Saving Seafood

MARYLAND: Maryland fires back against EPA claims about its offshore wind permit

July 22, 2025 — The Maryland Department of the Environment is defending the permit it issued to a wind farm proposed off the coast of Ocean City, after a challenge from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Thursday letter from Maryland Secretary of the Environment Serena McIlwain also said the state would not be reissuing the permit, as the EPA requested, because the state had not made a mistake that needed correcting.

The EPA had contended that when Maryland issued the permit to Baltimore-based company US Wind, it identified the wrong process for citizens to file appeals.

Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey, EPA administrator for Region 3, which includes Maryland and other mid-Atlantic states, contended in a July 7 letter that any appeals challenging the air pollution permit issued to US Wind should be filed to the clerk of the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board.

But Maryland argues that its permit would need to be appealed through the state courts, which would involve filing a challenge at the appropriate circuit court — in this case in Worcester County.

Notably, the due date for a state court challenge has already passed. It was set for July 14 — about a month after MDE issued the permit, according to MDE’s website.

Read the full article at WTOP

EPA Seeks to Assert Authority Over Maryland’s Offshore Wind Project Appeals

July 17, 2025 — The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) attempted to assert its authority “at the eleventh hour” over the final approvals for Maryland’s first offshore wind project. The deadline was on July 14 for appeals on the final approval for the project, and according to media reports, the EPA sent a letter last week asserting the appeal was under its jurisdiction and not the state’s authority.

In a letter from the region EPA administrator to Maryland’s Department of the Environment posted online by Maryland Matters, the EPA asserts that it has “identified an error” in the state’s final permit decision, which it asserts could “result in invalidation of the permit on appeal and confusion among relevant stakeholders.” The letter contends that the authority to issue to permit was under federal authority delegated to the state, and as such, the appeal is under the EPA’s oversight.

The EPA was calling for Maryland to reissue the final permit decision for US Wind. Maryland, however, on its website for the process added a footnote saying “A previous version of this webpage also described a separate permit appeals process through the U.S. EPA. The appeals process for this permit is through the State of Maryland only, and the language describing the U.S. EPA appeals process has been removed.” It also reissued the public notice in early June, a month before the EPA’s letter.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Trump’s EPA flags a problem with offshore wind permit issued by Maryland

July 16, 2025 — Federal officials are calling on the state to reissue a permit for a wind farm planned off the Ocean City coast, to correct what they say is an error in the original document.

In a July 7 letter to the Maryland Department of the Environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took issue with the process that MDE laid out to appeal the final construction permit awarded to US Wind.

The state said any challenge to the state permit would have to go through state courts, but EPA Region 3 Administrator Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey said that any appeal would have to be filed with the clerk of the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board.

“Failure to rectify this error could result in invalidation of the permit on appeal and confusion among relevant stakeholders with respect to where to bring such an appeal,” Blarcom-Lackey wrote.

MDE spokesperson Jay Apperson said in a statement that the agency is reviewing Blarcom-Lackey’s letter and is “committed to ensuring all our permit processes are transparent and in accordance with the law.” An official with US Wind said the company is “confident that all of our project’s permits were validly issued.”

Read the full article at Maryland Matters

MARYLAND: Maryland’s blue crabs — and its crabbers — are having a rough season

July 15, 2025 — In Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, two populations are under threat: the iconic blue crab and the crabbers whose livelihoods have depended on this fishery for hundreds of years.

This season, survey counts of the iconic crustaceans hit one of their lowest points on record. That has driven up costs at restaurants at a time when disposable income is scarce and inflation is driving up costs of food and other consumer goods.

Luke McFadden, 29, who has been crabbing since he was 18, says he’s seen a rough start to the season.

“We’re trying to offer them to the consumers as cheaply as possible, being able to cover our cost,” he said. “But I get it, you know, it’s tough out there.”

At the family-run crab house, Pit Boys, in Annapolis, a dozen crabs will cost customers between $75 and $140, depending on size, according to seafood manager Charlie George. That’s “a lot higher” than previous years, an effect he and others attributed to fewer crabs in the bay.

According to the 2025 blue crab advisory report, the total blue crab population has dropped to an estimated 238 million, down from 317 million last year. That’s the second-lowest level since the annual winter dredge survey began in 1990.

MAWS Act Targets Blue Catfish in Chesapeake Bay

July 14, 2025 — Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) and Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth (D-MD-03), alongside Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02), introduced the bipartisan Mitigation Action and Watermen Support (MAWS) Act on Monday, July 7, 2025. The legislation aims to address the ecological and economic threats posed by invasive blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay by establishing a two-year pilot program within the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office to develop a new market for the fish in the pet and animal food industry.

The MAWS Act will provide grants to pet and animal food manufacturers to incentivize watermen to harvest blue catfish, while establishing infrastructure for transportation, processing, and manufacturing. NOAA will collect data on the program’s ecological and economic impacts, including effects on blue catfish populations, native species, watermen’s livelihoods, and market responses. The agency will report findings to Congress, offering best practices and recommendations for similar programs in other watersheds.

“The Chesapeake Bay is the beating heart of Maryland,” Congressman Hoyer said. “We have a responsibility to look after the Bay, its ecosystems, and the communities that it sustains. I’m proud to join my friend Sarah Elfreth – a longtime advocate for the Chesapeake Bay – on this vital legislation to protect the health of our public waters.”

“The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, with more coastline across the Watershed than the entire coast of California. It is a pillar of our local recreation, seafood, and tourism economies,” said Congresswoman Elfreth. “Invasive blue catfish pose a direct ecological and economic threat to our Bay, which is why I am introducing the bipartisan MAWS Act alongside Congressman Wittman to address the damage inflicted by blue catfish, while also strengthening our local seafood economy and providing a new source of protein to pets nationwide.”

MARYLAND: Gov. stands behind offshore wind for OC coast

June 27, 2025 — As President Donald Trump continues to tweet against windmills, Maryland’s governor says his office hasn’t been in communication with the White House over a proposed offshore mid-Atlantic wind farm that’s in the final stages of approval at the state level.

“No, we haven’t had any communication with the Trump administration on this project specifically,” Moore said in an interview Tuesday with OC Today-Dispatch. The governor is in Ocean City for the annual summer conference of the Maryland Municipal League.

“I know some of the challenges that the administration has and we hear them loud and clear,” he added. “The thing that I want for everybody to hear loud and clear is that in the state of Maryland, we have got to come up with more energy options. We’ve got to come up with a more sustainable and affordable way for people to be able to harness energy. We have to do more to invest in our grid. We have to do more to make sure that we are not solely reliant on individual or independent sources of energy.”

Moore added he’s looking forward to working with the federal government “to figure out just where exactly they are, and what they will support and fund, because federal involvement does matter in these projects, we cannot deny that.”

During his 2024 campaign, Trump said he’d end offshore wind with an executive order “on Day 1.” Once he took office in January, the President continued to make overtures about stomping out offshore wind projects, calling them “an economic and environmental disaster” that only work with government subsidies.

Read the full article at OC Today-Dispatch

Officials spark debate with proposal to lift ban on controversial fishing practice: ‘One of the biggest unknowns’

June 18, 2025 — Maryland officials are considering lifting a current ban on fishing for striped bass.

However, reopening fishing could impact the species’ already-low reproduction rates and threaten its survival in the Chesapeake Bay.

What’s happening?

As Maryland Matters reported, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is looking to allow striped bass fishing, with restrictions, in April and May. In exchange for opening up springtime fishing, the department proposed a complete ban in August to prevent the heat-related deaths that can follow catch-and-release methods.

The DNR stated that it wants to approach its striped bass fishing season similarly to how it’s handled in the Potomac River of Virginia, per Maryland Matters. It also wants to increase fishing tourism in the spring and support local fishing guides and tackle shops.

However, even catch-and-release fishing is linked to declining striped bass populations during spawning season. This impact is most significant in the hot summer months when fish are extracted from the water and can’t survive after anglers toss them back in from their hooks.

“That’s one of the biggest unknowns about this kind of fishery,” said Reid Nelson, a fisheries ecologist. “If this fishery blows up [with a lot more catch-and-release in spring] even if the fish continue to spawn, does that impact the quality of larvae?”

Read the full article at TCD

Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population falls to ‘distressing low’

June 10, 2025 — Blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay have dropped to a “distressing low” number, experts say, marking several years of repeated declines and raising concern about their long-term health.

The estimated number of crabs was 238 million, the second-lowest point since an annual blue crab dredge survey to measure their population started in the 1990s and coming shortly after 2022’s record low of 226 million crabs, according to experts. The survey found that the decline hit all of the crustaceans, regardless of maturity or gender.

“It’s disturbing because we’ve seen in all sectors — adult males, adult females and juvenile crabs — drops in their numbers,” said Allison Colden, Maryland executive director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The biggest concern, she and other experts said, is the drop in juvenile crabs.

“There’s a disconnect,” she said, “in the productivity of the blue crab population and the number of females in the water.”

The causes of their decline are a bit of a mystery to scientists. The blue crab population can vary widely each year, depending on several factors, including changes to their habitat — especially a loss of underwater grasses that are critical for young crabs, an increase in predators such as blue catfish and red drum fish, pollution runoff into the bay and dramatic shifts in wind, current and storm patterns that can especially affect juvenile crabs.

“If it gets too cold too quickly that causes them to die, and we’ve seen a very high rate of crabs dying over the winter,” Colden said.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

MARYLAND: Maryland Issues Final Permit for Construction of Offshore Wind Farm

June 9, 2025 — Maryland’s Department of the Environment, Air, and Radiation Administration issued the final necessary approval to permit the start of construction of US Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm. The large project has received all the necessary state and local permits, but it still faces local opposition and the potential that the Trump administration could object to the approvals issued at the end of the Biden administration.

US Wind highlights it has been in review and permitting for the past four years with an arduous and thorough process of reviews. It gained approvals in 2024 from Maryland, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and in December 2024 the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management signed off on the Construction and Operation Plan for the full site. Today’s approval from Maryland is for air quality permits for the construction and operation of Maryland Offshore Wind.

US Wind, which is a partnership between investors of funds managed by Apollo Global Management and Italy’s Renexia, acquired its lease for 80,000 acres from the federal government in 2014. It proposes to build in two phases a total project with up to a total of 114 wind turbines generating between 1.8 and 2 GW of power. The project also includes four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

NOAA-funded research finds ecological, economic benefits from oyster reef restoration

June 6, 2025 — A new suite of research has found efforts to restore oyster reefs on the U.S. East Coast has knock-on effects benefitting the economies of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Two sets of research, one by the North Carolina Coastal Federation and another by Morgan State University’s Patuxent Environmental and Aquatic Research Laboratory in Maryland, U.S.A, found restoring oyster reefs would have direct economic benefits for the surrounding economies. The restoration projects use local quarries to supply rock to serve as the base of restoration projects, and once established the oyster reefs benefit the surrounding ecosystem which in turn boosts both commercial and recreational fishing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource