Saving Seafood

Apollo-Backed US Wind Seeks Approval for Turbines off Maryland

August 4, 2021 — US Wind Inc. has submitted a bid to Maryland regulators to build a massive wind farm off the state’s shoreline, the latest proposal for such projects off the East Coast and a potential step closer to the Biden administration’s goal of eliminating carbon emissions from power plants.

The Momentum Wind farm would include up to 82 turbines producing about 1.2 gigawatts of power at full capacity, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Baltimore, Maryland-based US Wind also plans a steel-fabrication facility near the port city to build the foundations for its offshore turbines.

State regulators are also weighing a competing bid from Denmark’s Orsted AS, the world’s biggest offshore wind power developer. Officials could award permission to build the entire 1,200 megawatts to one company or split the approval between them. Both are already building smaller projects in the area.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

eVTR Instructional Webinar Next Tuesday Afternoon

August 2, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The second in a series of instructional webinars to provide vessel operators and others with a walkthrough of GARFO’s two electronic vessel trip reporting applications- the Fish Online Web app, and the Fish Online iOS app- will be held Tuesday, August 3 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM.

This webinar is focused on operators in Port Agent Josh O’Connor’s area of Southern New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

Future instructional webinars will include demonstrations of the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program’s (ACCSP) eTrips/mobile v2 and eTrips online applications. Other eVTR applications may also be included in these webinars. Anyone is welcome to join any webinar.

How Do I Join?

More information can be found on our webpage for this series: How to Use Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting Apps. This page includes webinar login information.

Questions?

Contact your local Port Agent.

DELAWARE: A much bigger wind farm could be coming to the Delmarva coast

July 21, 2021 — The company developing a wind farm off the coast of southern Delaware and Maryland is hoping to start a second one. It could be several times the size of the first.

Ørsted’s 120-megawatt Skipjack wind farm under development off the Delmarva coast is not expected to come online for another 5 years. But the Danish renewable energy company has already submitted a bid to the Maryland Public Service Commission to build Skipjack Wind 2. At 760 megawatts, more than six times the size of Skipjack 1, the proposed Skipjack Wind 2 could power up to 250,000 homes on the peninsula.

The renewable energy credits from both projects would go to Maryland. But Ørsted’s Mid-Atlantic Market Manager Brady Walker said at a virtual open house Monday Delaware will still benefit—from things like a “supplier day” the company hosted in Bethany beach.

“That’s a great example of, whether it’s a small business or someone that wants to be employed or get otherwise involved in the industry, where you can come and meet our prime contractors and find out how you can bid for business and become part of the industry,” he said.

At this point, Skipjack 2 is just a proposal. Walker told members of the public that its size is not set in stone.

Read the full story at DPM

Landmark bid would expand Ocean City offshore wind energy

July 15, 2021 — Ørsted, a Denmark-based company, has announced its plans to expand the Delmarva Peninsula’s wind energy operations in a bid submitted July 7 to the Maryland Public Service Commission.

The Skipjack Wind 2 site is slated to produce 760 megawatts of energy, which could power 250,000 homes in the region. The project would add to an already robust wind energy portfolio for the company that is already the largest in the nation.

 “Ørsted is privileged to already be a long-term partner to the state of Maryland as it works to meet its offshore wind goals,” David Hardy, CEO of Ørsted Offshore North America, said in a released statement.

According to a company spokesperson, the next step in the process is holding meetings with community stakeholders in both Maryland and Delaware to discuss the timeline and details of the project.

Read the full story at Delaware Online

Wind power expansion in Maryland would power more than 250,000 Delmarva homes, per Ørsted

July 8, 2021 — The developer of a wind farm near Ocean City says it has submitted a bid to the Maryland Public Service Commission for a new Round 2 offshore wind project.

Ørsted said in a release that its Skipjack Wind 2 project for up to 760 megawatts will power more than  250,000 Delmarva homes.

It said the bid is in response to the Maryland commission’s call for proposals for Round 2 offshore wind projects, through which the commission can award at least 1,200 megawatts of Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Credits.

Ørsted is currently developing Skipjack Wind 1, a 120-megawatt offshore wind farm off the coast of Ocean City.

Read the full story at the Salisbury Daily Times

Orsted submits bid to develop offshore windfarm in Maryland

July 8, 2021 — Denmark’s wind farm developer Orsted (ORSTED.CO) on Wednesday said it had submitted a bid to develop the Skipjack Wind 2 offshore wind farm in the state of Maryland in the United States.

The world’s largest offshore wind farm developer, which is already developing the 120-MW Skipjack Wind Farm 1 off the Maryland-Delaware coast, said the project could be up to 760 megawatts in size.

In the bidding round, at least 1,200-MW of offshore wind energy certificates can be awarded, Orsted said.

Read the full story at Reuters

MARYLAND: Crab Population Is Not Being Overfished According To Blue Crab Report Released By Chesapeake Bay Program

July 1, 2021 — The Chesapeake Bay Program released the 2021 Blue Crab Advisory Report and it found that the blue crab population is not being overfished and is not depleted. The numbers may be down, but the population remains healthy.

“All of us who love blue crabs benefit from the science-based analysis and discussion in the Blue Crab Advisory Report. The report helps state resource managers set limits that leave enough crabs in the Bay to ensure healthy harvests for years to come,” said Sean Corson, Director, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office and Chair, Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team.

The Winter Dredge Survey found that the blue cran population in the bay decreased from 405 million in 2020 to 282 million in 2021. Experts said this decline can be attributed to the juvenile crab population — crabs that will grow to harvestable size next year. That number is estimated to be 86 million, down from 185 million in 2020.

Read the full story at CBS Baltimore

Chesapeake Bay’s ‘dead zone’ to be smaller this summer, researchers say

June 30, 2021 — The Chesapeake Bay’s “dead zone,” the oxygen-starved blob of water that waxes and wanes each summer, is forecast to be smaller than average for a second consecutive year.

A consortium of research institutions announced June 23 that it expects the volume of this year’s dead zone to be 14% lower than average. In 2020, the zone was smaller than 80% of those monitored since surveying began in 1985.

The size of the summer dead zone is driven largely by how much excess nutrients flow off lawns and agricultural fields into the Bay during the preceding January to May, researchers say. Those nutrients — nitrogen and phosphorus — fuel explosive algae growth, triggering a chemical reaction that robs the water of oxygen as it dies back. The area is dubbed a “dead zone” because of the lack of life found within it.

This year, those first five months were slightly drier than usual, causing river flows entering the Bay to be 13% below average. As a result, the Chesapeake received 19% less nitrogen pollution compared with the long-term average at monitoring stations along nine major tributaries.

Efforts to curb nutrient pollution in the Bay’s 64,000-square-mile watershed also appear to have played a role in shrinking this year’s dead zone, scientists say. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has joined with Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia to implement a “pollution diet” for the Bay and its tributaries by 2025.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

University of Maryland environmental scientists give the Chesapeake Bay a C on health report

June 23, 2021 — After two straight year’s of declines due to record rainfall in 2018, the Chesapeake Bay’s health improved slightly in 2020, according to a report from the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science.

The center’s grade for the estuary ticked up from a C- back to a C. The entire watershed received a B- for the second straight year.

The grade is based on measurements of phosphorous, nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, water clarity, aquatic grasses and bottom-dwellers.

Officials dubbed the data a mixed bag. For instance, the bay’s dissolved oxygen and nitrogen levels improved, but the scores for chlorophyll and phosphorous worsened. Water clarity, too, remains poor.

Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun

Crab Supply Pricing Out Delaware Restaurants as Some Crabbers Find Success Another Way

June 17, 2021 — For many Delaware families, summer means picnic tables full of steamed blue claw crabs or crab cake dinners at a favorite restaurant. But this summer, those same crabs will cost much higher prices, if you can find them at all while dining out.

Mrs. Robino’s, an Italian restaurant in Wilmington, for example, has temporarily cancelled their popular Thursday crab nights because of problems getting enough crab meat and the cost with the crab they can get their hands on.

“Now, it’s to the point where it’s just so expensive, it’s like tripled in price just about,” Andrea Wakefield of Mrs. Robino’s said.

Two issues are playing havoc with blue crab in Delaware: supply chain disruptions still upending shipping of crabs from places like Louisiana and North Carolina, where the crabs are caught in the winter months; and more locally, an inability to find crabbing manpower in the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland and Delaware. The Chesapeake Bay crabbing industry also got off to a slow start this year due to lower numbers of adult crabs, but experts say that it isn’t a dire situation longterm.

The problems have combined to create a shortage and high prices for restaurants.

Read the full story at NBC 10