December 18, 2019 — A New York board has approved plans to build 27 wind turbines despite a new local intended to block the project. The state’s Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment approved the 124-megawatt Calpine wind farm in eastern Broome County on Monday. A new zoning law adopted by the town of Sanford effectively banned the project but board Chairman John Rhodes said environmental impacts would be minimized, based on plans by developer Calpine. The state Public Service Commission says the decision demonstrates how the state is working to achieve Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s goal of a zero-emissions electricity sector by 2040.
December 2019 MAFMC Meeting Report
December 18, 2019 — The following was released by Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council met December 9-12, 2019 in Annapolis, Maryland. During this meeting, the Council:
- Approved the use of regional conservation equivalency for the recreational summer flounder fishery in 2020*
- Approved status quo recreational scup and black sea bass management measures in state and federal waters in 2020*
- Approved recreational bluefish measures for 2020 consisting of a 3-fish bag limit for the shore and private mode and a 5-fish bag limit for the for-hire modes*
- Approved a scoping document for the joint Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Commercial/ Recreational Allocation Amendment*
- Agreed to develop the Black Sea Bass Commercial Allocation Addendum/Amendment as a joint action with the ASMFC*
- Approved a supplemental scoping document for the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment*
- Approved the Commercial eVTR Omnibus Framework with a 48-hour reporting deadline
- Selected a preferred alternative and approved the Omnibus Risk Policy Framework
- Selected preferred alternatives and approved the Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Excessive Shares Amendment
- Approved the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan
- Approved the Comprehensive Five Year (2020-2024) Research Priorities document
- Finalized the EAFM summer flounder conceptual model and agreed to move forward with development of a summer flounder recreational discards management strategy evaluation
- Identified four areas of expertise needed on the Scientific and Statistical Committee
- Reviewed and approved a list of actions and deliverables for the 2020 Implementation Plan
- Received an update on habitat activities
Read the full December 2019 Council Meeting Report for details on these discussions and decisions. Briefing materials, presentations, motions, and webinar recordings are available here.
* Items denoted with an asterisk (*) were undertaken during joint meetings with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board and Bluefish Management Board.
Press Release, Summaries and Motions from the Joint ASMFC/MAFMC December 2019 Meeting Now Available
December 17, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The press release, meeting summaries and motions from the December 2019 Joint Meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/
Council and Commission Recommend Recreational Bluefish Management Measures for 2020
December 17, 2019 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
Last week, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) recommended and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) approved new recreational fishing regulations for the 2020 Atlantic bluefish fishery from Florida to Maine. These measures, which include a 3-fish bag limit for private anglers and shore-based fishermen and a 5-fish bag limit for for-hire fishermen, represent a substantial reduction compared to the federal 15-fish bag limit that has been in place since 2000. The Commission’s actions are final and apply to state waters (0-3 miles from shore), while the Council will forward its recommendation for federal waters (3 – 200 miles from shore) to the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval.
The most recent operational assessment of the Atlantic bluefish stock concluded that the stock is overfished but not experiencing overfishing. During their joint meeting in October, the Council and Commission adopted a recreational harvest limit (RHL) of 9.48 million pounds for 2020 and 2021, which is an 18% decrease compared to the 2019 RHL. Using the current regulations, the recreational sector is projected to land 13.27 million pounds, which will exceed the RHL by 28.56%. Therefore, the Council and Commission met last week to approve new recreational management measures to constrain harvest to the reduced RHL.
The Council and Commission considered several combinations of bag limits and minimum size limits, including options to set a single set of regulations for all fishing modes or different regulations for shore/private modes and the for-hire mode. Although the Council’s Bluefish Monitoring Committee recommended a coastwide 3-fish bag limit, the majority of comments from the public and Bluefish Advisory Panel (AP) members expressed opposition to this option, noting that it would have severe economic consequences for the for-hire sector, which was only responsible for 3.6% of coastwide landings from 2016 to 2018. Additionally, AP members and the public emphasized that these proposed reductions come at a challenging time for for-hire stakeholders as they are also facing new restrictions on striped bass, black sea bass, summer flounder, and scup.
After an extensive discussion and thorough consideration of public comments, the Council recommended and Commission approved a 3-fish bag limit for private and shore modes and a 5-fish bag limit for the for-hire mode. No restrictions were made to minimum fish size or seasons.
“For many years, bluefish has been one of our most abundant recreational fisheries,” said Council Chairman and ASMFC Board member Mike Luisi. “The Council and Commission are fully committed to the effective conservation and management of this stock, but we also recognize that a sudden change in regulations could have severe socioeconomic consequences for some stakeholders. After evaluating a wide range of options and considering numerous comments from the public, we feel that this approach is the most fair and effective way to achieve the necessary reduction in harvest next year.”
The Council and Commission are continuing to work on development of a rebuilding plan as part of the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment. Additional information and updates on this action are available at http://www.mafmc.org/actions/bluefish-allocation-amendment.
US has only one offshore wind energy farm, but a $70 billion market is on the way
December 16, 2019 — Just three years ago five giant wind turbines in the waters off Block Island, Rhode Island, started spinning 30 MW of electricity to that tiny community of about a thousand residents. While it remains the only offshore wind farm in the U.S., that’s about to dramatically change.
According to the Department of Energy, offshore wind has the potential to generate more than 2,000 GW of capacity per year, nearly double the nation’s current electricity use. Even if only 1% of that potential is captured, nearly 6.5 million homes could be powered by offshore wind energy within the next decade.
Today states along the Eastern Seaboard, from Maine to Virginia, are poised to join a renewable-energy revolution that will not only provide clean, green electricity but also create tens of thousands of jobs, revitalize distressed port cities and spur economic growth in dozens of coastal communities.
“We are in an incredible growth period,” said Laura Morton, a senior director at the American Wind Energy Association in Washington, D.C. She cited a recent white paper from the Special Initiative for Offshore Wind that projects a $70 billion business pipeline in the U.S. by 2030.
Resilient New England Coral Is Teaching Us about the Future of Reefs
December 16, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Dave Veilleux and Sean Grace lean over trays lined with thumb-sized coral colonies, varying in color from white to brown to a mix of white and brown. An instrument called a fluorometer beeps, and they move on to measure photosynthesis in the next colony. In the background, you can hear the constant flow of seawater from Long Island Sound, and the whir of the carbon dioxide system hard at work.
Grace chairs the Biology Department at Southern Connecticut State University, and Veilleux runs the shellfish hatchery at NOAA Fisheries’ Milford Laboratory. The two have known each other for 15 years, since Veilleux was Grace’s first graduate student. They’ve teamed up again to study the effects of ocean acidification on New England’s only hard coral species, the appropriately named Astrangia poculata, or northern star coral.
Northern star coral is considered a model for investigating coral response to environmental change. Researchers want to pinpoint what makes this hardy coral uniquely able to thrive in harsh conditions. This may provide ideas on how to help boost the resilience of more delicate tropical coral species. The Milford Lab has two state-of-the-art ocean acidification experimental systems built for carbon dioxide exposure studies, making it an ideal setting for this research.
Regenerating New York Harbor, One Billion Oysters at a Time
December 13, 2019 — When Hurricane Sandy struck New York on October 29, 2012, it deluged every neighborhood it hit. Seven years later, many neighborhoods—including Coney Island, Canarsie in Brooklyn, and points all along the shore of Staten Island—are still recovering. Others, such as Staten Island’s Fox Beach, were destroyed in their entirety, never to have residents again.
With these events in all too recent memory, New Yorkers know how susceptible they are to climate change and are at the forefront of developing new approaches to the climate crisis, with the city’s young people getting especially involved. As the recent youth climate strikes that brought hundreds of thousands to New York’s streets attest, the younger generations—those who will be most affected by climate change—are taking concrete steps to try to turn back the tide, quite literally.
One of the programs that is engaging youth is the Billion Oyster Project. While the project’s founding goal aimed to to make the “waters surrounding New York City cleaner, more abundant, more well-known, more well-loved,” it has a more pressing role in the time of accelerating climate change: creating oyster reefs that can help blunt storm surges that accompany hurricanes by breaking up the waves before they hit land.
Virginia Governor Making Budgetary Allocations for Offshore Wind
December 12, 2019 — As a part of Gov. Ralph Northam’s new budget for Virginia, the commonwealth will see the establishment of the Office of Offshore Wind – a first for Virginia.
The budget will also earmark up to $40 million to upgrade the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, which will help secure new investments in the offshore wind supply chain. These investments are aimed at ensuring Virginia achieves its goal of 2.5 GW of energy generated from offshore wind by 2026.
“In Virginia, we are proving that a clean environment and a strong economy go hand-in-hand – and having both is what makes our commonwealth such a great place to live, work and play,” Northam says.
“The proposed investments in clean energy financing and the first office of offshore wind will create new business opportunities, expand customer access to renewable energy, and spark high-demand jobs of the 21st century,” adds Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball. “Likewise, the investments at Portsmouth Marine Terminal will enable the commonwealth to attract new economic investment from the offshore wind industry, which is pivotal as we work to diversify the economy in Hampton Roads.”
U.S. Coast Guard Rescues Four From Grounded Fishing Vessel
December 10, 2019 — On Monday morning, a U.S. Coast Guard aircrew hoisted four fishermen from a grounded commercial fishing boat in Browns Inlet, North Carolina.
Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received a radio distress call at about 0815 hours Monday from a crewmember aboard the fishing vessel Sea Angels. The crewmember reported that they had run aground due to mechanical issues and that the four people on board needed assistance.
A boat crew aboard a response boat from Station Emerald Isle and an aircrew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City launched to assist. Once on scene, the aircrew hoisted the four crew members and transported them to Coast Guard Station Emerald Isle.
New Jersey submits striped bass measures to federal commission
December 10, 2019 — At the close of last month, New Jersey submitted a range of striped bass conservation equivalency measures to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or ASMFC, for review.
Just what those options were, Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection, didn’t disclose.
The ASMFC recommended states adopt a one-fish bag limit and a 28- to 35-inch recreational limit for ocean fisheries in order to reduce the coastwide harvest by 18 percent. This was on the ASFMC’s findings that striped bass are being overfished.
However, states are free to develop their own option as long as it achieves the required reduction.
Hajan said the ASMFC’s Striped Bass Technical Committee will review the measures and whatever options it approves will be made public and presented to N.J.’s Marine Fisheries Council.
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