Saving Seafood

NEW YORK: No ship? New York offshore wind project faces yet another hurdle

October 13, 2025 —  The first wind farm slated to plug into New York City’s grid has already endured one political catastrophe this year. Now, a logistical crisis looms on the horizon.

Equinor’s Empire Wind is a 810-megawatt project being built about 20 miles off the shore of Long Island, promising enough energy to power 500,000 homes once completed in 2027. The Trump administration halted construction in April, but allowed it to resume in May. The latest challenge came on Thursday with the unexpected cancellation of a contract for the massive new wind-turbine installation vessel that Equinor had been planning to use on the project next year.

Two shipbuilding companies broke out into a public skirmish — one unexpectedly cancelling a contract and the other threatening legal action — over the construction of the specialized ship. The fate of the vessel, which is already more than 98% complete and floating in Singapore’s waters, is now uncertain.

The cancelled $475 million agreement leaves Equinor scrambling to figure out how to maintain progress and bring Empire Wind online on schedule.

Read the full article at Canary Media

NEW JERSEY: NJ Commercial Fishermen Can Apply For Compensation From Empire Wind Farm, Being Built Off Long Branch

October 1, 2025 — If you are a New Jersey commercial fisherman, or a shoreside business for commercial fishing, you can be compensated for any negative outcomes of the construction and operation of Empire Wind.

Empire Wind is the first wind farm to be built off New Jersey; it is being built 19 miles off Long Branch. Currently, they are about halfway done with construction, the company says. Empire Wind is owned by the Kingdom of Norway, a majority shareholder in Norwegian renewable energy company Equinor.

“Empire Wind is continuing to work with the fishing community to avoid and mitigate any project impacts,” said Empire Wind. “A fisheries compensation program has been established to provide compensation to commercial and charter/for hire fishermen along with shoreside businesses that have been economically impacted by construction and operations activities.”

Read the full article at The Patch

DOJ Tells Court to Reject Challenge to Empire Wind’s Licensing

September 11, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in an ongoing case challenging the licensing for the construction of the Empire Wind offshore energy project, citing the lack of merit in the opposition’s claims and defending the licensing process. The filing contradicts some of the positions the Trump administration has taken to challenge other offshore wind projects.

The filing was made on September 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a case filed by local opponents of offshore wind that call their group Save Long Beach Island. The group has repeatedly filed claims in court seeking injunctions against the permits issued for the wind farm projects. The current case against the U.S. Department of Commerce is seeking emergency injunctive relief to enjoin the construction of Empire Wind, which is underway, as well as the effective dates of the project’s Record of Decision and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Letter of Authorization.

In the past, the Trump administration has cited concerns over the regulatory approvals for offshore wind projects and claimed the Biden administration rushed projects through the approval process. In April, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management stopped offshore activity for Empire Wind, citing some of these same concerns, but a month later reversed its order and permitted the project’s offshore work to resume.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

NEW JERSEY: Belford Seafood Co-Op President Says Why He Joined Lawsuit Against Empire Wind Farm

August 12, 2025 — Middletown’s Belford Seafood Co-op joined a host of New Jersey commercial fishing companies in a federal lawsuit against Empire Wind, a wind farm owned by the Kingdom of Norway that is currently under construction 19 miles (17 nautical miles) off Long Branch.

And now today — for the first time — Belford Co-op president and fishing boat captain Richard Isaksen talks about why he is against the wind farm.

“It’s going to interfere with our fishing grounds. We fear we will be stopped from fishing there,” said Isaksen, who lives locally in Middletown. “It changes by season, but those are our prime grounds for fluke, flounder and squid. The underground cables could also disrupt fish.”

Read the full article at the Patch

Fulton Fish Market Cooperative rallies to urge Trump to halt Empire Wind project

July 18, 2025 — Bronx, New York City, USA-based Fulton Fish Market Cooperative held an emergency rally on 16 July to urge U.S. President Donald Trump to halt the Empire Wind offshore wind project that seafood industry stakeholders claim will put their livelihoods at risk.

Seafood industry stakeholders gathered at the event – many of whom were unionized employees of the market – said the project threatens their livelihoods and those in New York’s seafood industry. Fulton Fish Market Cooperative CEO Nicole Ackerina said the project will heavily damage the industry and push it out of the region.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Seafood workers, supporters rally at Fulton market against Empire Wind

July 16, 2025 — The Fulton Fish Market Cooperative hosted a July 15 rally at its Hunts Point facility in the Bronx to protest the Empire Wind energy project, now under construction around traditional fishing grounds off New York.

“Offshore wind is not a supplement to our industry, it is a direct replacement,” Nicole Ackerina, CEO of the Fulton cooperative, said in a joint statement after the rally with union workers, commercial fishermen from New York and New Jersey, and coastal advocates.

“These projects will eliminate access to vital fishing grounds, destabilize our seafood infrastructure, and trade American jobs for short-term foreign-backed construction contracts.”

Fulton employs 1,200 full-time workers, including 500 Bronx residents, most of them union members, said Ackerina.

“Our industry feeds America. NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reported that in 2022, New York’s seafood industry supported nearly 70,000 jobs and over $9.2 billion in sales. New Jersey supported more than 72,000 jobs and $12.9 billion in sales. This is not expendable.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW YORK: NYC fishermen beg Trump to rethink offshore windfarm that could devastate marine life

July 16, 2025 — Commercial fishing workers pleaded with President Trump to again maroon a wind project off the Long Island shore – arguing Tuesday the green energy initiative could throw the industry into disarray.

Business and environmental organizations gathered at the Fulton Fish Market Cooperative in the Bronx early Tuesday to emphasize the devastating effects the Empire Wind One project could have on fishermen’s jobs and marine life.

The Trump administration temporarily paused the project in April while it was already under construction, launching a review of the permits issued during former President Joe Biden’s administration. The stop was lifted a month later.

Read the full article at The New York Post

Fulton Fish Market joins lawsuit against Empire Wind

July 11, 2025 — The Fulton Fish Market Cooperative in New York, the nation’s largest seafood market, has signed onto a federal lawsuit brought by commercial fishermen and coastal activists opposing Equinor’s ongoing Empire Wind offshore energy project.

Operators of the Fulton market, including 23 member companies that move more than 5 million tons of seafood through their Bronx location weekly, are the newest plaintiffs in an amended complaint filed July 4 with the U.S. District Court for New Jersey.

With the Trump administration allowing Equinor to proceed with construction, it’s clear “that this administration is aware offshore wind is nothing but a greenwashing shell game that will industrialize our oceans and kill longstanding American port communities and economies,” Fulton CEO Nicole Ackerina said in a joint statement July 9 with other plaintiffs.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Businesses, environmentalists join forces to stop NY offshore wind project they fear will harm fishing, sea life

July 9, 2025 — They’re in uncharted waters.

In a rare move, businesses and environmentalists have joined forces in court to furiously fight New York’s Empire Wind One offshore project, saying that it will devastate both the commercial fishing industry and marine life in local waters.

“A decade ago, we said it would affect fishermen, fisheries, and guess what? The state didn’t care,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.

“We are collateral damage — even though we feed people.”

The decade-long planned energy initiative, which began construction last April off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, faces a growing lawsuit from stakeholders in the tri-state area.

The Bronx’s massive Fulton Fish Market Cooperative, which employs around 1,200, and Nassau County’s Point Lookout Fishing Club, and the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association are some of the groups joining a legal action brought by environmentalists in the area.

Read the full article at The New York Post