Saving Seafood

Commercial scalloper: “I just want to get by and not get ripped off.”

November 4, 2024 — Fifty-year fishing veteran Doug Smith, better known as Captain Smitty on the waterfront, is worried about the state of commercial scalloping on Nantucket.

Catching them isn’t the problem, he said.

The fishery is a far cry from what it was in the 1980s, but he had no issues collecting his five-bushel limit on the opening day of commercial scalloping season Friday. He was offloading his haul at Straight Wharf by noontime.

He’s concerned about what island fish markets will pay for his product.

“I’m scared, and I’m looking for new resources. Something new and exciting, rather than the three dominant buyers,” Smith said Friday.

Island fish markets would not confirm what they were paying fishermen for their scallops Friday, but several scallopers and dealers said that Sayle’s Seafood, Glidden’s Island Seafood and Nantucket Seafoods were offering between $12-14 a pound. Last year most buyers were paying $15 on opening day.

Read the full article at The Inquirer and Mirror 

MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket evaluates economic, environmental fallout from turbine blade

October 10, 2024 — Three months after a blade from an offshore wind turbine near Martha’s Vineyard fell, Nantucket is addressing the failure’s economic and environmental impact.

“While our community is committed to doing our part to address climate change, we have had to confront the very real and lasting adverse impacts of offshore wind development,” the Nantucket Select Board wrote in a letter to the Cape island’s residents on Wednesday.

Read the full article at Mass Live

Nantucket group appeals to Supreme Court to end offshore wind projects and protect endangered whales

September 30, 2024 — A group of Nantucket, Massachusetts, residents are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court in their challenge to the industrialization of parts of the Atlantic Ocean, where they say offshore wind farms – developed with the blessing of the federal government – are putting an endangered whale species at risk.

The group, Nantucket Residents Against Turbines, argues in its petition to the high court that “the federal government has lost sight of its statutory obligations to conserve endangered species that will be directly affected by the construction of thousands of wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean.”

They argue that the federal agencies that authorized the leasing of the water area to wind turbine companies excluded certain data in their analysis to the benefit of offshore wind development.

“Despite the agencies’ explicit statutory duty to consider all ‘best information available,’ regarding the impacts its actions might have on an endangered or threatened species and those habitats, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), did not consider the cumulative impacts of other planned projects when they authorized and issued permits to construct the Vineyard Wind 1 Project.”

Read the full article at Fox News

Wind power construction noise doesn’t destroy whale habitat, feds find

August 27, 2024 — The federal government issued a new “biological opinion” on the offshore wind power project off Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, finding that pile-driving noise associated with Vineyard Wind 1 is likely to adversely affect, but not likely to jeopardize, the continued existence of whales, fish or sea turtles listed under the Endangered Species Act.

“It will have no effect on any designated critical habitat,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries said in a statement. “NOAA Fisheries does not anticipate serious injuries to or mortalities of any ESA listed whale including the North Atlantic right whale.” The agency said that with mitigation measures, “all effects to North Atlantic right whales will be limited to temporary behavioral disturbance.”

NOAA Fisheries said Friday it was issuing its new opinion to the “federal action agencies” including Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which approved the Vineyard Wind 1 Project in 2021 and oversees offshore wind power development in federal lease areas.

Read the full story at WBUR

Fishermen stage floating protest at Vineyard Wind site

August 27, 2024 — As concerns mount over the July collapse of one Vineyard Wind turbine blade, a “flotilla” of about two dozen commercial and recreational fishing vessels steamed to the wind farm on Sunday to protest offshore wind development and its impact on the marine ecosystem.

The vessels, hoisting anti-offshore wind flags and blasting air horns, departed early Sunday morning from ports in New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Rhode Island and along the Cape, converging at about noon on the site of the crippled Vineyard Wind turbine.

“The blade collapse was an eye-opener to a lot of people who before didn’t know that offshore wind is a disaster for the ocean,” said Shawn Machie, 54, who is captain of the New Bedford scalloper F/V Capt. John.

On July 13, one of the three blades on turbine AW38 sustained damage while undergoing testing. Five days later, a 300-foot section of the blade collapsed into the water leaving fiberglass debris floating in fishing grounds and scattered across beaches, mostly on Nantucket. It marked an inflection point as the first industrial energy incident in this era of offshore wind development in waters off the Northeast coast.

Read the full story at The New Bedford Light

Vineyard Wind And GE Vernova Respond To Community Questions After Blade Failure

August 26, 2024 — After weeks of avoiding questions from the community, GE Vernova and Vineyard Wind have responded to a list of inquiries from the Town of Nantucket. Those answers are included below, along with relevant context. Some questions and answers have been abbreviated or omitted for brevity or edited for grammatical correctness.

  • Question: Has this incident occurred elsewhere?

Answer: A Haliade 220-X blade incident has not occurred elsewhere due to a manufacturing deviation. There was an offshore blade event in the UK, but it was due to an unrelated installation issue. Answered by GE Vernova.

Context: While this answer is factually correct, it is worded to avoid mentioning similar issues that have occurred with a series of GE Vernova blades other than the Haliade 220-X.

  • Question: How long do we expect debris to wash up?

Answer: On August 14, 2024, the companies safely completed the removal of the hanging pieces of the affected blade through a safe controlled cutting operation. They also removed the debris that settled on the turbine platform. They are now advancing to the next step of the action plan by preparing for the removal of the blade root and addressing debris on the seafloor. The companies maintain teams at sea, by air, and on the shore in Nantucket and surrounding areas to address any additional debris that may be found. Answered by Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova.

Read the full article at the Nantucket Current

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: 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

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