Long Branch Middle School (Auditorium)
404 Indiana Avenue

Long Branch, New Jersey 07740
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Tuesday June 21, 2016

Hofstra University (MPR Room)

900 Fulton Avenue

Hempstead, New York 11549
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Westhampton Beach Elementary School

379 Mill Road

Westhampton Beach, New York 11978
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

University of Rhode Island, Narragansett Bay Campus

Coastal Institute Building (Hazard Rooms A & B)

215 S Ferry Road

Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Waypoint Event Center at Fairfield Inn & Suites

Sea Loft Room

185 MacArthur Drive

New Bedford, Massachusetts 02740

6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

In addition to the EA meetings, BOEM will host an auction seminar in New York City to describe the auction format, explain the auction rules and demonstrate the auction process through meaningful examples. It will be followed by a public meeting on BOEM’s planning and leasing efforts regarding New York offshore wind energy activities. The public seminar and public meeting will be held at the following location:

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

TKP New York Conference Center, Empire A Room

109 W 39th St.

New York, NY 10018

Auction Seminar:12:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Public Meeting:    5:00 – 8:00 p.m. (with an overview presentation at 5:30 p.m.)

Auxiliary aids and services will be provided upon request. Please email your request to me as soon as possible via the address below (please request by June 22 for the June 29 auction seminar and public meeting). For more information about offshore wind planning efforts for New York go to http://www.boem.gov/New-York/.

US Department of the Interior Approves New York City Offshore Wind Project, Commercial Fishermen Oppose

June 10, 2016 — The Offshore Wind Project in New York City is given a go signal by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) last week. On the other hand, the commercial fishermen disagree in building windmills on pylons within approximately 329 square kilometers of the New York Bight.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said that the department took a major step in broadening the nation’s energy portfolio, channeling power near population centers on the East Coast. The Offshore Wind Project is a public-private collaboration by Con Edison, Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and New York Power Authority (NYPA).

Read the full story at Science World Report

NEW YORK: Feds identify offshore wind farm site

March 24, 2016 — Nearly a decade after plans for an offshore wind farm several miles off Jones Beach were scuttled, federal officials announced last week that an area off the coast of Long Beach has been identified for potential wind energy development — and called it a major step toward creating clean energy for the region.

The announcement by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management — naming an 81,000-acre site in federal waters 11 miles south of the barrier island that would be suitable for wind turbines — was welcome news to environmental groups that have been calling for renewable energy sources and ways to reduce the region’s dependence on fossil fuels.

“This wind farm will be at least 11 miles offshore, if not more, and that’s important, because a decade ago, the first proposal was for 3.6 miles offshore,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “This will now be very far offshore and not be a visual concern. It’s important because we are in critical need of making the transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.”

But the proposal has sparked the ire of those who claim that wind turbines in that area, known as the New York Bite, would negatively impact the commercial fishing industry. “The problem … is that it was an unsolicited bid — the power companies are coming out and saying we want this area without having talked to anyone prior to the selection,” said Drew Minkiewicz, a spokesman for the Fisheries Survival Fund, which opposes the construction of turbines in that area. “It’s a highly productive fishing area, including scallops. … We harvest over $5 million [worth] every year, on average.”

The announcement by the BOEM comes after Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed plans for a liquefied natural gas terminal roughly 16 nautical miles off Jones Beach in December, citing environmental concerns and saying that the terminal would conflict with the potential site of a wind farm. Officials said that an offshore wind power source is in keeping with Cuomo’s goal of generating 50 percent of New York’s energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Read the full story at the Long Island Herald

125 square miles off New York coast dedicated for wind power

March 17, 2016 — NEW YORK — Federal officials on Wednesday dedicated more than 125 square miles in the waters off the coast of Long Island for the development of commercial wind energy, pushing forward a renewable energy proposal initially created by New York utilities.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the state has “tremendous” offshore wind potential.

“Today’s milestone marks another important step in the president’s strategy to tap clean, renewable energy from the nation’s vast wind and solar resources,” she said in a statement.

The Long Island Power Authority, New York Power Authority and Con Edison initially went to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in 2011 with the proposal to build the farm in the Atlantic Ocean that would include up to 200 turbines generating about 700 megawatts of energy capable of powering about 245,000 homes. The price tag was estimated at between $2 billion and $4 billion.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

 

NEW JERSEY: Coastal Advocates Laud Obama Decision Not To Allow Drilling Offshore

March 16, 2016 — In a victory for coastal advocates, the Obama administration yesterday decided not to open up portions of the Atlantic seaboard to offshore oil and gas drilling.

The announcement reverses a draft proposal to open up millions of acres in the mid-Atlantic and south Atlantic by auctioning off tracts for drilling, a plan environmentalists and state lawmakers here feared would threaten New Jersey’s billion dollar tourism economy.

No drilling would have occurred off the Jersey coast or the outer continental shelf, but opponents worried that a spill off Virginia where leases were to be offered for sale could adversely effect New Jersey’s coastal environment and economy, already hard hit and not fully recovered from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

“It’s a great day for the Atlantic Ocean and the thousands of citizens who fought to protect the coast,’’ said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action. “The sea is spared from oil drilling and the horrific consequences that Big Oil brings — pollution, spills, and industrialization.’’

In releasing a five-year program for oil and gas leasing offshore, Sally Jewell, secretary of the Department of the Interior, said the proposal allowing sales to occur in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska shelved a proposed sale in the mid-Atlantic and south Atlantic.

Read the full story at NJ Spotlight

Obama Reverses Course on Drilling Off Southeast Coast

March 14, 2016 — The Obama administration is expected to withdraw its plan to permit oil and gas drilling off the southeast Atlantic coast, yielding to an outpouring of opposition from coastal communities from Virginia to Georgia but dashing the hopes and expectations of many of those states’ top leaders.

The announcement by the Interior Department, which is seen as surprising, could come as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who was not authorized to speak on the record because the plan had not been publicly disclosed.

The decision represents a reversal of President Obama’s previous offshore drilling plans, and comes as he is trying to build an ambitious environmental legacy. It could also inject the issue into the 2016 presidential campaigns, as Republican candidates vow to expand drilling.

In January 2015, Mr. Obama drew the wrath of environmentalists and high praise from the oil industry and Southeastern governors after the Interior Department put forth a proposal that would have opened much of the southeastern Atlantic coast to offshore drilling for the first time.

The proposal came after governors, state legislators and senators from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia all expressed support for the drilling. Lawmakers in the state capitals saw new drilling as creating jobs and bolstering state revenue.

Read the full story at the New York Times

The Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island announces new Executive Director, Amy MacKown

February 25, 2016 — The following was released by the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island:

Hailing from Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay region, Amy came to Rhode Island after traveling the National Wildlife Refuges of the Mid-Atlantic and New England conducting salt marsh ecology research with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She then served as a Fisheries Specialist with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management where she worked closely with the commercial fishing industry.  

  Throughout her career Amy has been a supporter of sustainable fisheries—a mentality solidified while participating in a fellowship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where she worked on oil spill restoration initiatives geared at protecting the health of Atlantic fisheries. 

Amy holds a masters in Environmental Policy from the University of Maryland and a graduate certificate in Ecological Economics. In 2015 she was presented the Promoting Our Natural Resources Award by the U.S. Department of the Interior in recognition of her work in the National Wildlife Refuges of New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

The Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island is home to nonprofit commercial fishing organizations, and serves as a headquarters for bringing fishermen, scientists, managers, and elected officials together to discuss issues. The Center was founded in 2004 to improve fisheries and understanding of the marine environment through education, collaborative research, and cooperation.

Read the release at the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island