Saving Seafood

MAINE: Midcoast fishermen can resume activity in offshore wind project’s proposed cable route

April 21, 2021 — Lobstermen who were forced to move traps along a 23-mile long route off the coast of Monhegan can resume fishing activity in the area. Last week, vessels conducting a survey for an offshore wind project completed their work along the route.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources sent a notice to fishermen on Friday stating that gear, like lobster traps, that were relocated to accommodate the New England Aqua Ventus survey can be moved back to their original locations.

Fishermen were asked to voluntarily move their traps so a survey of the seabed floor along the wind project’s proposed cable route could be conducted. But given the contentious issue of wind development of the Gulf of Maine, some fishermen felt they shouldn’t have to move their traps for a project that they feel threatens their livelihood.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Deal on offshore wind jobs highlights tensions with Maine fishermen

April 7, 2021 –Wednesday’s announcement that Maine organized labor and the developer of a pilot offshore wind farm are partnering to train and hire construction workers took place against a backdrop of rising tensions between two marine-related job creators.

One, the fishing sector, is longtime symbol of Maine’s independent work ethic and an economic mainstay in many coastal communities. The other, offshore wind, is part of a fast-evolving clean-energy industry that’s taking shape along the Eastern Seaboard.

With offshore wind, the interests of these two water-dependent activities are colliding. At issue is access to the ocean and to what degree floating turbine platforms, subsea anchoring systems and  buried cables can coexist with boats that haul lobster traps and drag for ground fish and scallops.

The job projections for offshore wind are tantalizing. New England Aqua Ventus, the developer of a demonstration floating wind turbine planned for construction next year off Monhegan Island, said building a single floating platform will create hundreds of union-wage jobs. Full-scale commercial wind farms with multiple turbines could require thousands of skilled workers, the company says.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine officials seek to lower temperature of wind power protests

March 26, 2021 — With accusations flying between midcoast Maine lobstermen and offshore wind power advocates, state officials worked to reduce tensions as survey vessels chart a future cable route for a planned wind turbine site south of Monhegan Island.

The Maine Aqua Ventus project would be a 12-megawatt floating turbine to test the feasibility of using such anchored generators to build commercial-scale wind power arrays in the deepwater Gulf of Maine. The survey now is over a 23-mile route where an export cable would carry electricity to landfall and tie into the mainland power grid at South Boothbay.

In a bulletin to fishermen Wednesday morning, state Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher urged continued restraint in protests, after a peaceful demonstration Sunday by more than 80 vessels that cruised the cable route flying banners of protest.

“The purpose of this seabed survey is to map the seafloor in order to determine if the cable bringing power to shore can be buried. The purpose of burying the cable is to allow both mobile and fixed gear to fish around the cable without a problem,” Keliher wrote. “The developer has committed to working with the Department to ensure that fishing will be allowed around and over the cable route. I hope that we can find a way forward to complete this survey and achieve that goal.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Maine fishermen demonstrate against offshore wind plan

March 24, 2021 — From afar it looked like a flag-waving boat parade, but an offshore procession Sunday of fishing vessels off the mid-Maine coast was a protest against plans for an undersea power cable and offshore wind turbine.

Organized by captains on short notice, the demonstration involved more than 80 boats trailing the route of a proposed export cable from a floating turbine site south of Monhegan Island to South Boothbay.

The 12-megawatt project by New England Aqua Ventus and the University of Maine would be a demonstration project for the feasibility of floating turbine technology – which would be necessary for developing wind power in the deepwater Gulf of Maine.

Fishing advocates contend the developers need to be more transparent in planning, but protesters said there are immediate issues with gear conflicts.

“The boat hasn’t been staying in the survey route, and there’s been some issues with gear loss,” Dustin Delano, a Friendship lobsterman and and organizer, told the Portland Press Herald.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MAINE: 100 fishing boats gather off Monhegan in protest of offshore wind development

March 23, 2021 — Fishermen in nearly 100 boats from the midcoast gathered in waters near Monhegan Island on Sunday to protest the development of offshore wind energy infrastructure, including an array of wind turbines proposed by the state.

Boats came from towns including South Bristol, Boothbay, Port Clyde, Tenants Harbor, Vinalhaven, Friendship, Spruce Head, Monhegan and Owls Head, Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, told Mainebiz in a subsequent email.

The Brunswick association is an industry-based nonprofit that supports and advocates for Maine’s community-based fishermen. The protest was organized by the fishermen themselves, not by an industry association, he noted.

“We fully support their efforts,” he added.

Martens continued, “Fishermen and waterfront communities throughout Maine are increasingly concerned at the speed at which offshore wind development is taking place in Maine. Maine has funding to create a full roadmap to better ensure that our fisheries and fishing communities are respected and protected, yet we seem to be full steam ahead on putting 700-foot industrial structures out on the ocean.

“We need clean energy, but just because wind is renewable, doesn’t mean it’s green and it doesn’t mean it is the right choice for Maine.”

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Wind developer accuses fishing boats of disrupting Maine offshore survey

March 23, 2021 — The seabed survey for a cable that would connect the planned offshore wind turbine near Monhegan Island to the mainland was disrupted Monday morning by three fishing boats that circled the survey vessel, according to New England Aqua Ventus, the project’s developer.

The action led the crew of the 144-foot R/V Go Liberty to suspend operations for an unspecified period, New England Aqua Ventus said.

“It was creating an unsafe situation until it’s resolved,” Dave Wilby, a project spokesman, told the Portland Press Herald.

The incident follows a protest Sunday by more than 80 lobster boats that lined up between Monhegan and Boothbay Harbor to call attention to their concerns about potential wind power development off the Maine coast.

Lobstermen fear that the ongoing survey project and the test turbine that would follow it will disrupt fisheries and undermine a traditional industry that is a vital economic engine for coastal Maine. But the project also is critical to Maine’s ambitions of jump-starting a new clean-energy sector.

After years of planning, a collaboration between the University of Maine and New England Aqua Ventus would link a turbine south of Monhegan to the mainland power grid in South Boothbay via a 23-mile underwater cable. The 12-megawatt test turbine would be the first commercial-scale project in the nation and help demonstrate the viability of floating offshore wind energy.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maine lobstermen protest Monhegan-area wind project

March 22, 2021 — More than 80 lobster boats lined up between Monhegan Island and Boothbay Harbor on Sunday to protest a seabed survey for a planned offshore wind turbine near Monhegan.

Lobstermen fear that the ongoing survey project and the test turbine that would follow it will disrupt fisheries and undermine an industry that serves as a vital economic engine for coastal Maine. After years of planning, a collaboration between the University of Maine and New England Aqua Ventus would link a turbine south of Monhegan to the mainland power grid in South Boothbay via a 23-mile underwater cable.

Earlier this month, three vessels began surveying the seabed along that route to study the potential impact of a cable on the ecosystem and area industry. But lobstermen say the survey boats have already begun to disrupt their operations by cutting lines and disturbing buoys.

“The boat hasn’t been staying in the survey route, and there’s been some issues with gear loss,” Dustin Delano, a lobsterman from Friendship who helped organize the protest, said this weekend.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald