Saving Seafood

UMass Dartmouth, New Bedford Port Authority to study effects of wind industry on commercial fishing

November 13, 2025 — Researchers from UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science & Technology plan to study how the commercial fishing and wind energy industries coexist off the coast of Massachusetts. The goal is to address one of the major uncertainties in trying to manage offshore fisheries and offshore wind – how to safely fish near a windfarm.

The project will track the behavior and position of fishing vessels and their gear in areas near offshore wind farms. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) is funding the research with a $419,000 grant.

Read the full article at Ocean State Media

UMassD-SMAST partners with New Bedford Port Authority to study the effects of wind energy areas on commercial fishing operations

November 3, 2025 — The UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST) is partnering with the New Bedford Port Authority on a project titled “Tracking and Modeling the Behavior and Position of Fishing Vessels and Their Towed Gears in Wind Energy Areas.” The project is funded by a $419,462 grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).

The study will examine how commercial fishing vessels and gear operate within and around offshore wind energy areas to better understand potential impacts and identify ways to support safe, sustainable coexistence between the fishing and wind industries.

SMAST was selected as a key partner for its longstanding reputation in collaborative fisheries research and its strong connections to the commercial fishing community as well as its leadership in studying the impacts of wind farms on fisheries. Together, SMAST and the NBPA will combine practical experience and scientific analysis to help shape offshore wind development that supports both economic growth and ocean sustainability.

Read the full article at UMass Dartmouth

MASSACHUSETTS: MassCEC scrubs plan for Ocean Renewable Energy Center

March 24, 2025 — The state’s alternative energy agency won’t be putting up a building to house a renewable energy research and development center on the New Bedford waterfront, but will pursue the work by other means, an agency official said on Friday.

Months after plans stalled in the City Council in the face of local opposition to the proposed waterfront location, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center is shifting course, due in part to questions about the Trump administration, which has expressed opposition to alternative energy.

The new endeavor called the Ocean Innovation Network Initiative will use existing companies and develop the city waterfront to cultivate ocean-related alternative energy technologies, including but not limited to wind power.

“Ocean innovation is poised to be a major economic driver for the South Coast and we are grateful for the City of New Bedford’s collaboration throughout the evolution of this important project,” Bruce Carlisle, MassCEC’s managing director of offshore wind, said in a statement released Friday morning.

Read the full article at the The New Bedford Light

BOEM announces effort to protect right whales

February 10, 2022 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced in a press release it is partnering with multiple federal and state entities to research and strengthen the protection of the endangered North Atlantic right whales. The groups mentioned in the press release include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA Fisheries, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

According to the release, BOEM is working with NOAA to develop strategies to “protect and promote the recovery of right whales” while allowing responsible development of offshore wind farms. The two organizations, with other partners, are also working on a passive acoustic monitoring network to identify and monitor the movements and distribution of marine mammals.

Read the full story at The Martha’s Vineyard Times

 

URI researcher to map commercial fishing activity to help reduce conflict between fishing, wind industries

July 27, 2020 — The following was released by The University of Rhode Island:

A University of Rhode Island natural resource economist has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to create a new way of documenting where commercial fishing is conducted in southern New England waters. The project is aimed at reducing conflict between the fishing industry and offshore wind farm developers.

“I’m exploring a new way of improving spatial planning for offshore wind,” said URI Associate Professor Thomas Sproul. “One of the biggest sources of delay in the regulatory process for offshore wind has been because of the conflicts with commercial fishing.”

He said that while the National Marine Fisheries Service collects a variety of data about the fishing industry, limited information is available about where commercial fishing occurs.

“There isn’t a consensus map of the ocean that says, for instance, if you put a wind turbine here, it affects 30 percent of the squid fishery,” Sproul said.

He will be taking a novel approach to the problem by combining existing data from numerous sources, including the Automatic Identification System, which identifies the location of every fishing vessel over 65-feet long every minute of every day it is at sea. It will be combined with the government’s vessel monitoring system and vessel trip reports, along with seafood dealer reports, Coast Guard registry records, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ship-board observer program.

Read the full release here

Vineyard Wind signs $9 million lease at New Bedford commerce pier

October 24, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A heavy-lift pier in this South Coast fishing port will see plenty of use as a staging area for the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm.

Vineyard Wind on Monday signed a $6 million annual lease to use the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal for at least 18 months. The total comes to $9 million unless the lease is extended.

The 29-acre marine terminal, owned and operated by the quasi-public Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, was custom-built to support the construction, assembly, and transport of offshore wind components. It is equipped with mobile crane and load features “that rival the highest capacity ports in the world,” and also handles other large marine cargo, according to the agency.

Vineyard Wind in May won a state contest to provide Massachusetts utilities with 800 megawatts of clean power. It has leased a 160,000 acre federal area 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The company plans an underwater transmission cable that will land on Cape Cod.

Read the full story at MassLive

 

Offshore wind developers need workforce, ‘predictable’ regulations

June 27, 2018 — The budding Atlantic offshore wind industry needs a skilled workforce in the Northeast and a consistent federal approach to permitting and regulation, experts told members of Congress Tuesday.

The Northeast region alone aims to generate 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, said Stephen Pike, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, who called it “a once in a lifetime opportunity to establish a new industry in the United States.”

The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources was hearing testimony on legislation that would create a federally funded wind career training grant program, and to extend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act so the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management can offer wind energy leases off U.S. territories.

“Guam is a logical place to start looking,” Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, told Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, sponsor of the extension measure. Bordallo said offshore wind makes sense for the Pacific island where power is generated with expensive imported petroleum, and Luthi said several developers have expressed interest.

“We would be more than happy to work with the territories,” said James Bennett, who heads BOEM’s renewable energy program. As it has with states, the agency would start by creating task forces to identify potential lease areas and determine what kinds of studies are needed, he said.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Fisheries and Offshore Wind Working Group To Meet Monday in New Bedford, Mass.

February 9, 2018 (Saving Seafood) – WASHINGTON – A fisheries and offshore wind working group is scheduled to meet with offshore wind developers next Monday, February 12 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The meeting will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET at UMass Dartmouth’s new School for Marine Science and Technology East building, 836 S. Rodney French Boulevard Room 102. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.

The Fisheries Working Group on Offshore Wind Energy is comprised of commercial fishermen, representatives from various fishing ports and sectors, recreational fishermen, scientists, and state and federal agencies. It is one of two working groups organized by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, along with a working group focused on marine habitat. The group was created to give stakeholders a chance to provide feedback and raise issues with offshore wind developers and the government.

Monday’s meeting will include three offshore wind energy developers – Deepwater Wind, Vineyard Wind, and Orsted – as well as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. One focus of the meeting will be discussing a plan for an independent offshore wind and fisheries science advisory panel to help identify and fill key science and data gaps. Members of the public are encouraged to attend the meeting.

 

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito: Massachusetts, SouthCoast working to ‘unleash’ region’s potential

November 17, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — For about eight hours Thursday, the SouthCoast replaced Boston as the state’s hub for Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito led the administration’s cabinet to the region beginning with an 8 a.m. stop at the SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting in Westport and ending with a ribbon cutting of the new refrigeration system at State Pier in New Bedford.

“This is an area of our state that has tremendous natural assets and has great leadership assets,” Polito said. “Together, state and local, we can work to catalyze private development to unleash even more potential.”

Polito also visited UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology, where she held a cabinet meeting, cut ribbon at the New Bedford Regional Airport and noted the progress of Noah’s Place Playground on Pope’s Island.

“I come away knowing that this area of the state should be a center for marine sciences,” Polito said. “And I believe that coupled with their manufacturing base, they can create a lot of opportunity right here locally.

So happy, so cold

Coats were required indoors as state Reps. Tony Cabral, Robert Koczera, Chris Markey and Bill Straus joined Polito in the refrigerated section of State Pier, which was filled with pallets of clementines.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

New Bedford: the new home of US offshore wind power?

October 24, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — New Bedford’s Marine Commerce Terminal (MCT), one of the world’s most perfectly tailored offshore wind hubs, is still waiting for its first big break in the sector.

But with developers now preparing to file bids in December for Massachusetts’ first offshore wind tender, worth up to 800MW, the MCT finally looks set to pay off as the race for offshore wind jobs heats up in the US.

As Massachusetts has long known, and other states are quickly realizing, it’s a race in which an early lead could solidify into decades-long benefits.

“New Bedford is very explicit in its goal of becoming the epicentre of the North American offshore wind industry,” says Stephen Pike, chief executive of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), the state-funded agency which built the MCT — with $113m of public funds — and operates it.

Read the full story at Recharge