Saving Seafood

‘Relief’ for some, ‘dark moment’ for others: Communities react to Trump’s offshore wind order

January 23, 2025 — Amid a flurry of executive actions on his first day in office, President Donald Trump sought to put the brakes on offshore wind, halting the federal permitting of wind farms and wind-energy leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf.

On Cape Cod and the South Coast, where offshore wind is becoming part of the local economy, supporters and opponents are talking about what the order will mean.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said the city’s position — supporting and courting offshore wind, but also challenging wind-farm locations fishermen view as unacceptable — has been informed by a desire to create jobs in New Bedford. And those jobs could be in jeopardy.

“If this goes as far as it conceivably could, this order — there will be some people who’ll lose their jobs,” he said.

But the mayor of Vineyard Wind’s primary construction port doesn’t oppose every piece of Trump’s order.

Mitchell said some of the lease areas off New York and the Mid-Atlantic warrant review because of their conflicts with commercial fishing.

Read the full article at nhpr

Trump signs executive order halting wind power leases. What it means

January 23, 2025 — President Donald Trump’s executive order to halt new federal offshore wind leasing will likely not stop the ongoing developments off the coast of Massachusetts, but may prevent any new projects.

The executive order suspends the sale of offshore wind leases and the permitting for such projects from all areas of the U.S. outer continental shelf, pending an environmental and economic review.

But the order does not put a stop to wind farms that have already gone through the federal permitting process.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Unlike other New England states, Massachusetts supports controversial new lobster harvesting rules

January 23, 2025 — Massachusetts officials say they support a new lobster harvesting rule aimed at conserving young lobster populations, which have been in decline off New England’s coast amid climate change and other pressures.

The new rules, which have drawn opposition by the lobster industry, would further restrict the size of lobsters that can be legally harvested. Maine and New Hampshire officials recently rejected the measure, but Massachusetts officials voiced strong support, saying it would help preserve the future of New England’s signature crustacean.

The measure “would have clear benefits to the lobster stock long-term,” said Daniel McKiernan, director of Massachusetts’ Division of Marine Fisheries. “We are committed to working through this situation to reach a resolution that is supportive of both conservation and Massachusetts’ leading lobster industry.”

US Representative Jared Golden, a Democrat whose Maine district includes Bangor, opposed the rule from its first introduction. He said the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission should potentially have less power.

“Lobstermen must have a seat at the table in crafting the rules for their industry,” said Golden, adding: “Mainers harvest more than 90 percent of all lobster caught in this country, and I cannot for the life of me understand why people in the mid-Atlantic should get a say in how we manage our fishery in the Gulf of Maine.”

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Oyster growers say sewage-related closures threaten their business

January 23, 2025 — 2024 was supposed to be Mattapoisett oyster farmer Mike Ward’s biggest year yet. He planned to scale up production on his four-acre Nasketucket Bay farm, ahead of selling it and retiring in 2026.

But Ward’s farm, Mattapoisett Oysters, suffered 180-plus days of state-imposed emergency closures last year, after rains caused raw sewage to repeatedly spill from New Bedford’s combined sewer system into Buzzards Bay. Now, his plans to sell are on hold.

“I think it’s worth zero right now, except for my equipment,” Ward said.

Ward wasn’t the only local oyster farmer whose plans were disrupted by New Bedford’s combined sewer overflows last year.

West Island Oysters co-owner Dale Leavitt was looking to boost production on his 46-acre Nasketucket Bay farm. Now, his Fairhaven business is “running on fumes” after experiencing 180-plus days of emergency closures.

In Dartmouth, Scott Soares was looking to grow his half-acre Padanaram Oyster Farm in Apponagansett Bay. Roughly half of his farm income was wiped out by 212 days of emergency closures.

Since January 2024, emergency shellfish bed closures have presented an urgent threat to oyster aquaculture in Buzzards Bay.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light 

Nantucket community and offshore wind regulator meeting cancelled. Volume of emails cited.

January 23, 2025 — Amid a backdrop of the Trump administration’s attacks on wind and solar power, federal regulators have once again put off a public meeting with Nantucket leaders focused on the Vineyard Wind 1 project, this time indefinitely.

Select Board Chairwoman Brooke Mohr in an email acknowledged that “it’s not hard to imagine” that the changeover from the Biden Administration to the Trump Administration could be at play but emphasized “that is purely speculation on my part.”

The postponed meeting comes at a time that President Trump has ordered a halt to new wind projects pending “immediate review of federal wind leasing and permitting practices.” The moratorium applies only to “any new or renewed wind energy leasing” on the Outer Continental Shelf, but the order also notes that the secretary of the interior, in consultation with the attorney general, will “conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal, and submit a report with recommendations to the president.”

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times

Trump’s pause on offshore wind leasing may have limited impact in New England

January 22, 2025 — A national moratorium on offshore wind leasing and permitting may have only limited effects in Massachusetts and other New England states, according to several wind industry observers.

Their comments came after Trump signed an executive order halting federal approvals for wind energy projects on Monday, his first official day in office.

“We’re obviously not happy to see the Trump administration issuing an order on day one that targets offshore wind,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation.  “But the practical import of this executive order on wind energy is not very significant — at least as relates to New England.”

Trump’s order directs the federal government to stop leasing new areas of the outer continental shelf for electricity production, and it effectively hits the pause button on all projects still in the development pipeline. But it stops short of immediately bringing to a standstill the dozen or so projects that are fully permitted in waters up and down the East Coast.

Read the full article at wbur

Testing time: Trump’s blue-collar voters want quick proof promises will be kept

January 22, 2025 — Daybreak on the Atlantic is a slow, hypnotic explosion of color. Black skies turn ash gray; next, a sideways sliver of orange divides the vast horizon.

A pause, then a breathtaking ocean dawn: Churning deep blue waters collide with the palest of blue skies. Wisps of clouds turn whiter and brighter as the sun climbs.

First light changes everything.

A pod of dolphins emerges to play alongside the “Jillian and Peri” as it motors out to deeper waters. Their squeals as they pass below the hull echo onboard and stir Andrew Konchek from his wooden bunk below deck.

Time for another subfreezing day at the office, fishing 15 miles or so off the Massachusetts coast.

“It’s a little cold,” Konchek said. “It’s definitely hard work. Not for everybody.”

But it defines him.

Read the full article at CNN

MASSACHUSETTS: Two Mass. offshore wind projects postpone contracts until after Trump takes office

January 21, 2025 — The signing of contracts for two new Massachusetts offshore wind farms, previously set for this week, has been postponed until after the presidential inauguration.

The power-purchase agreements between three Massachusetts utilities and the developers of New England Wind 1 and SouthCoast Wind were due to be signed Wednesday.

The parties now say they expect to reach an agreement by March 31, more than two months after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to halt offshore wind.

One of the utilities, National Grid, sent a letter to the Healey administration saying the developers, Avangrid and Ocean Winds, “have not yet completed their contract negotiations.”

Read the full article at CAI

Biden Administration approves SouthCoast Wind construction plan

January 21, 2025 — On the last business day of the Biden administration, a federal agency announced its approval of the construction and operations plan for SouthCoast Wind, a big offshore wind project that Massachusetts is counting on.

“We are proud to announce BOEM’s final approval of the SouthCoast Wind project, the nation’s eleventh commercial-scale offshore wind energy project, which will power more than 840,000 homes,” U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Elizabeth Klein said in a Friday statement.

“We are proud to announce BOEM’s final approval of the SouthCoast Wind project, the nation’s eleventh commercial-scale offshore wind energy project, which will power more than 840,000 homes,” U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Elizabeth Klein said in a Friday statement.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: Dozens protest wind farms and impact on whales in New Bedford

January 21, 2025 — Dozens of protesters gathered in New Bedford Saturday, demanding an end to offshore wind projects immediately.

The protest came one day after final federal approval for the Southcoast Wind Project, 26 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Protesters said they were outraged over potential impacts on the environment, coastal neighborhoods, and the commercial fishing industry.

Read the full article at WJAR