Saving Seafood

News for the New England Region

Baker, Vineyard Wind mum on Feds’ project guidance

July 18, 2019 — The federal government has offered new “guidance” on the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project, Gov. Charlie Baker said, but neither the governor’s team nor project officials will talk about it.

The Baker administration chose Vineyard Wind in May 2018 for the state’s first commercial-scale offshore wind effort under a 2016 clean energy law and state officials are counting on the project to produce 800 megawatts of power and touting its importance to the state’s renewable energy portfolio. In April, state regulators approved long-term contracts between Vineyard Wind and the state’s electricity distribution companies.

But project officials announced last week that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) was not ready, as Vineyard Wind expected it to be, to complete a critical final environmental impact statement.

A long delay could affect project financing, as well as plans to start construction later this year and become operational in 2021, but questions remain about the federal government’s stance on the project.

In Connecticut on Tuesday, Baker said that his team and project officials have been given a clearer understanding of the issues in play, and are working this month to address them.

“We’ve talked to the federal agencies about this,” Baker said. “They’ve made pretty clear to us that the reason they didn’t render a decision and the reason why they didn’t put a date on rendering a decision was because they wanted to continue the dialogue and the discussion with Vineyard Wind around some of the outstanding issues and they gave Vineyard Wind and us a fair amount of guidance with respect to the things we should focus on and people are going to be focusing on those between now and the end of the month.”

On Wednesday, a Baker spokesman declined to comment when asked about the nature of the project guidance.

A Vineyard Wind spokesman also declined to comment when asked what the feds have told project officials.

Baker, who says Vineyard Wind will be the largest offshore wind project in the country and will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, on Wednesday said he thought the federal government treated offshore wind projects as “standalone, fact specific issues.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

BANGOR DAILY NEWS: Finding the right way to protect right whales

July 18, 2019 — Last week, Gov. Janet Mills’ administration made it clear that Maine does not support proposed federal regulations aimed at protecting endangered right whales. The issue is not whether right whales are worth protecting — they certainly are and are required to be under the Endangered Species Act — but instead how the federal proposal looks to reduce risk to the whales in part through a significant reduction in underwater lines used by Maine lobstermen.

All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation have also asked President Donald Trump to intervene on the proposed regulations, and together with Mills, have taken heat from environmental groups as a result. One wildlife advocate went as far as to say that Mills’ decision to have Maine pursue its own risk reduction plan amounts to playing “an active role in the right whale’s extinction.”

That’s strong stuff. But let’s be clear: justified concern about the impact of proposed rules on Maine’s lobster industry, and the incomplete data and largely unproven modeling underlying it, doesn’t make Maine officials unsympathetic or complicit to the undisputed plight of the right whale. It makes them appropriately skeptical representatives voicing concerns of their state, and one of its significant industries.

The worrisome decline of the Atlantic right whale has been well-documented in recent years. A once-growing population has dropped to an estimated 411 total whales. Data relative to whale mortality, however, is much less conclusive in terms of the role that Maine’s lobster fishery has played in that recent and troubling dip.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Tide turning on wearing safety gear

July 18, 2019 — Joshua Carpenter is 16 and is working this summer as the stern man on Junior McKay’s lobster boat Running Blind. He is justifiably concerned about his onboard safety, not to mention something of a frugal shopper.

On Wednesday, Carpenter stopped by the Everett R. Jodrey State Fish Pier to check out the 11 different varieties of personal flotation devices available for inspection and purchase as part of the Lifejackets for Lobstermen campaign being run by the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety.

The campaign, designed to convince more commercial lobstermen to wear personal flotation devices while fishing, has spent the summer in 40 lobstering communities up and down the New England coast.

It is in the midst of a four-day run — ending Friday — at the State Fish Pier, where so many of the city’s lobstermen tie up. Last week, the caravan spent three days at Manchester’s Masconomo Park.

Wednesday’s event was a collaborative affair promoting safety along the waterfront.

The Massachusetts Fishing Partnership and Support Services set up an informational booth. The Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association provided free monkfish soup, Sicilian baked goods from la maestra, Nina Groppo, and cold drinks.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

NOAA Fisheries Sets 2019 Management Measures for Northeast Groundfish

July 18, 2019 — We are approving Framework 58 and implementing new catch limits for seven groundfish stocks for the 2019 fishing year (May 1, 2019 – April 30, 2020), including the three stocks managed jointly with Canada. These revised catch limits are based upon the results of stock assessments conducted in 2018.

In 2019, commercial groundfish quotas increase for four stocks from 2018: Georges Bank cod (+15%), Georges Bank haddock (+20%), Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder (+31%), and Acadian redfish (+2%); and decrease for three stocks: Gulf of Maine haddock (-5%), Georges Bank yellowtail flounder (-50%), and American plaice (-7%).

Framework 58 also:

  • Exempts vessels fishing exclusively in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Regulatory Area (i.e., in international waters) from the domestic groundfish fishery minimum fish sizes to allow them to better compete in the international frozen fish market.
  • Extends the temporary change to the scallop accountability measure implementation policy for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder to provide the scallop fishery with flexibility to adjust to current catch conditions while still providing an incentive to avoid yellowtail flounder.
  • Revises or creates rebuilding plans for five stocks: Georges Bank winter flounder, Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder, witch flounder, northern windowpane flounder, and ocean pout.

In this rule, we are also announcing:

  • Reductions to the 2019 commercial quota for Gulf of Maine cod by 29.2 mt because the quota was exceeded in 2017.
  • A permanent extension of the annual deadline to submit applications to lease groundfish days-at-sea between vessels from March 1 to April 30 (the end of the fishing year); and
  • Changes to the regulations to clarify that vessels must report catch by statistical area when submitting catch reports through their vessel monitoring system.

Read the final rule  as filed today in the Federal Register and the permit holder bulletin available on our website.

Read the full release here

Sea Scallop Camera-Based Survey Expanded on Georges Bank

July 18, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, School for Marine Science and Technology will add the Northern Flank and Closed Area II North to this year’s planned survey work around Georges Bank to track sea scallop aggregations.

The survey, which uses a drop-camera array, is also covering the Great South Channel, Nantucket Lightship, and the Closed Area I Access Area.

“Taking on this additional work while in the middle of a busy survey season exemplifies the School for Marine Science and Technology’s dedication to supporting the scallop fishery,” said Jon Hare, director of NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center. “It’s also a great example of the importance of our strong partnerships in the region that provide science to support management of this valuable resource.”

The University’s survey is funded by the sale of sea scallops that are set aside from the annual catch limit through the Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program. The New England Fishery Management Council established this unique program to address research questions that support management of the sea scallop resource.

Awards are made in pounds, not dollars, and no federal funding is provided. Instead, proceeds generated from the sale of set-aside scallops are used to fund research activities and compensate participating vessels.

Read the full release here

Critics Say Wind Farm Rates Constitute Price Gouging

July 17, 2019 — There are a lot of ways to deflect the criticism, but really none to refute it: The South Fork Wind Farm will charge higher rates for the power it generates — three to five times more than its parent company, Ørsted/Deepwater, will charge in nearby markets.

Despite complaints from all sides, freedom of information requests, and now a lawsuit, neither the Long Island Power Authority nor Ørsted have shed any light on the matter. East Hampton Town doesn’t even know the cost per kilowatt-hour ratepayers will be charged. In fact, though, every ratepayer in the PSEG/LIPA system will pay for the wind power generated, and the power will not be earmarked for East Hampton, as many at first believed, but for the entire grid.

In January 2018 , the LIPA board, at the insistence of Governor Andrew Cuomo, entered into a 20-year agreement to purchase all the power generated by the South Fork Wind Farm. The price per KW hour was redacted.

The cat-and-mouse game to uncover the exact cost has been played ever since, though the 23¢/KwH has been bandied about and never refuted by either side.

When requests for disclosure first poured in officials of Deepwater Wind, which has since been bought by the Danish firm Ørsted, said LIPA requested the confidentiality agreement.

LIPA’s special counsel for ethics, risk, and compliance, James Miskiewicz, wrote on August 31, 2017 in response to a query from a citizens’ group that “Deepwater Wind explicitly asked that the redacted information be treated as confidential, as defined by New York’s FOIL law.”

Read the full story at The Independent

Ørsted/Deepwater: We’ll Be On Time

July 17, 2019 — Developers of the South Fork Wind Farm vowed this week they will deliver offshore wind power to East Hampton by 2022 as promised.

Despite the ever-present optimism, the wind farm has lagged behind its own timetable as it faces a concerted effort to deep-six the project from several
opposition groups.

First, a group of well-heeled Wainscott residents banded together and issued an explicit warning to Ørsted, the parent company that purchased Deepwater Wind: Find another landing spot for your offshore cable to land.

The opposition caught the attention of Thomas Borstrom, the CEO of Ørsted, who wrote a letter to the Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott.

“We have always said there are two viable cable landfall and onshore route options for our project,” he wrote. “In response to your requests, our team assessed the viability of a Hither Hills landing site . . . we believe Hither Hills is a technically viable alternative.”

The ink was barely dry on Borstrom’s May 31 letter when Montauk and Amagansett residents and business owners lambasted the idea of bringing the cable ashore in Montauk. “It’s a terrible, terrible idea. It’s going to be terrible not just for Montauk but for everyone who drives,’” said Kathy Weiss, who runs Wavecrest, a 75-unit resort complex, on Old Montauk Highway.

Read the full story at The Independent

MAINE: State rejects group’s petition to change aquaculture lease process

July 17, 2019 — The Department of Marine Resources rejected a petition to change the criteria for aquaculture lease applications on the basis that the request was “not realistic,” “arbitrary” and could have a “perverse outcome” for some applicants.

Meanwhile, the company pitching a 40-acre oyster aquaculture lease on Maquoit Bay continues to await the department’s decision on its application, which is now two months overdue.

A group known as Save Maquoit Bay, composed of coastal property owners, lobstermen and fishermen, submitted a 189-signature petition asking officials to include a stipulation requiring the department to consider whether any other locations near a proposed lease site could “accommodate the proposed activities while interfering less with existing and surrounding uses of an area.”

The petition requested the actions to be imposed statewide, Mere Point Oyster Co.’s proposed 10-year, 40-acre lease has been mired in controversy. A marathon three-day hearing that spanned several months wrapped up in mid-January after waterfront property owners and lobster fishermen spoke out against what they saw as conflicting uses of the bay and the potential infringement on valuable lobstering grounds. Some of the lobstermen who spoke out against the lease also are members of Save Maquoit Bay.

The department had 120 days to make a ruling, which would have been May 15, but according to Jeff Nichols, communications director of the department of marine resources, “depending on the complexity of the application and the evidence, it may take longer.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Feds share ‘fair amount of guidance’ with state, Vineyard Wind

July 17, 2019 — Days after the Trump administration injected a level of uncertainty into the Vineyard Wind project planned off of Martha’s Vineyard, Gov. Charlie Baker said the federal government has given his administration and the company a “fair amount of guidance” about the decision to delay a key permit.

Baker, who met Tuesday afternoon on the campus of Eastern Connecticut State University with Govs. Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, also said he did not think federal regulators were trying to send any broader message about their approach to offshore wind development.

The Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management notified Vineyard Wind last week that the government was “not yet prepared” to issue a final environmental impact statement for the 800 megawatt wind power project, which the the state is trying to advance in connection with its 2016 clean energy law.

The indefinite delay in the decision, which was expected on July 12, threw a wrench in the project’s tight timeline, which has a construction start date this fall and is scheduled to be operational in 2021.

Baker said he thought the federal government treated offshore wind projects as “standalone, fact specific issues,” rather than trying to send a broader message to the industry by holding up the Vineyard Wind permit.

“There’s no question the fact that the Vineyard Wind one is the biggest project of its kind in U.S. history. It means it’s receiving what I would describe as a significant and probably more significant level of scrutiny, probably appropriately from the federal agencies,” Baker said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Extra menhaden quota awarded to Maine as lobster bait shortage concerns heat up

July 17, 2019 — As the peak summer season begins to beat down on Maine’s lobster harvesters, state officials have stepped in to help ease some of the bait shortage burdens pressuring the sector as of late.

Last week, the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Management Council approved Maine’s request to reopen its recently closed menhaden fishery for an additional 4.7 million pounds of catch, according to a recent report from the Portland Press Herald. On 30 June, the state had to end its menhaden fishing season early after it determined that harvesters had exceeded the annual quota of 2.4 million pounds for the key bait species by 1.5 million pounds.

With the state’s fleet of more than 100 vessels seemingly docked for the summer, menhaden were still being found in abundance in Maine waters from Kittery to Penobscot Bay, prompting officials to petition the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Management Council for extra quota.

With their wish granted, state officials are hopeful that “landing the extra menhaden quota now that peak lobster season has started and bait demand is picking up will help ease fears of a shortage predicted as a result of a 70 percent reduction of landings for herring, Maine’s most popular lobster bait,” the Portland Press Herald explained. Prices were already rising when the herring season opened on Sunday, 14 July, noted a special bulletin issued by Maine.gov one day later.

Read the full story at Seafood Source