Saving Seafood

New York’s Prized Sea Scallop Faces Off Against Offshore Wind

May 23, 2019 — Developers pushing to install massive wind turbines in the waters off New York and New Jersey have run into a delicate yet mighty foe: the Atlantic sea scallop.

Prized for their sweet and tender meat, scallops are abundant off Long Island and the Jersey Shore. That happens to be where the Trump administration wants to auction leases for offshore wind farms for what’s envisioned to be a $70 billion U.S. industry.

Efforts by fishermen to block the projects could have sweeping implications for both seafood lovers and the push to bring clean energy to the most densely populated corner of America. The area in the Atlantic, which could fit enough windmills to power all of New York City, is home to some of the world’s richest scallop beds. And erecting turbines nearly as tall as the Chrysler Building could make mollusks much harder to harvest.

“It’s an insane amount of ocean to occupy, and it will leave a trail of destruction,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

As wind giants set sights on NY, fishermen demand a role

UK fishermen tell locals of their experiences in Europe with offshore wind farms and how to organize.

April 10, 2019 — As global wind-energy interests set their sights on more than a dozen offshore U.S. energy areas, two longtime British fishermen who act as go-betweens to the offshore wind industry and the fishing community advised Long Island fishermen to stay vigilant and demand a seat at the table when waters are divvied up.

Two dozen Long Island fishermen gathered in Montauk Monday to hear how two veterans of Europe’s maturing offshore wind industry worked to bring their industry into discussions on siting projects in waters that have traditionally been their workplace. It hasn’t been easy, and successes have come only recently, they said.

Colin Warwick, chairman of the Fishing Liaison Offshore Wind and Wet Renewables, Crown Estate, said U.K. fishermen were initially caught flat-footed when wind-energy developers first started planning turbines for their fishing grounds. It’s taken time for fishermen to demand a seat at the table so that prime harvest grounds aren’t lost, and so that fishermen can be compensated if even temporary work limits access to those grounds.

“We had to find a way to bring the fishing industry into the discussion,” said Warwick. “Most importantly, you have to be organized.”

Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said challenges continue. “We’re fighting on everything and we’re united as a group, but we can’t seem to get teeth in because wind farm companies keep saying, ‘I can’t hear you.’ ”

Read the full story at Newsday

 

New York files suit over low commercial fluke quota

January 15, 2019 — New York State has filed suit against the Trump administration to officially contest the state’s “unfair” share of the federal quota for fluke,  state Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Monday.

The suit follows release of December 2018 allocations for fluke that the state said remained disproportionately small and based on “inaccurate and outdated” fishing data, James said in a statement.

Cuomo had first said the state would sue in 2013, but as recently as last year refrained from doing so as it attempted other remedies, including a petition filed with the federal government. “The message is loud and clear: we will fight this unfair quota until New York’s access to summer flounder is consistent with national standards,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Hundreds of  Long Island commercial fluke fishermen have for decades decried New York’s share of the commercial fluke quota, which stands at just 7.6 percent, compared  with 21.3 for Virginia and 27.4 for North Carolina.

Read the full story at Newsday

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition: Menhaden Fishing in New York, New Jersey is Sustainable, Infrequent

October 25, 2018 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

The past few months have seen an unnecessary controversy over legal and routine menhaden fishing in the federal waters off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. With the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) having met this week for its annual meeting, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) would, once again, like to unequivocally state that our members’ fishing operations in both the reduction and the bait fisheries are sustainable, and in compliance with all menhaden regulations.

The recent misleading attacks on menhaden fishermen have claimed that the fishery threatens the food supply of marine mammals and other predator species, despite there being no evidence to support this allegation. Instead, the best available science points to a thriving menhaden population that is successfully meeting its ecological roles.

Over the last three years, the ASMFC, which manages Atlantic menhaden, has repeatedly delivered good news for the stock, confirming in a stock assessment last year that the species is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. As a direct result of this news, the Commission voted to once again raise the quota, which they determined could be implemented withno risk of overfishing the resource.

Looking at the Commission’s stock assessment data, there is no evidence suggesting that menhaden fisheries are negatively impacting predator species. A MFC analysis of that data published last year found that 92 percent of Atlantic menhaden are left in the water to serve as food for predators and to meet other environmental functions.

As part of the coastwide menhaden fishery, New York’s and New Jersey’s menhaden quotas are conservatively set by the ASMFC to ensure sustainability. Most of the recent criticism of the fishery has focused on two individual days of fishing: one in late August and another in early September. Since then, activist groups have continued to push a misleading narrative to the public, ignoring the ample evidence that points to there being more than enough menhaden to support whales, fish, fishermen and fishing communities.

Members of the MFC who support a healthy menhaden fishery off New York and New Jersey include Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, New Jersey; the Garden State Seafood Association in Trenton, New Jersey; the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk, New York; and Omega Protein in Reedville, Virginia.

About the MFC
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Federal court rules against fishermen in Northeast Canyons monument lawsuit

October 10, 2018 — A federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit brought by commercial fishing groups that challenged the creation of a marine national monument in 2016.

The organizations, which included the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, claimed the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama did not have the authority to establish the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

The monument is the first national marine monument established in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of the designation, commercial fishing – except for certain red crab and lobster fishing – is prohibited in the 5,000-square-mile area. The crab and lobster fishing will continue until their permits expire.

While the administration of current U.S. President Donald Trump has been considering reopening it and other marine monuments for commercial fishing, it did seek the dismissal of the lawsuit, claiming the Antiquities Act gave presidents the right to establish and define such monuments.

“This is not a joke, jobs will be lost and thousands of people’s lives will be impacted through a back-door process that did not require formal federal review,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in a Facebook post.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

New York’s offshore wind plan faces commercial fishing opposition

September 13, 2018 — The plan to turn ocean wind into energy calls for anchoring 15 wind turbines, each one a little taller than the Washington Monument, into the sea floor more than 30 miles off the coast of Montauk, Long Island.

They’ll be far enough out in the Atlantic that they won’t be seen from Long Island’s beaches, so far in fact, that it will require miles and miles of cable to deliver their 90 megawatts of energy – enough to power 50,000 homes – from ocean to land.

And that’s right smack in the middle of where Chris Scola makes his living.

Several days a week, Scola motors his rusting trawler – the Rock-n-Roll III — into the waters off Montauk’s coast, drops a dredging net onto the ocean floor and scoops up hundreds of pounds of scallops.

Once those cables go in, Scola fears his nets will get entangled, making dredging so difficult he’ll need to find a place to fish further offshore with a larger boat, sending himself deeper into debt.

“This isn’t just about fishermen,” said Bonnie Brady, the executive director of the Montauk-based Long Island Commercial Fishing Association. “This is about the environment. You’re industrializing the ocean floor.”

Brady said developers have failed to properly account for the impact that two processes essential to the Montauk wind farm project will have on fishing habitats. One is the pile driving required to anchor 590-foot tall turbines in the ocean floor and the other is jet plowing, which liquidizes sediment so cable can be dug four to six feet into the ocean floor.

The project’s developer, Deepwater Wind, says the processes might have an initial impact on fishing habitats but over time things will return to normal.

Read the full story at the Poughkeepsie Journal

NEW YORK: Plea to Fund Fishing Survey

September 7, 2018 — Several months after they asked East Hampton Town for $30,000 to collect data aimed at protecting fishing grounds and compensating commercial fishermen when they are unable to work, that request has still not been granted, the director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and the liaison chosen by East Hampton Town’s fisheries advisory committee to communicate with Deepwater Wind complained to the town board on Tuesday.

While the liaison, Julie Evans, and Bonnie Brady of the fishing association addressed the board, Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company planning to construct the 15-turbine South Fork Wind Farm approximately 30 miles off Montauk, is in the midst of a projected four-month survey at the site and along the transmission cable’s route to shore.

Commercial fishermen are mostly opposed to the wind farm, fearing damage or destruction of fishing grounds and potential alteration of migration patterns caused by the electromagnetic frequency emitted by its transmission cable.

A “mariners briefing” dated Tuesday and posted on Deepwater Wind’s website states that “all mariners transiting or fishing in the survey area are requested to give a wide berth to survey vessels as they will be limited in their ability to maneuver and towing gear out to 300 meters behind the vessel.”

Ms. Brady told the board that the purpose of a fisheries representative is to develop a mitigation-monitoring plan with a Deepwater Wind representative. “Unfortunately,” she said, “when it comes to Deepwater, their communication as far as the survey is ‘Get out of the way,’ and outreach is ‘Get out of the way now.’ ” Commercial fishermen who work in the survey area are now restricted, she said. “For how long? Who pays that? If you’ve got a day’s pay and have made that same day’s pay over the course of the last 10 or 20 years, and suddenly you can’t fish because the survey boat is there,” a mitigation plan is not only needed but should have been in place prior to commencement of the survey.

Read the full story at The Hampton Star

NY ratepayers will pay for $2.1B offshore wind plan, but won’t get the energy

August 8, 2018 — New York state ratepayers will pick up the tab for the Cuomo Administration’s multi-billion dollar plan to jump-start the offshore wind industry, but most won’t benefit from the energy produced.

Only consumers in Long Island and New York City will be able to access the wind-powered energy that’s going to be generated in the waters off the state’s Atlantic coast in the years to come.

As soon as 2020, typical residential ratepayers could see an increase of up to 76 cents a month in their electric bills as the state goes all-in on offshore wind as a critical piece of the state’s renewable energy future, The Journal News/Poughkeepsie Journal has learned.

That’s in addition to the average $2 per month charge state ratepayers are already paying for the bailout of three struggling upstate nuclear power plants for the next ten years.

The New York State Public Service Commission announced last week that it had agreed to procure some 800 megawatts of offshore wind energy over the next two years, the first phase in an effort to develop 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, enough to power 1.2 million households in New York City and Long Island.

“Robust offshore wind development is not only critical to meeting our clean energy and carbon reduction goals, this investment has the potential to create thousands of jobs and fuel a $6 billion industry for New York as it combats climate change,” Cuomo said.

The Long Island Commercial Fishing Association (LICFA), based in Montauk, have joined a lawsuit challenging the decision by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to allow thousands of acres off the Atlantic coast of Long Island to be leased to offshore wind companies.

The six areas available for lease could hold up to 200 wind turbines.

“The historical, traditional commercial fishing communities of Long Island, which include hundreds of small business owners, the very tax and rate-payers whose businesses help to support other small businesses throughout Long Island, are ground zero for having their very livelihoods and businesses destroyed,” Bonnie Brady, the executive director of LICFA wrote in April.

Read the full story from the Poughkeepsie Journal at the Ithaca Journal

Bay State Wind alters layout for offshore wind farm, but fisheries call foul

August 8, 2018 — Bay State Wind LLC is changing the turbine layout of its 800-MW Bay State Offshore Wind Project to accommodate the U.S. commercial fishing industry’s ability to work between turbines. But fisheries say the changes are too little, too late and underscore their growing frustration with the offshore wind sector.

Bay State Wind, a partnership between Danish energy developer Ørsted A/S and New England utility Eversource Energy, announced on Aug. 6 that the new plan reorganizes wind turbines in rows running east-to-west and incorporates one nautical mile between rows to allow fishing vessels more space to travel through, “keeping in mind the need to balance safe navigation, fishing concerns and clean energy production.” The updated turbine layout will be included in Bay State Wind’s construction and operations plan that it intends to submit to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management by early 2019.

However, the commercial fishing industry is not satisfied with Bay State Wind’s changed layout. Meghan Lapp, fisheries liaison for Rhode Island-based frozen seafood producer Seafreeze Ltd., said one-mile-wide transit lanes can make it dangerous for trawl vessels to fish with their nets without hitting other boats or project infrastructure. Buffer zones for each side of a transit lane are also needed due to potential radar interference from the turbines.

“Unfortunately, developers only seem to do what is convenient for them at a low cost in response to fishing issues and concerns,” Lapp said. “The right step for a long-term working relationship between the fishing and wind industries is to address these and other commercial fishing concerns before we reach the stage of construction plans. Which is not being done in any meaningful way.”

Bonnie Brady, director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said the frustration with Bay State Wind’s project is not unfamiliar. She recalled similar issues with Deepwater Wind‘s Deepwater Offshore Wind Energy Center (South Fork Wind Farm) proposed off of Rhode Island, which has a turbine layout that would require fisheries to make detours that would add hours and costs to fishing trips.

Read the full story at S&P Global Market Intelligence

Fishermen Vent About Fears on Offshore Wind

July 19, 2018 — Three staffers from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) faced a tidal wave of resentment when they met with commercial fishermen on July 11 at the Montauk Playhouse.

The federal employees were there to obtain comments about the federal government’s plan to lease sections of the continental shelf south of Long Island and east of New Jersey for wind farm development.

The highly structured event was supposed to have included a slide presentation and question-and-answer session that was billed “New York Bight Call and Area Identification” in the four-hour event schedule. “Call” areas are those identified by BOEM as suitable for leasing.

Instead a group of about 15 fishermen spent the time peppering BOEM fisheries biologist Brian Hooker with questions, complaints and a few rants, including that of fisherman Chuck Morici, who told the officials they made him sick.

Read the full story at the Sag Harbor Express