Saving Seafood

Fishing Group Renews Effort to Stop Empire Wind

June 13, 2025 — The Long Island Commercial Fishing Association is among the groups calling for a renewed halt to the construction of the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm, which was the subject of a stop-work order in April that was lifted just a month later.

The organizations, which include Protect Our Coast-New Jersey and the Nantucket-based ACK for Whales, have called on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to issue a stop-work order on the 54-turbine, 810-megawatt project, which is to span 80,000 acres in the New York Bight and send renewable electricity to New York City. Mr. Burgum had done just that on April 16, reportedly at the urging of Representatives Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and with the support of Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

A month later, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management informed Equinor, the Norwegian company that is constructing the wind farm, that the stop-work order had been lifted, allowing construction to resume. Gov. Kathy Hochul took credit for the reversal, saying that she had “spent weeks pushing the federal government to rescind the stop-work order” so that construction on “this important source of renewable power” could proceed.

The groups seeking to halt the project cited the June 2 death of a subcontractor aboard a platform supply vessel.

“Unlike [the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s] public reporting for oil and gas accidents, there is currently no centralized public reporting website for offshore wind fatalities or injuries,” the groups said in a statement. “The public, press, and fishing community were never informed of this fatality, echoing the lack of transparency seen after the Vineyard Wind LM107P blade implosion on July 13, 2024, when 55 tons of material were deposited into the ocean and washed onto Nantucket’s beaches, only disclosed 48 hours later.”

Read the full article at The East Hampton Star

Local, regional groups sue to halt Empire Wind project

June 13, 2025 — The U.S. government and several entities involved in the offshore Empire Wind 1 turbine project are being sued by environmental and fisheries groups seeking to halt construction, after an April stop work order on Empire Wind 1 was lifted by the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 19.

The plaintiffs in the suit, filed on June 3, hail from New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and include groups like Protect Our Coast NJ, Clean Ocean Action Inc., Massachusetts-based ACK for Whales, the Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach and Miss Belmar, Inc.

The suit alleges that the rescindment of the stop work order is “incomplete and failed to safeguard the ecology of our seacoast and the livelihoods it supports,” the plaintiffs’ lead counsel, Bruce Afran, said in a press release obtained by The Ocean Star last week.

“President Trump halted the Empire Wind project due to the Biden Administration’s failure to adequately assess the environmental harm posed by these offshore wind turbines and the impact on our coastal fishing industry,” he said. “None of those critical issues have been resolved. We are asking the federal court to reinstate the stop work order because the project’s federal approvals were incomplete and failed to safeguard the ecology of our seacoast and the livelihoods it supports.”

A representative from Equinor, the Norwegian multinational company that owns the Empire Wind project, did not respond to a request for comment by press time Thursday.

The plaintiffs contend that the project, which would place 54 wind turbines approximately 20 miles east of Long Branch in a triangular area of water known as the New York-New Jersey Bight, would cause environmental disruptions “in one of the Atlantic’s most ecologically sensitive areas.”

Read the full article at Star News Group

 

AGs: Trump wind memo delays SouthCoast Wind by two years

June 12, 2025 — SouthCoast Wind is now delayed by at least two years as a result of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 memo freezing wind project permitting and leasing, according to attorneys general suing the Trump administration. This pushes power delivery to Massachusetts and Rhode Island to 2032 at the earliest.

Michael Brown, CEO of SouthCoast Wind, portends significant challenges for the up to 141-turbine project if the presidential memorandum persists, and warned it’s unlikely the developer will reach a power purchase agreement with the Commonwealth by the June 30 deadline, according to briefs filed this week in federal court as part of the multistate lawsuit.

“The continuation of the Wind Directive is an impediment to SouthCoast Wind” executing its agreement with the state, wrote Elizabeth Mahony, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, in a Tuesday filing.

Brown in a separate filing wrote that without resolution, “it may be impossible for the parties to execute the [power purchase agreements],” and the company will be “forced to abandon” negotiations with Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Mahony said the wind memo, if left in place, will be “an insurmountable challenge to project viability.”

Avangrid’s New England Wind is the other project negotiating contracts in this round of offshore wind solicitations. The parties had a March deadline, but it was extended, in part due to Trump’s memo.

Unlike SouthCoast Wind, New England Wind has all requisite federal permits in place to begin construction. Avangrid on Wednesday declined to comment on the status of negotiations with Massachusetts. A spokesperson for SouthCoast Wind did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

SouthCoast Wind received final federal approval on the last business day of the Biden administration. But it still needs three permits — one from the Environmental Protection Agency, one from NOAA Fisheries, and one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which the Corps has already approved, but not issued) — before it can begin construction.

Brown, in his filing, said the federal agencies, which were set to issue their final permit decisions in March, have repeatedly delayed action, citing the wind memorandum.

He said the EPA has been “unresponsive” to the company’s “multiple outreach efforts to check on the status of the final permit and provide assistance,” and that this “substantial, continuous delay” causes “significant harm” to the project.

Due to these delays, SouthCoast Wind has paid tens of millions of dollars in contract termination fees, Brown said.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Does fishing have the potential for a quiet power shift?

June 4, 2025 — Fuel costs eat into narrow margins, and emissions regulations continue to tighten in the commercial fishing world. The idea of electrifying commercial fishing vessels is beginning to float.

But for Paul Nosworthy, owner of New England Marine Engineering and Supply Inc. in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the conversation isn’t just about swapping diesel for batteries; it’s about practicality, power, and the people doing the work.

“It takes a certain amount of power to operate a vessel- between propulsion and auxiliary generator plants,” Nosworthy said. “We attempt to size the generator plant as close to the practical load requirement as possible.”

While full electric propulsion remains hypothetical in New England’s commercial fleet, Nosworthy’s shop is already bridging the gap in quieter ways. “We now install soft start rectifiers on larger motors,” he explained. “It takes three times the running amps to start an electric motor. If a motor draws 30 amps running, it takes 90 amps to start. Using a rectifier, you can maintain the run amp load at startup. We maintain an inventory of these soft starters.”

That kind of upgrade may seem small, but it signals a larger trend- more boats exploring electric auxiliary systems, especially refrigeration, gensets, and potentially winches, before ever considering propulsion.

“Many boats are finding the need to install refrigeration to prevent the loss of their catch,” said Nosworthy. “A lot of smaller vessels have had to upgrade their generator plants. That’s costly. The smoke stack has to be enlarged, and so does the keel cooler.”

These changes trigger a cascade of other requirements: more ventilation, more airflow, and more space. “Engine room ventilation needs to be increased,” he added. “You need 3.5 CFM  (Cubic Feet per Minute) for each horsepower of the engine, which allows proper air and fuel mix to get to the cylinders, prolonging engine life and reducing fuel use.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford seafood processing workforce fearful of ICE raids, deportation after May arrests

June 3, 2025 — New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is one of the busiest seafood-processing hubs in the nation, but the workforce there – largely comprising migrants from Central America – is living in constant fear of deportation, a longtime seafood processing worker who has since left the industry told SeafoodSource.

The former worker, who spoke to SeafoodSource on the condition of anonymity, said that ever since two undocumented Guatemalan men without criminal records, who were workers at New Bedford-based seafood-processing company Oceans Fleet, were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on 12 May, workers in the community are wondering if they will be the next ones to be arrested.

Read the full article at Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod Bay targeted for a new artificial reef after success of previous reefs in Nantucket Sound

May 30, 2025 — The Dennis and Brewster Select Boards are in support of a new artificial reef in Cape Cod Bay that has been proposed by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

The reef would cover about ten acres using 35,000 cubic yards of natural materials and clean concrete.

Historically, local reefs were naturally created by shipwrecks. Then in 1978, the DMF helped develop the first-ever artificial reef in Nantucket Sound, south of the Bass River in Yarmouth. That reef was constructed using tires filled with concrete.

Another reef was completed in 2016 south of Saquatucket Harbor in Harwich, using material from the demolished Harwich High School.

Read the full article at CapeCod.com

MASSACHUSETTS: Commercial fishermen welcomed Trump’s promise to roll back ‘overregulation.’ Months into his term, what do they think of him?

May 20, 2025 — Here, in America’s oldest port of its kind, where the squawk of gulls offers a constant soundtrack to life on the docks, the iconic, centuries-old commercial fishing industry used to be much, much better. There were, fishermen recalled, more boats making more money, fewer rules, and more opportunity.

In their telling, federal authorities overstepped in a misguided effort to protect fish stocks, with rules that have strangled their beloved way of life. So President Trump’s promise to roll back “overregulation” had been broadly welcomed by those in commercial fishing, even as industry veterans, burned by generations of politicians, approach any cause for optimism with caution.

Now, four months since Trump took office, some fishermen and businesses that rely on them question whether the Republican’s rhetoric will translate into tangible benefits.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe

UMass: valuable independent science for region’s fisheries

May 19, 2025 — Anyone who doubts the value of having UMass Dartmouth’s Center for Marine Science and Technology in New Bedford should take a look at the situation developing in the scalloping industry.

Directly because of survey data collected by CMAST, government regulators are being forced to do some hard re-thinking of their plans to cut back even further on the number of fishing days scallopers are allowed. It’s not a moment too soon Unless something changes, next year the fishing limit will be down to 51 days from the current 121 days. Sebastian O’Kelly, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s new ombudsman, was in New Bedford for a visit this week and said, “It would be a substantial cutback if that goes into effect and will have a substantial impact on New Bedford, no question.”

Read the full article at South Coast Today

MASSCHUSETTS: Two Guatemalan fisheries workers arrested in early-morning operation

May 15, 2025 — Two Guatemalan men — one of whom is waiting for a kidney transplant — never made it to work at a seafood processing plant on Monday.

Marvin Yobani Chitic Us, 30, and Justo Rufino Chitic Us, 33, both undocumented immigrants without any criminal history in Massachusetts, were allegedly taken into custody by federal agents before their early-morning shift at Oceans Fleet, where they have worked for years processing scallops. Though they share a surname, they are not related, their families say.

The first sign something was wrong came shortly after 5 a.m., when Marvin’s sister — who also works at Oceans Fleet — noticed that both men were missing. She called her other brother, Gerardo, to tell him that Marvin did not show up for work.

Alarmed, Gerardo contacted Isaias, Justo’s brother. The two began searching the neighborhood and soon found the car the men used to drive to work. It was parked one block from Marvin’s usual spot on Purchase Street, near his apartment. Inside were two cups of coffee, two pastries, and the car keys in the glove compartment.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Trump reinstating commercial fishing in northeast marine monument

May 12, 2025 — President Trump is reinstating commercial fishing in a national marine monument after the practice was blocked by his Democratic predecessors.

Trump is expected to issue a proclamation Friday reinstating commercial fishing access in all 4,913 square miles of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which is located off the coast of Massachusetts.

The proclamation was first reported by the NH Journal.

The national monument was established by former President Obama to protect deep-sea canyons with unique ecosystems. The administration said at the time that these ecosystems are significantly impacted by climate change.

Read the full article at The Hill