Saving Seafood

Offshore wind auction draws huge interest and big money

December 17, 2018 — The blockbuster auction for offshore wind leases that wrapped up Friday should leave few doubts: The industry has finally arrived in New England.

Three developers backed by major European energy companies paid a record $405 million to gain access to 390,000 acres of federal waters nearly 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. These firms will each pay $135 million to the federal government for the rights to build massive windmills in their respective slices of the ocean.

“We are completely blown away by this result,” Walter Cruickshank, acting director of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, told reporters after the auction ended.

Cruickshank was speaking for the agency that oversaw the auction, but he also summed up much of the industry’s reaction.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Fishing industry says it doesn’t endorse Vineyard Wind’s ‘consensus plan’ for transit lanes

December 11, 2018 — The fishing industry said Vineyard Wind distorted its words on Monday.

A release by Vineyard Wind said the offshore wind company endorsed a “consensus” transit corridor plan supported by the fishing industry, but multiple people within the fishing industry told The Standard-Times they didn’t support or endorse the plan.

The consensus within the industry is a 4-mile wide transit lane. Vineyard Wind’s endorsed plan called for 2-mile wide corridors.

“It’s frustrating for the fishing because we’re coming with options even though we’re losing tremendous ground and we’re losing a lot of traditional transit (lanes),” said Meghan Lapp, a fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd. “But we’re still trying to come to the table to make something work and in light of this press release, it doesn’t really seem like it’s being reciprocated.”

The model endorsed by Vineyard Wind is one developed in a September meeting in New Bedford. Eric Hansen, a New Bedford scalloper, attended the meeting and remembered the plan being thought of as a worst-case scenario for the fishing industry.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Documentary Tracks Territory Dispute Over Lobster Bounty

December 7, 2018 — While many communities, including the Vineyard, have seen extreme declines in lobster populations over the years, the species has rebounded further north in a disputed area on the border of the United States and Canada. Fueled by warming waters due to climate change, this newly robust lobster area is being claimed by both countries, and it’s been dubbed the gray zone.

Lobster War, a new film about the building tension in the gray zone off the coast of Maine, will screen on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center. Film director and Boston Globe reporter David Abel will appear for a question and answer session via Skype. He will be joined by Tubby Medeiros and Wes Brighton of the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, both of whom lobster in the waters around the Vineyard.

Speaking with the Gazette by phone, Mr. Abel said he learned about the gray zone through his environmental reporting for the Boston Globe.

“I’m interested in telling stories that look at how climate change affects us and how it’s not an abstract threat, but it’s having a real impact on people’s lives,” he said.

Read the full story at The Vineyard Gazette 

Vineyard Wind draft report released

December 6, 2018 — While local community members still need to comb through the details, a federal analysis of Vineyard Wind’s $2 billion construction and operations plans that is to be officially released in draft form on Friday is expected to keep the project moving forward.

“The company remains squarely on track to place equipment orders and start construction in 2019,” said Erich Stephens, Vineyard Wind’ chief development officer.

The company needs to begin construction of its 800-megawatt wind farm next year because 2019 is the final year of a federal investment tax credit program that was a component in the company’s successful bid to sell electricity to three electricity distributors in Massachusetts.

By remaining on schedule, the company can maximize the value of the tax credit, “creating $1.4 billion in savings for the Commonwealth over the life of the project,” Stephens said.

Top executives with Vineyard Wind expressed optimism in late September about completion dates for the offshore project after a Bank of America Merrill Lynch financial report indicated timely permitting by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. In late September, a spokeswoman for the federal agency said Vineyard Wind’s draft environmental impact statement would be issued for public comment by December, and that a final decision on the company’s construction and operations plan is expected next summer.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Concern Grows for Future of Right Whales

November 30, 2018 — A group of 17 North Atlantic right whales was spotted by an aerial survey team 21 miles south of Nantucket early this week, prompting a renewed call for voluntary speed restrictions among mariners and also renewed concern for the future of the critically endangered mammals.

In response to the whale sighting early Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has instituted a voluntary vessel speed restriction zone, also known as a DMA, or dynamic management area, that encompasses Nantucket and extends to the southeastern coast of Martha’s Vineyard and Chappaquiddick. Boaters are asked to limit their speed to 10 knots or less when sailing through the area, which spans latitudinally from 40 degrees, 28 minutes north to 41 degrees, 22 minutes north, and longitudinally from 70 degrees, 39 minutes west to 69 degrees, 29 minutes west. Overall, the rectangular area encompasses approximately 360 square nautical miles.

With only about 400 whales remaining, the North Atlantic right whale is one of the rarest marine mammals in the world. The whales are known to appear around Cape Cod and the Islands around this time of year, fattening up on zooplankton before heading south to breed. Two weeks ago, NOAA reported a sighting of four right whales in a similar location off Nantucket’s south shore. But 17 is an entirely different story.

“That’s a lot of whales,” said Jennifer Goebel, a spokesman for NOAA, speaking to the Gazette Tuesday. “Usually when we set up these dynamic management areas we can do it on anything over three, sometimes four, maybe five. This was 17, so that tells you.”

Read the full story at The Vineyard Gazette

Vineyard Wind Project Hit with Setbacks as Deadline Approaches

November 27, 2018 — The influx of offshore wind energy isn’t without its hiccups as developers negotiate with regulatory agencies and fishermen to get their projects approved as deadlines approach.

Vineyard Wind, the 94-turbine wind facility proposed for south of Martha’s Vineyard, was dealt a setback recently when it was denied an extension to complete a review by Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC).

The developers, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables LLC, already received additional time and wanted a seven-week extension to settle objections from fishermen and CRMC staff. The project is under pressure to get approved so that it can meet deadlines for financing and qualify for a federal tax credit.

At issue is the layout of the project. Fishermen want wide corridors, specifically a mile or wider oriented east to west. Current plans offer two 1-mile corridors, with only one running east to west. As an alternative, Vineyard Wind proposed using larger turbines with nearly 10 megawatts of capacity, thereby reducing the number of towers to 84 and shrinking the project’s footprint.

According to Vineyard Wind, the bigger turbines would be the largest available commercially, but pose risk to the project because they haven’t received design certification.

Vineyard Wind also offered to pay the fishermen for lost income. Details of the compensation proposal would be negotiated with fishermen and would consist of funds paid to boat owners and/or programs that support the commercial fishing industry. Vineyard Wind also offered to contribute to fisheries studies of the federal wind-energy zone.

CRMC said it was open to another extension but only after good-faith efforts were made with the Fishermen’s Advisory Board (FAB), a CRMC-affiliated committee.

Read the full story at ecoRI

Vineyard Wind loses backing of a fishing board, decision may have serious consequences for proposed offshore wind farm

November 21, 2018 — Vineyard Wind is facing an uphill battle to secure a key approval from Rhode Island coastal regulators for its 800-megawatt offshore wind farm after a state fishing board refused to back the $2-billion project.

The Fishermen’s Advisory Board, which advises the Coastal Resources Management Council on fishing issues related to offshore wind, voted unanimously Monday to deny its support out of fear that the layout of the project’s 84 towering wind turbines in Rhode Island Sound would close off fishing grounds that are considered some of the most productive for the state’s commercial fleet.

The proposal is now set to go before the coastal council on Nov. 27, with what’s known as a “consistency certification” on the line. Vineyard Wind has asked for a stay in proceedings, but CRMC executive director Grover Fugate made it clear at the meeting on Monday that the current layout doesn’t fit within the Rhode Island policy that guides offshore development.

“Because of the [Ocean Special Area Management Plan], we’re there to protect the [fishing] industry,” he said. “We’re there to ensure that it continues into the future.”

Even though the Vineyard Wind project would supply power to Massachusetts and be located in federal waters far from the Rhode Island coast, the state has jurisdiction through the consistency process. Under federal law, if a project would impact Rhode Island coastal resources or activities, such as fishing, it must be carried out in a way that is consistent with state policies.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Bay State Wind to host open house

November 19, 2018 — Bay State Wind will host an open house on Wednesday, Dec. 5, to hear from the public about the development of an offshore wind project off the southern Massachusetts coast, according to a press release. The open house will run from 4 to 6 pm at the Loft Restaurant, with a brief presentation about the project at 4:30 pm. Guests will hear about the status of the project and offshore wind in the region from Orsted staff and have a chance to discuss the environmental, economic, and technical issues, and to visit an offshore wind farm through a virtual reality experience, as well as to voice their opinion about Bay State Wind’s project.

Read the full story at The MV Times

Fishermen ask for more time to study wind impact

November 12, 2018 — Fishermen, fish processors and others warned on Thursday that fishing grounds will be lost with the construction of Vineyard Wind, and some expressed doubt that planned UMass Dartmouth research can happen fast enough to document the loss.

“We have this huge area we’re going to develop, and obviously we’ve got a pretty close timeline,” said Ed Barrett, a commercial fisherman from the South Shore. “How are you ever going to even come close to figuring out an impact? … I have zero faith in that.”

UMD’s School for Marine Science and Technology held the meeting to collect fishing industry comments as researchers begin to design monitoring studies that would occur before, during and after construction. Vineyard Wind has hired SMAST to help write a monitoring plan to submit to federal regulators, Professor Steve Cadrin said in an interview prior to the meeting.

Three similar meetings are planned for Rhode Island, Chatham and Martha’s Vineyard.

Katie Almeida, fishery policy analyst for The Town Dock, a squid dealer and processor in Rhode Island, said that for two years, her company has been asking for at least five years of pre-construction fishery monitoring, and the conversation has not gone any further.

“And now we’re down to what, a year?” she said. “How can we get any meaningful science and study done that’s going to actually hold up to any kind of scrutiny for baseline studies?”

People have been asking for a delay, she said.

Cadrin and Professor Kevin Stokesbury hosted the meeting. One of the problems they will face in designing a study, Stokesbury said, is that whatever survey methods they use before construction, they have to be able to use during and after construction, to eliminate variables.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Fisheries Researchers Map Habitats Ahead of Offshore Wind Development

November 9, 2018 — HYANNIS, Mass. – NOAA Fisheries researchers are helping to inform federal managers and developers on the impacts that construction and operation of offshore wind facilities will have on ocean bottom habitats and fisheries.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducted four years of research to build a database of information, including water temperatures, topography, sediments, currents and marine life in the eight Wind Energy Areas authorized by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management along the East Coast.

The designated WEAs encompass just over 4,000 square nautical miles of seafloor from Massachusetts to North Carolina. About 40 percent of the area has actually been leased to date, including the Vineyard Wind project development south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com