Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Port Authority submits comments in support of offshore wind fisheries mitigation and compensation

February 8, 2023 — The following was released by the New Bedford Port Authority:

On February 7th, 2023, the New Bedford Port Authority (“NBPA”) released remarks aimed at providing in-depth commentary on the (9) State Framework for Establishing a Regional Fisheries Compensation Fund Administrator for Potential Impacts to the Fishing Community from Offshore Wind Energy. 

Nine Atlantic Coast states are working together to advance and ultimately implement a consistent regional approach for administration of financial compensation (Regional Fund Administrator) paid by developers to address adverse effects of offshore wind energy development on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard’s commercial and for-hire recreational fishing industries.

The NBPA underscored that there is no port in the United States that has more interest, or more at stake, than the Port of New Bedford relative to this Regional Fund Administrator. It also emphasized that to have a truly legitimate and sustainable fisheries compensation fund program, any proposed framework, and the corresponding administrative process to distribute the funds, must be codified in federal law through an act of Congress.

The NBPA comments focused on the fact that potential losses to the fishing industry should not be based on geographic proximity to offshore wind projects, but instead should be based on losses incurred at landing ports. Therefore, it is imperative that shoreside income loss determinations be analyzed on a port-by-port basis based upon the actual losses incurred.

The NBPA believes a regional or cumulative approach to mitigation and compensation is essential. Cumulative impacts of multiple offshore wind developments across our entire coastline will produce collective impacts to fishing industries and the communities supporting them. A common set of rules and procedures established by this process will not only minimize the burden of fishermen seeking compensation but will give offshore wind developers clear expectations for their planning and development purposes. 

“We appreciate this opportunity to assist policymakers in better understanding the unique interests of New Bedford as the nation’s leading commercial fishing port,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. “In our view, the two most important mitigation considerations for a Fund Administrator are ensuring access to mitigation funds for affected shoreside businesses in addition to vessels; and the importance of allocating funds commensurate with the value of the landings associated with respective ports. We look forward to a collaborative effort to establish a fair and equitable policy framework that addresses these concerns.”

As impacts from offshore wind will only grow in scope and intensity as more projects are built out, any framework must include ongoing scientific and economic analyses, technical aspects of fishery management and ecosystems, and socio-economic values, all with direct and substantial participation and collaboration with our fishermen.

MASSACHUSETTS: Blue Harvest Fisheries expands groundfish fleet

February 8, 2023 — Blue Harvest Fisheries has expanded its groundfish fleet, adding the former Francis Dawn as “part of the company’s strategy to assemble a new, modern fleet,” the New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based company said in a press release.

The vessel, now renamed the Nobska, will fish for groundfish in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, landing its catch in both New Bedford and Gloucester, Massachusetts, Blue Harvest said. The Nobska’s current captain, Aldie Leeman, has agreed to work for Blue Harvest, and the company is in the process of transferring the groundfish permit from an older vessel that burned in 2021, also called the Nobska, to the new vessel.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NMFS, Massachusetts order gear removal for right whales on the move

February 3, 2023 — An unusual winter concentration of endangered North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay prompted Massachusetts state officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service to order a three-month removal of trap and pot fishing gear in the region through April 30.

The emergency rule announced NMFS this week covers the Massachusetts Restricted Area Wedge where the gear closure is intended to reduce the risk of gear entanglement “when large numbers of whales are exiting Cape Cod Bay at the same time and place where fishermen are either fishing or may be staging their trap/pot fishing gear in preparation for the May 1 opening of federal waters in the Massachusetts Restricted Area,” according to the agency.

NMFS last imposed an similar emergency rule for the Massachusetts wedge area in April 2022. The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries requested the NMFS action, as the state imposed its own state-waters seasonal restrictions effective Feb. 1.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Fishing Restricted Off Mass. to Protect Right Whales

February 1, 2023 — Citing threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale, federal officials are invoking an emergency rule to ban lobster and crab trap and pot fishermen from working in a vast area of Massachusetts Bay over the next three months.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Tuesday said the emergency rule, which was also deployed in 2022, means that trap and pot fishermen fishing federal waters in an area known as the Massachusetts Restricted Area Wedge “must remove all trap/pot gear from this area, and may not reset trawls being actively fished, or set new trawls in this area for the period from February 1 – April 30, 2023.”

Read the full article at NECN

MASSACHUSETTS: Quinn Fisheries to host Vineyard Wind CTV terminal in New Bedford

January 31, 2023 — Shoreline Offshore and Quinn Fisheries, a longtime operator in the New Bedford, Mass., fishing industry, will host a new base for crew transfer vessels to serve the Vineyard Wind offshore energy project at Quinn’s Pope Island terminal, according to a joint statement by Vineyard Wind and other partners in the project.

Vineyard Wind joint venture partners Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners announced Monday they have  today signed a partnership with Shoreline Offshore, a joint venture between the Quinn family, and SEA.O.G Offshore a leading integrated logistics provider, to build out a berthing and fueling area for crew transfer vessels.

Under the terms of the agreement, Vineyard Wind will provide $750k in funding through its Industry Accelerator Fund, which is co-managed by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), to support the acquisition of two floating barges to meet the berthing needs of Vineyard Wind and future developers.

The barges will be located on the northern side of Pope’s Island, which is fully protected by the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier, and help developers work during both the construction and operations and maintenance phases of the different projects. In addition to the barges, Shoreline Offshore will upgrade its existing facilities, including the addition of fuel tanks and other infrastructure needed to serve New Bedford’s multiple maritime industries.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

U.S. Offshore Wind: Still Affordable?

January 26, 2023 — Later this year, the 800-megawatt capacity Vineyard Wind 1 project will begin delivering electricity to the Massachusetts grid. And lead owner Avangrid Inc along with its 81.65 percent owner Iberdrola SA have indicated the project remains on budget for when it enters full commercial operations, expected in early 2024.

After that, however, the way ahead for U.S. offshore wind is considerably less clear. The Biden Administration is supportive as ever, pledging last month to expedite permitting to the construction stage for at least 16 offshore wind arrays by 2025.

That now includes a published draft environmental review of Dominion Energy’s proposed 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) facility. The project will be developed with a vessel owned by the company and now being built in Texas, which should allow management to control costs and potentially profit by leasing for other offshore wind construction.

Read the full article at Forbes

Vineyard Wind opponents ask federal judge to halt project over environmental concerns

January 26, 2023 — Opponents of an offshore wind turbine farm under construction south of Martha’s Vineyard are asking a federal judge to halt the project, and require federal authorities to take another look at the project’s potential impacts on the environment and wildlife.

The nonprofit group Nantucket Residents Against Turbines is trying to put the brakes on Vineyard Wind, which was approved in May 2021 by the Biden administration, and is being built a dozen or so miles off the resort island.

Amy DiSibio, a member of the group’s board, told reporters before a hearing Tuesday in US District Court in Boston that federal endangered species and environmental laws were not “carefully considered” when the project was approved, and deserve much more scrutiny, she said.

Read the full article at the Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: A net win: Recycling company works with New Bedford fisheries to repurpose their old gear

January 24, 2023 — When you love what you do, as is case for Caitlin Townsend, advocating for fishermen by collecting old fishing nets, ropes and other gear in New Bedford so it can be recycled feels like a dream job.

“If I knew that this was a job option when I was a kid, I would have said this is my dream job, because it is something I am so extremely passionate about,” she said.

It may not sound like everyone’s dream job, but Townsend feels she’s making a difference working for Net Your Problem, a fishing gear recycling service doing its part for the fishing industry as the Massachusetts representative.

“My dad taught me so much as a kid,” she said. “I learned from him that fishermen love the ocean more than anywhere and they would do anything to continue to fish. So programs like this and our business can really help people be able to continue to fish,” said Townsend, a resident of Truro.

Her father, Chris Townsend, fishes out of Provincetown, and she still fishes with him as much as she can. When she was a teenager, she fished full-time with him as his deckhand.

Read the full article at Standard-Times

Construction for nation’s largest commercial offshore wind farm underway, but challenges loom

January 23, 2023 — Offshore wind industry experts say that wind could be the answer to minimize our carbon footprint, and here in the U.S., we’re seeing one of the country’s first offshore wind projects come to life off the coast of Massachusetts where the wind will be used as an emissions-free energy source.

Vineyard Wind is currently constructing the country’s largest commercial offshore wind project, and the goal is to use electricity produced by wind turbines to power homes starting in 2023.

“We’re about a year into onshore construction, and we’ve just begun offshore,” said Andrew Doba, spokesperson for Vineyard Wind. “One spin of the turbine will power a home for 24 hours in the U.S.”

There will be 62 turbines spaced about a mile apart that will produce power for about 400,000 homes. The turbines will be constructed about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Underwater cables will bring that energy from the turbines to Covell’s Beach in Barnstable, Massachusetts.

Read the full article at Fox Weather

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford fishing industry considers compensation for offshore wind’s impact

January 19, 2023 — Fishing communities are looking to the federal government to determine the best way to compensate them for potential threats to their livelihoods from the offshore wind industry.

Massachusetts and eight other Atlantic Coast states proposed the establishment of a regional fisheries compensatory mitigation fund administrator.

In June, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a draft framework for mitigating impacts to commercial and recreational fisheries. Stakeholders have until Jan. 31 to submit comments to a Request for Information released by the states on Dec. 12 to guide the process.

New Bedford Port Authority Executive Director Gordon Carr said the initiative and leadership of the nine states and the extensive work involved in issuing the scoping document for a regional fisheries mitigation fund administrator and seeking stakeholder input through the RFI process is greatly appreciated.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Standard-Times