June 20, 2019 — Researchers on Cape Cod are launching a new study focused on the hunting and feeding habits of the region’s great white sharks following last year’s two attacks on humans.
Greg Skomal, a state marine biologist leading the effort, says the hope is to contribute critical information to the ongoing debate over how to keep Cape beachgoers safe.
The new research calls for placing sophisticated tags on sharks to track their swimming speed, depth and body position in the water.
June 19, 2019 — Researchers on Cape Cod are launching a new study focused on the hunting and feeding habits of the region’s great white sharks following last year’s two attacks on humans, including the state’s first fatal one in more than 80 years.
The hope is that the work, which starts in the coming days, contributes critical information to the ongoing debate over how to keep Cape beachgoers safe, said state marine biologist Greg Skomal, who has been studying the region’s great whites for years and is leading the new effort.
“If we can figure out how, where and when these sharks are attacking seals, we may be able to see if there is a pattern or any predictability to it,” he said. “That’s really useful information for someone trying to manage their beach and enhance public safety. If there are hot spots that can be identified, we certainly want to share that information with the public.”
Cape Cod officials have been wrestling with how to respond to public concern in the aftermath of last year’s attacks. A New York man was badly mauled by a shark last August off a beach in Truro but survived. Then weeks later a Massachusetts man was killed by a shark while boogie boarding in nearby Wellfleet.
June 18, 2019 — The demand for offshore wind continues, as the designated wind zones in waters south of Rhode Island, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket fill with projects.
At the June 11 meeting of the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), Grover Fugate, executive director, recounted the growing pains to accommodate as much as 22,000 megawatts of offshore wind.
“This industry has literally exploded overnight,” said Fugate, as he highlighted issues confronting several projects.
The 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind facility, for instance, is deadlocked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) over the project’s environmental impact statement.
“That’s not something that’s been done before in the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) world,” Fugate said. “So we’re not quite sure where that is going to end up.”
The Nantucket Historical Commission is seeking $16 million from the Vineyard Wind developer, according to Fugate. The island town has sought funds to compensate for adverse visual impacts the 84-turbines may have on tourism.
June 18, 2019 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has delayed for one month the release of its final assessment of Vineyard Wind’s offshore wind farm plan. But the bureau still intends to meet an August deadline to decide yea or nay on the proposal, an agency spokesman said.
The bureau was to issue the final environmental impact statement on June 7 before following with a final decision on the plan — called a record of decision — on Aug. 16, according to the agency’s timeline in March.
Now the bureau says that it will issue the final impact statement in early July. It still plans to meet the Aug. 16 decision date.
The one-month delay gives the bureau more time to review and analyze public comments on the draft version of the report, Vineyard Wind spokesman Scott Farmelant said.
“That date works for the project’s schedule,” he said of Aug. 16 timetable.
Both the federal bureau and Vineyard Wind have tight schedules for the proposed 84-turbine offshore wind project, to be built 15 miles south of the Islands. The project could potentially be the first industrial-sized offshore wind farm in the country.
June 17, 2019 — A key member of Congress joined Rep. William Keating (D-Massachusetts) and Mayor Jon Mitchell Friday for a tour of New Bedford Harbor and a discussion on the city’s role in offshore wind development.
Congressman Alan Lowenthal of California chairs the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and is bullish on offshore wind. “This is the future of the nation’s energy supply. This is not some kind of a passing whim, this is where the nation is moving, and we need successful models and that’s what we’re doing here.”
Lowenthal’s committee is considering a bill filed by Keating to provide grants to colleges, universities and labor unions to train workers for the offshore wind industry.
While the bill is expected to make it easily through the House, it could be a tougher sell in the Senate.
Keating says he expects supporters may have to make some concessions, but the Massachusetts Democrat feels strongly that the bill will make it through the Senate and on to the President’s desk. “This is a fuel for new jobs and for business development and secondary investments too. People will see what’s happening in New Bedford and it will help in the expansion of offshore wind development across the country.”
June 14, 2019 — As many American states are making the push to use more renewable energy sources, engineers in one of the country’s oldest states are looking “across the pond” for help from British scientists to harness the power of the wind.
When Joseph Massi enrolled at Bristol Community College, an hour’s drive south of Boston, Massachusetts, he chose to specialise in a brand new field of study – offshore wind power.
“It’s the new future. It’s where everything is going to be, the growth potential, especially in Massachusetts,” Mr Massi said.
The Massachusetts legislature is considering bills that would commit the state to 100% renewable energy within 25 years. To achieve this, the state will need lots more solar panels and wind turbines, and people like Mr Massi to manage, build or operate offshore turbines.
“Once it starts booming in the United States, that’s going to be where you’ll want to be,” Mr Massi said.
The federal government estimates that the coastal waters off of New Bedford, Massachusetts, are among the windiest in the nation.
But here’s some bad news. The US doesn’t know much about building wind turbines, out in the ocean at least.
June 13, 2019 — The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has published a new regional offshore wind leasing strategy, saying the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) provides a world-class wind resource on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. BOEM has 15 active commercial leases for offshore wind development that could support more than 21 gigawatts of generating capacity. The first commercial scale offshore wind facility on the OCS could be under construction as early as this year.
However, BOEM notes the need to consider other uses, such as commercial and recreational fishing, vessel traffic and military mission needs and and will be moving forward with leasing using a regional approach, processing projects currently in the pipeline, and pursuing leasing activities as follows:
Gulf of Maine. On January 2, 2019, BOEM received a letter from the Governor of New Hampshire requesting the establishment of an Intergovernmental Task Force. Although the State of Maine and Commonwealth of Massachusetts have not yet expressed interest in promoting development in this area, BOEM believes that the establishment of a regional task force for the Gulf of Maine area that includes Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts governmental members will support further dialogue and collaboration on offshore wind matters affecting shared natural, socioeconomic, and cultural resources on a regional scale.
June 12, 2019 — For more than two years, the New England Fishery Management Council has worked on an intricate groundfish monitoring amendment that could have wide-scale economic and regulatory consequences for groundfishermen.
It has been a thorny, winding path that involves a host of groundfish committees, plan development teams and assorted staff within the far-flung fisheries regulatory landscape. Now a group of groundfishermen are weighing in. And they are not pleased.
Today, the council, meeting for the second of its three days in Portland, Maine, is expected to finalize the range of alternatives for revising monitoring programs when the amendment — named Amendment 23 — goes out for public comment, probably late in the fall.
In a letter to the council, groundfishermen from across New England criticized the process for developing the amendment by framing the issue within a simple cost/benefit analysis.
They claim the process for fashioning the amendment still has not identified what the revised monitoring programs will cost the groundfish industry that ultimately will be responsible for paying for it.
“That’s an extremely important issue, since they’re the ones paying for it,” said Jackie Odell, the executive director of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition. “These are industry-funded programs.”
June 11, 2019 — Poised to be the first state in the country to draw from utility-scale offshore wind power, Massachusetts has a responsibility to get it right and to position the offshore wind industry for long-term success dealing with climate change and delivering affordable power across the United States, Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday morning.
The state’s approach to secure clean power for itself and to blaze a trail for other states might make it “a little bit annoying to some people along the way,” but is designed to balance predictability for developers and the build-out of a sturdy local supply chain with increasingly urgent calls to deal with the impacts of a changing climate.
In a keynote address to the U.S. Offshore Wind Conference, meeting this week in at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, the governor said the two things he hears most often when talking to people interested in the offshore wind industry is that Massachusetts is moving too quickly and that Massachusetts is not moving quickly enough.
“That makes me think we’re probably in just about the right spot because people who think we’re not going fast enough have a completely unrealistic view about actually what’s possible and when, and the people who think we are going too fast I think don’t appreciate the fact that time is not necessarily our friend when it comes to these issues,” Baker said.
June 10, 2019 — National Fish & Seafood no longer operates in East Gloucester, having given way — and rise — to Atlantic Fish & Seafood in a recent asset sale.
But that does not mean the federal bankruptcy court or National Fish creditors are done with the former seafood processor.
National Fish, which shut down its operations on May 10 after failing to find a buyer for the financially beleaguered company, stated in May 29 filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston that it owes more than $80 million to all its creditors — including more than $64 million to secured creditors and $16 million to unsecured creditors.
“The board of directors for the company, having been fully apprised of all of the material facts related to the financial condition of the company, has determined it is in the best interests of the company, its creditors, and other parties in interest, that the company should cease operations and be liquidated under the supervision of the United States Bankruptcy Court,” National Fish’s board of directors stated in a unanimous written consent included in a May 29 filing.
The filings also confirm two other noteworthy items:
National Fish sold its assets to NSD Seafood Inc. — the parent of Atlantic Fish & Seafood — for $3 million and National Fish’s largest creditor is the Dutch multinational bank Cooperative Rabobank, to which it owes “approximately $73 million in principal (plus interest, fees and other charges).”