Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Coonamessett Farm Foundation Showcases Advanced, Cost-Effective Technologies for Commercial Fisheries

November 18, 2025 — The following was released by the Coonamessett Farm Foundation:

The Coonamessett Farm Foundation (CFF) hosted the Fisheries Innovation and Technology Expo at The Launch, operated by Moby Dick Brewing Company. The event brought commercial fishing industry partners, researchers, and vendors together to evaluate innovative tools shaping the future of sustainable fishing.

The expo showcased technologies under development through the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) program, sponsored by the offices of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, and Congressman Bill Keating. This federal grant program enables CFF and its partners to advance fisheries technology, strengthen data collection, and respond to a rapidly changing marine environment.

Attendees had the opportunity to interact with CFF technology partners currently advancing practical tools for fisheries research, including:

  • Acbotics Research, a Cape Cod–based engineering firm currently developing an electronic fishboard and castable Oceanographic Sonde
  • Lowell Instruments, creator of a Bluetooth-enabled conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) data logger and integrated deck box
  • Saltwater Inc., provider of electronic monitoring systems

The event also highlighted CFF’s current fisheries and survey initiatives in collaboration with the offshore fishing fleet, including:

  • Plankton surveys that adapt sampling methods for outfitting commercial fishing vessels
  • Experimental fishing trials using Japanese jigging machines to target underutilized species such as neon flying squid
  • Predator control projects testing alternative gear
  • Seafood initiatives that establish new markets for species typically considered bycatch, like moon snails

Attendees were able to sample moon snails and neon flying squid, directly connecting marine research with culinary innovation.

A major focus of the event was CFF’s Fishing for Data: Massachusetts Cooperative Fisheries Research initiative, a research and development project supported through CDS funding. This 3‑year project will provide captains and crew with oceanographic and fisheries data collection skills and expand fishing and research opportunities through technology development and on-site and at-sea training sessions.

Through the program, CFF has outfitted a dedicated training facility with specialized equipment to support hands-on skills development in oceanographic sampling, experimental fishing, and data collection. Participating vessels will be outfitted with advanced sampling equipment to collect oceanographic and fisheries-specific data, giving vessel crews hands-on experience while contributing valuable data to the scientific community.

By leveraging fishermen’s expertise, this collaborative effort aims to fill gaps in ocean data collection, generate robust data sets for management and research, and promote the long-term sustainability of marine ecosystems while creating new training and employment opportunities within the fishing industry. As the future of CDS funding remains uncertain, continued support will be essential to advancing these innovative programs and ensuring that fishermen and researchers alike can continue building a competitive and versatile fishing industry.

“This was a great event. I learned a lot from the scientists and vendors and enjoyed the conversations,” said Harold Meyers, vessel owner from Point Pleasant, NJ. “Fishermen need to be involved in research, it’s that simple. There were many good ideas presented today.”

Special thanks to all participants, partners, and elected officials for making this event a success and for their continued collaboration on this project.

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About CFF

Coonamessett Farm Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing expert research services for more than twenty years. Whether independently or in partnership with leading research institutions, our work contributes to informing management decisions and the development of best practices in sustainable fishing, farming, renewable energy, and aquaculture in the region.

CFF is led by a diverse and dynamic team of scientists who excel in their respective fields, supported by a Board of Directors with decades of experience in engineering, science, and education. Operating within a strong collaborative culture, CFF regularly partners with the commercial fishing industry, government agencies, leading academic, and private sector professionals across a wide range of disciplines.

MASSACHUSETTS: GE Vernova, Nantucket reach settlement on Vineyard Wind accident

July 15, 2025 — Nantucket and GE Vernova announced Friday they had reached a $10.5 million settlement to compensate the Massachusetts town for a blade break at Vineyard Wind last summer.

A blade detached from one of the project’s 62 turbines on July 13, 2024, crashing into the ocean and sending a plume of fiberglass debris into the water.

The accident, which was later attributed to faulty quality control at a GE Vernova factory in Quebec, was a black eye for the offshore wind industry and delayed construction of what had been heralded as the country’s first major offshore wind project.

Read the full article at E&E News

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind Blade Break Reverberates One Year Later

July 11, 2025 — One year ago Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard got a report it had never received before.

At 7:01 p.m., about 20 miles off the Vineyard’s southern shore, large pieces of debris were scattered in the water near the Vineyard Wind wind farm.

Green and white bits of fiberglass and foam, some the size of kitchen tables, were floating in the water, and eventually, with the help of wind and tides, would make their way onto Nantucket beaches.

Nantucket charter fishing Capt. Carl Bois was one of the first people to see the bobbing detritus off the outer continental shelf when he was out on his boat the next day.

“I’ve never seen anything on the water quite like that,” he said at the time.

Not long after, Vineyarders, Nantucketers, state lawmakers and some of the highest ranking officials in Washington, D.C. learned all too well what Mr. Bois was seeing: pieces of a broken Vineyard Wind turbine blade.

On July 13, 2024, the 107-meter GE Vernova Haliade-X turbine blade on the offshore wind energy farm’s southernmost turbine snapped unexpectedly and dumped thousands of pieces of fiberglass into the ocean. Broken about 20 meters from its base, a large portion of the blade would later drop into the water, sinking to the bottom.

Read the full article at the Vineyard Gazette

MASSACHUSETTS: Offshore wind power contracts delayed, again, to 2026

July 1, 2025 — The next round of offshore wind power projects for Massachusetts moved even further out of reach Monday when state officials got word that project developers and utilities will not meet Monday’s already-delayed target for finalizing contracts and likely won’t submit contracts for state approval until 2026.

The delays affect two projects proposed off Massachusetts, SouthCoast Wind and New England Wind, both of which have plans to use the Port of New Bedford to support construction or long-term operations.

The latest delays are due to “federal level activities,” a letter to the state says — a reference to the Trump administration’s freeze of new offshore wind permits.

Massachusetts selected 2,678 megawatts of offshore wind power, spread across three projects, in September 2024, kicking off contract negotiations. One of those projects, Vineyard Wind 2, has since removed itself from consideration. Another, SouthCoast Wind, has announced a delay of at least two years. Massachusetts gets no meaningful energy from offshore wind, almost nine years after a clean energy law set the state on a path of decarbonization.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Federal judge raises issues with states’ lawsuit against Trump offshore wind freeze

June 6, 2025 — More than a dozen states, including Massachusetts, have an uphill battle if they’re to succeed in their legal efforts to lift President Donald Trump’s memorandum against offshore wind development.

Attorneys for the states of Massachusetts and New York appeared on Thursday before federal Judge William G. Young, prepared to argue that he should grant a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s effective freeze of offshore wind permitting. But the hearing didn’t happen, with the judge “collapsing” the injunction motion.

Young said he needed more specificity from the states on the harm they’ve incurred and the alleged legal violations by federal agencies. The case will be heard again next week, but instead, with a hearing on a motion to dismiss it. (The judge is treating the Trump administration’s filing opposing a preliminary injunction as a motion to dismiss the case.)

“I’m not clear again… that I understand what the specific harm is,” Young said, noting he understands there have been economic impacts on “an important industry.” “But in the context of litigation, I need, I think, some more specificity as to what are the specific harms to specific projects in specific states.”

“It would appear both from the record and from the president’s public statements that he’s opposed as a matter of policy to offshore wind farm energy generation. I think that’s indisputable,” Young continued.

In that vein, Young asked whether the requisite licenses would be issued by the federal government following a court ruling, given the administration’s position on wind. Experts interpreted “licensing” to regard permitting and permits.

Timothy Fox, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, said Young’s remarks “strongly suggested that the Trump Administration may prevail.”

“Perhaps most significant,” Fox said by email on Thursday, the judge appeared to declare that ‘the power to license is the power to withhold a license.’”

Young’s points echoed some of those raised by the Trump administration in its May 29 filing opposing the preliminary injunction request.

“Plaintiffs and Intervenor fail to show standing, fail to identify any final agency action on which to base their claims, fail to identify statutory violations on the part of Defendants, disregard the considerable agency discretion and flexibility in the relevant statutory regimes, and otherwise fail to state a claim,” stated the U.S. Department of Justice.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light