Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Debris from broken Vineyard Wind blade confirmed on Hyannis beach

August 26, 2024 — Vineyard Wind has confirmed that debris from its broken GE Vernova-made turbine blade was recently recovered from the shore in Hyannisport.

The town of Barnstable on Thursday released an advisory about pieces of foam debris “which were reported through the Vineyard Wind debris reporting hotline.”

Vineyard Wind spokesperson Craig Gilvarg on Friday noted that “in the initial report, roughly five small pieces were found by a resident and reported to the town of Barnstable.”

“As part of its debris recovery efforts, Vineyard Wind dispatched a crew to patrol the area, and no additional debris was found,” he said in an email. “We are coordinating with local officials, including any required shorebird monitoring personnel, to respond to any additional reports we receive.”

Read the full article at Yahoo! News

Fishermen organizing ‘flotilla’ protest against offshore wind

August 23, 2024 — In response to recent concerns over offshore wind and with debris washing up on Nantucket and Island beaches from a fractured turbine blade, the New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) has organized a “flotilla” for this Sunday, bringing fishing boats together to peacefully protest in unison against the offshore wind industry.

Boats will be joining together in a “boat parade” from various areas of the east coast, said NEFSA founder and CEO Jerry Leeman, including the Vineyard, Nantucket, parts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and potentially New Jersey.

Read the full article at MV Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Final Offshore Wind Discussion Centers on Ethics, Economics

August 23, 2024 — Newport’s Energy & Environ­ment Commission concluded its three-part series about offshore wind on Aug. 15, with moderator Avery Robertson leading panelists representing Climate Action Rhode Island’s Yes to Wind campaign, the Iron Workers Local 37 union, and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in a discussion about the ethics and economics of offshore wind devel­opment.

Nick Horton, a volunteer with Cli­mate Action Rhode Island, opened his remarks by asking the audience to raise their hands if they con­sidered themselves environmen­talists, whether they cared about whales, and if they cared about the health of Rhode Island’s fisheries now and in the future. Most people raised their hands to all three. He then asked the room to raise their hands if they planned on cutting their personal energy usage by 90 percent within the next few years. Nobody raised their hand.

He proceeded to make the point that Rhode Island’s grid is largely dependent upon the fracking of natural gas in other states as its main power source. Horton said he supports the industrial scale devel­opment of offshore wind not only because it provides an alternative to modes of fossil fuel production, such as fracking, which negatively impact the environment, but also because the pollution caused by fracking and coal-fired power plants increases cancer rates and other health issues in other com­munities.

Read the full article at Newport Daily News

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind debris confirmed on Hyannisport beaches

August 23, 2024 — The following was released by Town of Barnstable:

On Wednesday, August 21, 2024, Vineyard Wind confirmed that pieces of foam collected on Hyannisport beaches, and which were reported through the Vineyard Wind Debris Reporting Hotline, are from the damaged Vineyard Wind turbine blade.

The Town of Barnstable would like to remind the public that Vineyard Wind is responsible for collecting and removing any/all related debris, and only trained Vineyard Wind employees and/or Vineyard Wind contractors should handle debris.

• DO NOT put any debris in your home garbage for collection.

• DO NOT bring the debris to the Barnstable Transfer Station.

• DO notify the Vineyard Wind Reporting Hotline directly and immediately if you identify debris so they can remove it for analysis and proper disposal.

Any debris identified in the water or along Barnstable shorelines should be reported directly to Vineyard Wind’s Debris Reporting Hotline at 781-831-1134 to allow assigned crews to manage the proper recovery and clean-up of debris. This phone number is intended to provide improved and quicker service.

You can also report debris online: https://vineyardwind1.ethicspoint.com.

This page has updated information on GE blade debris recovery: https://static1.squarespace.com/…/1724075…/Updated_Blade Incident – Guidance for Communities_Final.pdf

Cape Cod scientists delay controversial climate change project after feds raise concern

August 19, 2024 — Cape Cod scientists are delaying a geoengineering project that looks to dump more than 60,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide into the ocean and has caught federal concerns around potential impacts on the ecosystem.

Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth have pushed back the project from mid-September to next summer because they say a fully-equipped research vessel is no longer available.

Woods Hole’s decision to delay became public two days after the National Marine Fisheries published a warning last Monday that the project could “adversely affect federally-managed species and other NOAA trust resources.”

The experiment, consisting of two phases, would dump sodium hydroxide and freshwater into the Atlantic, temporarily changing the water’s chemistry – increasing carbon dioxide levels that the ocean absorbs.

Scientists say it’s an effort that could be a way to slow climate change in the long run.

The first phase of the so-called LOC-NESS project, short for “Locking away Ocean Carbon in the Northeast Shelf and Slope,” would release 6,600 gallons of sodium hydroxide solution roughly 10 miles south of Normans Land, an island off of Martha’s Vineyard.

The release of the solution would occur over two to three hours to “create a patch of alkalinity on the ocean surface and then monitored for up to 5 days by an on-site scientific research team,” according to project documents.

In the second phase, pushed back to 2026, scientists would dump up to 66,000 gallons into the Wilkinson Basin, nearly 40 miles northeast of Provincetown.

Read the full article at the Boston Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Vineyard Wind Removes Final Pieces Of Damaged Blade Hanging From Turbine

August 16, 2024 — Vineyard Wind announced Thursday that it had removed the remaining pieces of the damaged blade that had been hanging from one of its turbines since the failure event on July 13.

The hanging pieces of the blade – which once measured 351 feet and weighed 55 tons before it folded and shattered last month – were removed through a “controlled cutting operation” which Vineyard Wind had previewed in its action plan released on August 11.

“While most of the debris was collected during the operation, some entered the water column before it could be recovered,” the town of Nantucket announced on Thursday following an update from Vineyard Wind officials. “Vineyard Wind has assured the town that they will maintain teams at sea, by air, and onshore on Nantucket and surrounding areas to monitor and address any additional debris that may be found.”

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

How abundant shellfish help create healthy waters

August 16, 2024 — As a fisheries and aquaculture specialist at the Barnstable County Cooperative Extension, Abigail Archer spends a lot of time trying to help the public connect the dots between shellfish, nitrogen, and healthy estuaries. This relationship starts when nitrogen travels through freshwater streams and runoff into our marine environment.

“Oysters are kind of like sheep grazing out in a field. And so, you know, the sheep are not standing in a field absorbing the nutrients from the grass. They’re actually munching on the grass and then eating that and then getting the nutrients in the grass,” she explained.

Read the full article at CAI

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Codders protest offshore wind plans as Gov. Healey visits Barnstable ice cream shop

August 16, 2024 — Opponents of landing more offshore wind cables in Barnstable got a chance to confront Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday when she visited Cape Cod.

Members of the community groups Barnstable Speaks and Save Dowses Beach protested across the street from Four Seas ice cream in Centerville, where Healey stopped to promote the new Massachusetts Ice Cream Trail.

About 25 protesters held signs and chanted, “Protect our beaches. Say no to Avangrid.” They waited outside as the governor went in, greeted the staff, and tried the mint chip ice cream.

Read the full article at CAI

Using Environmental DNA to Understand Biodiversity in a Marine National Monument

August 16, 2024 — When I tell my friends that I’m going to collect environmental DNA samples in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, their first question is always: Where is that?

Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National is a highly protected area located about 130 miles east-southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It is similar in size to Connecticut. President Obama designated this area as the first marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean in 2016.

NOAA shares management responsibilities with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for activities and species within the monument. It is a relatively undisturbed environment, which could be called a true ocean wilderness. The chief scientist of this research expedition, Peter Auster, is a research professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut and a senior research scientist at Mystic Aquarium. When Peter asked me if I’d be interested in sailing together to collect environmental DNA samples from the monument, I answered with an enthusiastic yes.

An interdisciplinary research group mustered aboard R/V Connecticut. Peter Auster and others scuba dove to deploy baited remote underwater video cameras to study apex predators. Meta Miner and Mael Glon from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted seabird surveys. Mary Beth Decker of Yale University used a specialized net to collect and identify gelatinous animals.

And of course, I collected seawater samples for eDNA metabarcoding analysis to study biodiversity in the monument, including fish and marine mammals.

Besides the fascinating habitat we studied, this expedition offered unique research opportunities for me.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

Vineyard Wind construction resumes one month after turbine blade failure. What we know.

August 15, 2024 — Even as investigations continue into what caused the blade on Vineyard Wind turbine AW-38 to collapse last month, sending splintered fiberglass, rigid foam and balsa wood into the ocean, limited construction is resuming on the 806-megawatt offshore project.

On Tuesday, Foss Maritime‘s Prevailing Wind barge — one of only two vessels in the world capable of transporting Vineyard Wind’s massive turbine components in an upright position — left the New Bedford Marine Commerce terminal loaded with tower sections and a nacelle and headed for the project area south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Also on board was a rack of three blades, though according to the wind developer this was “solely for the purpose of ensuring safe and balanced composition for the transport,” not for installation. The company said the blades will be returned to the commerce terminal later this week.

Read the full article at The Herald News