Saving Seafood

Striped Bass Continue to Show Poor Reproduction Rates in Chesapeake Bay, Studies Find

October 18, 2024 — For another consecutive year, striped bass, or rockfish, in the Chesapeake Bay are showing poor reproduction rates according to studies in Maryland and Virginia.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced the results of 2024’s juvenile striped bass survey, aimed at tracking the reproductive success of striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay. The results of a similar study by William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) have also been released.

According to DNR, the Maryland survey focuses on 22 sites within the Choptank, Nanticoke, and Potomac rivers, as well as the upper Chesapeake Bay where striped bass spawning largely occurs. Three times over the summer, biologists collect fish with a 100-foot net and document the number of young-of-year striped bass caught. These juveniles average less than 3 inches.

Read the full article WBOC

Conservative Delaware think tank sues to stop Maryland offshore wind farm

October 2, 2024 — A lawsuit filed in Delaware’s Superior Court on Monday aims to stop electric cables from being buried under Delaware-controlled waters and coastline for a controversial offshore wind project.

US Wind’s Maryland Offshore Wind Project off the Delmarva coast has proposed running power transmission cables from its wind farm three miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean to 3Rs Beach at Delaware Seashore State Park. The cables would run beneath Delaware-regulated wetlands, state waters and the Indian River Bay and connect to a substation near a former power plant.

Gov. John Carney announced the start of formal negotiations with US Wind late last year, with the company proposing to lease the cable landing at 3Rs Beach for $350,000 a year with annual increases. Delaware would also get $76 million in renewable energy credits and $40 million for the community benefits projects over 20 years.

Former judge and GOP party chair Jane Brady filed the case on behalf of the Caesar Rodney Institute, a Delaware think tank that has connections to the fossil fuel industry and has promoted misinformation about the connection between offshore wind and whale deaths. The suit also names two commercial fishermen as plaintiffs — Wes Townsend and George Merrick.

Read the full article at WHYY

Lawmakers seek pause in offshore wind energy amid whale deaths

September 30, 2024 — House lawmakers are seeking a pause in offshore wind energy projects amid a string of whale deaths along the coasts of Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Maine. [FoxNews]

Last week, a deceased whale beached off Maryland’s coast, the second whale carcass discovered in the area in three weeks. In 2023, 37 humpback whales carcasses were discovered along the East Coast.

While a definite cause of death could not be determined, wind-energy proponents continue to argue the deaths have nothing to do with offshore wind farms.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) hosted a public hearing in August in which experts testified about the danger installing wind turbines poses marine wildlife. Harris called for an end to offshore wind energy in Maryland.

Read the full article at CalCoastNews.com

MARYLAND: More questions than answers in proposed commercial fishing deal with wind company

September 26, 2024 — Beyond that, the process, plan and the particulars of the commercial fishing “Compensatory Mitigation Fund” that US Wind has pledged to create remain adrift in a sea of unfinished business.

Speaking before roughly two dozen commercial operators at the Ocean Pines Library, Carrie Kennedy, of DNR’s Data Management & Analysis Division, and Catherine McCall, of its Coastal and Ocean Management office, invited watermen to suggest services and forms of assistance that could be included in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be executed between the DNR and US Wind by January.

The MOU would spring from a July 8 letter of intent between the department and US Wind in which the company agrees “to provide financial compensation to eligible Maryland fishermen for mitigating direct losses/impacts to commercial and for-hire (charter) fishing from and caused by the construction, operation and decommissioning of the Project in federal waters.”

The project entails planting up to 114 wind turbines in an 80,000-acre offshore tract about 11.5 miles east of Ocean City, according to the company’s letter of intent and BOEM documents.

Read the full article at Ocean City Today

MARYLAND: Debate Over Offshore Wind Farms Continues at Ocean City BOEM Meeting

September 26, 2024 — Ocean City residents voiced strong opposition Tuesday night at a public meeting hosted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regarding potential offshore wind farm developments along the Maryland coast. The meeting discussed areas that could be leased for wind energy projects, which has been raising concerns among residents.

The town of Ocean City encouraged residents to attend the meeting in opposition after BOEM recently approved plans for wind turbines 10.7 miles off the coast. The latest discussion centered on additional potential wind energy areas, though no specific projects are confirmed.

BOEM is seeking public feedback as Maryland aims to generate 8.5 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2031, a key part of the state’s clean energy goals.

BOEM presented a map showing a large stretch of ocean from New Jersey to North Carolina that could be considered for wind energy projects, with some areas as close as three miles off Ocean City’s coast. However, BOEM emphasized that only about 10% of the area would likely be leased for wind development.

Read the full article at WBOC

MARYLAND: White House OKs Maryland wind energy project to be built about 10 miles off Ocean City

September 6, 2024 — Offshore wind energy is coming to Maryland, and with it, union jobs.The Biden administration on Thursday approved Baltimore-based US Wind’s project to build offshore wind turbines about 10 miles off the coast of Ocean City.

The offshore wind farm could generate over 2 gigawatts of wind energy and power over 718,000 homes, according to the Department of the Interior.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that the wind energy industry had been “struggling to gain a foothold” in the years before he came into office.

“From manufacturing and shipbuilding to port operations and construction, this industry will support tens of thousands of good-paying and union jobs, provide reliable clean power to homes and businesses, strengthen our power grid against outages, and help reduce pollution – all while protecting biodiversity and marine ecosystems,” the president said.

Read the full article at Capital Gazette

Rough sailing toward Maryland’s offshore wind energy goals

September 5, 2024 — While neighboring states have begun construction on their offshore wind farms, Maryland has yet to install one turbine foundation, though its offshore wind energy goals are more ambitious.

In April 2023, Gov. Wes Moore signed the Promoting Offshore Wind Energy Resources Act, which set Maryland’s goal of 8.5 gigawatts of offshore wind energy generation by 2031—more than enough to meet the state’s residential power needs.

By comparison, New York – a leader in the renewable landscape with some of the most ambitious state clean energy goals – passed a law in 2019 mandating 9 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035. The Empire State just completed its first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in March: South Fork Wind, with 12 turbines that can generate about 132 megawatts of energy. Two more projects have been approved for construction – Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind – that together should produce 3 gigawatts.

Read the full article at The Center Square

Judge orders feds to protect endangered whale from oil drilling

August 22, 2024 — Marine species advocates scored a long-awaited legal victory this week, after a judge found the federal government had underestimated the risks of offshore oil and gas development to the critically endangered Rice’s whale and other wildlife.

On Monday, a federal district court in Maryland tossed out NOAA Fisheries’ Trump-era assessment — known as a biological opinion, or BiOp — effective Dec. 20, forcing the federal government to develop a new plan for protecting marine life like Gulf sturgeon and sea turtles.

Read the full article at E&E News

US must do more to protect species from Gulf of Mexico drilling: judge

August 21, 2024 — A U.S. judge at the urging of environmental groups has thrown out an assessment by a federal agency governing how endangered and threatened marine species should be protected from oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Monday ruled the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Services’ so-called “biological opinion” was flawed and did not adequately address risks species face from oil spills and vessel strikes.

Read the full article at Reuters

Ocean City prepares federal lawsuit over offshore wind projects. Here’s why.

August 13, 2024 — The Ocean City Town Council has announced legal counsel has already been consulted over a possible federal lawsuit if offshore wind plans proceed.

What it would take for Ocean City to ‘file suit against the BOEM’

During the most recent normal legislative meeting, Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan noted he was not surprised members of the municipal government did not have all the details of the proposed offshore wind development by US Wind. He cited the planned 114 turbines would be “between 10.7 to 10.9 miles off our coast. At a minimum they will be 938 feet tall, and that’s three and half times taller than any building in Ocean City. If built on land, they would be the tallest structures in Maryland.”

The federal government leased the land on which these turbines are slated to be built according to the company’s federal permit application.

Read the full article at the Yahoo! News