Saving Seafood

MARYLAND: Maryland Eyes August Rockfish Ban to Save Struggling Striped Bass

February 5, 2026 — Maryland anglers and conservationists have until Feb. 23 to weigh in on proposed changes to striped bass recreational fishing seasons that aim to bolster protection for the species during its most vulnerable periods in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is accepting public comments on a “baseline reset” that would impose a full no-targeting closure for striped bass throughout August in Maryland waters, including the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. The proposal also includes reopening limited catch-and-release fishing in April, while maintaining harvest opportunities from May through July and from September through early December, with catch-and-release only from mid-December onward.

This adjustment addresses documented challenges facing striped bass, locally known as rockfish. Maryland’s juvenile striped bass survey has shown below-average recruitment for six consecutive years, meaning fewer young fish are surviving early life stages due to factors such as habitat degradation and predation by invasive species like blue catfish. Meanwhile, mature striped bass face elevated mortality risks during summer catch-and-release due to high water temperatures, low oxygen levels, and heat stress. Maryland-specific studies indicate release mortality rates can reach 30 to 40 percent in summer conditions, far higher than the 9 percent assumed in coastwide models.

Read the full article at The Southern Maryland Chronicle 

MARYLAND: Maryland oyster hatchery faces federal funding cut

January 29, 2026 — In a potentially serious blow to oyster restoration efforts in Maryland, the Trump administration has slashed federal funding that supports the operation of the state-run oyster hatchery on the Eastern Shore.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is cutting nearly in half the $740,000 grant it has provided annually for spawning and rearing oysters at the Horn Point laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES).

The cut comes on the heels of the successful conclusion of a more than decade-long campaign to restore oysters in 10 Chesapeake Bay tributaries in Maryland and Virginia — an effort the state-federal Chesapeake Bay Program is now looking to expand. It also comes as Congress, in a rare show of bipartisanship, has increased rather than cut federal funding for Bay oyster restoration efforts.

The Horn Point hatchery, one of the largest on the East Coast, has played a central role in the restoration of oyster reefs in Maryland’s five tributaries. Its annual output of oyster larvae since 2020 has ranged from 400 million to nearly 2 billion.

The hatchery sells some of those larvae to private oyster farmers, but three-quarters of the newly spawned bivalves are set or attached to oyster shells and planted on the bottom of Bay tributaries targeted by the state for restoration.

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

MARYLAND: Offshore wind opponents have their say at forum

January 16, 2026 — Opponents of offshore windfarms gathered in Ocean City this week to discuss the status of the controversial project proposed by U.S. Wind and its potential impact on the Maryland-Delaware coastline.

The group Stop Offshore Wind organized the Jan. 12 forum, held at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center and hosted by Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan.

Speakers included Fenwick Island Mayor Natalie Magdeburger, City Manager Terry McGean of Ocean City and leaders of groups representing the fishing industry, national security concerns and environmental issues.

Magdeburger, a longtime opponent of offshore wind, updated attendees on the status of a lawsuit filed by Fenwick Island and Sussex County officials against the state of Delaware over passage of Senate Bill 159, which overrode the denial by Sussex County Council of a plan to bring power lines ashore at Three Rs beach in Delaware Seashore State Park and connect to a substation located at the former Indian River Power Plant in Dagsboro.

Fenwick has also taken legal action to prevent DNREC from allowing the connections, which would involve running cables under the Indian River Bay.

“It was interesting to me that the Center for the Inland Bays, who actually took money from U.S. Wind, when their scientists…were looking at these issues, they came to the conclusion that plowing through the Indian River Bay would be the ‘worst option’ possible. And yet that was the cheapest option, and that was the option that DNREC…approved.

“The legislature has created a market in Delaware,” Magdeburger said. “It basically mandated that a certain percentage of all of our energy that we purchase in Delaware needs to be purchased from renewables,” such as offshore wind.

Read the full article at Coastal Point

MARYLAND: Panel held in OC to Stop Offshore Wind

January 14, 2026 — A public hearing drew in hundreds to the Roland E. Powell Convention center on Monday night, as eight local leaders and experts spoke on a panel against the installation of offshore windmills.

The event, hosted by the StopOffshoreWind Coalition, in coordination with the Town of Ocean City (OC) and Worcester County Government, sought to push back against U.S. Wind’s longstanding proposal to construct a 114 turbine windfarm located 10.7 miles off the coast of OC. The project was approved in Oct. 2024 under the Biden Administration, but faced scrutiny under the following Trump Administration. On Sept. 12, 2025, the Department of the Interior (DOI) reversed course and filed a motion to vacate and remand the project approval. When the U.S. District Court ordered a briefing on that motion, the federal government then sought to stay the proceedings indefinitely. Maryland Attorney General (AG) Anthony G. Brown and Delaware AG Kathry Jennings have since filed briefs requesting preliminary injunctions to save the project. A ruling is expected late summer 2026.

Speakers gathered to inform residents on where the project currently stands, and how they are continuing the fight against offshore wind. OC Mayor Rick Meehan opened the event and introduced each of the panelists, who specialized in a particular field related to concerns surrounding offshore windmill installation.

“It is almost impossible to believe that over the past eight years, and after attending numerous public hearings at both the state and federal level, stating our concerns, that not one of our concerns has been addressed,” Mayor Meehan said in his opening remarks. “Our goal tonight is to bring to light some of these questions, and provide some of the missing answers for the people in this room.”

Read the full article at WMDT

MARYLAND: Offshore wind project still in limbo

January 3, 2025 — Congressman Andy Harris predicts US Wind will fail.

Regulatory uncertainty, he said, may doom the developer’s plans for an offshore wind farm near Ocean City. It means the deep-pocketed lenders required to finance the project may walk away, the Eastern Shore representative said in an interview with OC Today-Dispatch.

After the U.S. Interior Department on Dec. 22 announced a pause on all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction, citing national security concerns, Harris noted how shares of the five companies affected “took a beating on Wall Street.”

“And I think what that means for US Wind – which, of course, is not a publicly traded company, it’s owned by Italian billionaires – it means that they’re unlikely to get the financing,” he said. “At some point they’re going to pull the plug. I expect that actually to be sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled the plug by summer.”

Read the full article at OC Today-Dispatch

Judge denies US Wind request to halt Trump administration attacks

December 18, 2025 — A federal judge has declined to issue an injunction that would have protected US Wind from what it says are Trump administration attempts to kill its planned wind farm off Ocean City, for which it already has permits.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher in Baltimore noted in her decision — handed down Tuesday — that US Wind technically could move forward with constructing its wind farm off of Delmarva.

Even though President Donald Trump’s (R) administration has announced its intention to reevaluate the crucial Construction and Operations Plan (COP) approval issued to US Wind during the waning days of President Joe Biden’s (D) administration, it has not actually revoked the permit, Gallagher wrote in her ruling.

In a previous decision, Gallagher preliminarily rejected a request from the Trump administration to remand the permit back to the U.S. Department of the Interior for reconsideration. Gallagher ruled that the government needed to present more information in order for her to make a ruling. But she allowed the department to carry on with any “internal review” of the permit, as desired.

Read the full article at Maryland Matters

Court Denies Motion for Injunction of BOEM’s Review of Maryland COP

December 17, 2025 — A federal court judge in Maryland has denied a request by offshore wind developer US Wind for a preliminary injunction against the federal government in its ongoing fight to save its planned offshore wind project off Ocean City, Maryland. It is the latest twist in the ongoing court battle over Maryland’s first offshore wind project and the broader battle against the Trump administration’s efforts to derail the industry and revoke existing permits.

US Wind, which is a partnership between investment firm Apollo Global Management and Italy’s Renexia, is planning a large wind farm off the Maryland coast that would include 114 wind turbines. The company completed its federal-level reviews, receiving approval of its Construction and Operation Plan in December 2024, but has faced local opposition and the new administration’s declared goal to end offshore wind energy.

The company has found itself caught up in multiple legal battles, including a jurisdictional dispute between the federal and state environmental protection authorities. Ocean City, Maryland, has also sued the federal government, challenging the approval of the wind farm’s plans.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

MARYLAND: Maryland Calls for Offshore Wind Proposals Days After Court Victory

December 15, 2025 — The State of Maryland celebrated the victory in the courts against the Trump administration’s order halting licensing for wind energy projects by launching a new call for Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) from the licensed developers. The state reiterated its commitment to wind energy despite the ongoing struggles with federal regulators.

Maryland published the details of the call open to leaseholders. The state will be conducting an information conference this upcoming week. Proposals are due by January 16.

At the beginning of the week, the 17 states and the District of Columbia, which had filed a complaint in May, won a court order that vacated Donald Trump’s Executive Order halting sales and licensing for the wind power industry. The January order had directed federal agencies to pause their effort and to begin an open-ended review of the process. The administration argues that wind power was unfairly advantaged by the Biden administration and that licensing was rushed without full consideration of the impact of the projects.

A U.S. District Court Judge, however, found that the order was “arbitrary and capricious.” U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris in Massachusetts found that the Executive Order violated the Administrative Procedures Act that governs how agencies administer programs.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

In a Baltimore courtroom, US Wind fights for its life against the Trump administration

December 11, 2025 — Offshore wind company US Wind battled the Trump administration in a Baltimore courtroom Wednesday, defending its Maryland project against the government’s plans to revoke and reconsider a construction permit issued under President Joe Biden (D).

For US Wind, the threat is existential, attorneys said Wednesday. Not only would the government’s revocation of the permit threaten to upend the project along Ocean City’s coast, it also could send the entire company heading toward bankruptcy.

“We’re not there yet,” US Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski said Tuesday outside the U.S. District Courthouse. “We’re in this fight because we made a promise to Maryland that we’re going to build the biggest renewable energy project in the state’s history.”

US Wind’s project is the closest to development along the Delmarva coast. Other companies — Ørsted and Equinor — have leases offshore, but do not have approved construction plans, like US Wind. But having an approved permit did not stop the Trump administration from trying to stop the project — one of a number of offshore wind projects that have been targeted, including some where stop-work orders have stalled construction.

Wednesday’s hearing is the latest twist in a case that began with the parties in entirely different roles. It began in October 2024, when Ocean City challenged the Biden administration’s approval of the permit, called a Construction and Operations Plan, or COP.

The Interior Department initially defended its issuance of the permit. But it reversed course after President Donald Trump (R) took office this year, and in September it asked U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher to remand the permit back to the agency for reconsideration, saying it was not properly evaluated under Biden.

Read the full article at Maryland Matters

Chesapeake Bay region leaders approve revised agreement, commit to cleanup through 2040

December 4, 2025 — State and federal leaders from around the Chesapeake Bay have given the final stamp of approval to an agreement that sets the tone for the next 15 years of cleaning up the nation’s largest estuary.

The Chesapeake Executive Council, which directs the massive restoration effort, met in Baltimore Tuesday to celebrate the latest iteration of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

“It is not just a renewal of commitment, but it is a redoubling of our efforts to make progress that is not only aspirational, but progress that is fast,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said at the meeting, his last as a member of the council. “The huge effort that we have made over many years is the foundation.”

Virginia and other states in the region signed onto the most recent agreement in 2014. It set benchmarks for participants to voluntarily achieve by 2025, such as cutting pollution and boosting seagrass and crab populations. Officials failed to meet about a third of the targets by this year’s deadline.

Read the full article at VPM