Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Offshore wind power lines: Buried under Island Beach State Park, hooking into Oyster Creek

April 15, 2021 — The developer of New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm plans to run the project’s power lines under Island Beach State Park, across Barnegat Bay and connect to the electrical grid at the former Oyster Creek nuclear plant, according to plans submitted to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Ørsted, the Danish power company that is proposing to build 98 wind turbines southwest of Atlantic City, has applied to the bureau to construct an offshore wind farm powerful enough to supply electricity to half a million homes.

If approved, wind farm construction would involve tunneling under Island Beach State Park and laying power lines under the auxiliary parking lot of Swimming Area 2. From there, the power lines would run southwest under the bottom of Barnegat Bay and connect to the grid at the former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, which ceased generating electricity in 2019.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

New Jersey offshore wind to connect at 2 former power plants onshore

April 12, 2021 — A large offshore wind energy project planned off the coast of New Jersey will connect onshore to two former power plants, and cables will run under two of the state’s most popular beaches, officials said Tuesday.

At a virtual public hearing on the Ocean Wind project planned by Orsted, the Danish wind energy developer, and PSEG, a New Jersey utility company, officials revealed that the project would connect to the electric grid at decommissioned power plants in Ocean and Cape May Counties.

The northern connection would be at the former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township; the southern connection would be at the former B.L. England plant in Upper Township.

Cables running from the wind farm, to be located between 15 and 27 miles (24 to 43 kilometers) off the coast of Atlantic City, would come ashore at one of three potential locations in Ocean City: 5th Street, 13th Street or 35th Street. They would then run under the roadway along Roosevelt Boulevard out to Upper Township and the former power plant, which closed in 2019.

Scot Mackey, of the Garden State Seafood Association, said the fishing community’s input was not incorporated into final plans for the project.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

NMFS switching Northeast fishermen to electronic reporting; new policy to reimburse electronic monitoring

April 9, 2021 — NMFS and the Northeast fishing fleet will shift to fully electronic catch reporting this fall for most commercial and for-hire fishing vessels, says the agency’s Greater Atlantic regional office.

It’s the end of the traditional paper logbooks distributed by the agency, where officials say the new system via digital devices “will increase reporting efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness of the fisheries data we use to manage fish stocks in our region.”

In an April 5 announcement promoting the system, NMFS quotes “early adopters” who have been using the electronic reports.

Ryan Kelly, owner/operator of the Seaquestor II out of Barnegat Light, N.J., has been reporting electronically for several years using his iPhone and the NMFS iOS Fish Online app.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Incidental Take Authorization: Ocean Wind, LLC Marine Site Characterization Surveys off of New Jersey

April 5, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries has received a request from Ocean Wind, LLC (Ocean Wind) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys offshore of New Jersey in the area of Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lease Area OCS-A 0498 (Lease Area) and potential export cable routes (ECRs) to landfall locations in New Jersey. NOAA Fisheries is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. We are also requesting comments on a possible one-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met. We will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.

Read the full release here

NEW YORK: Biden Puts Spotlight On Waters Off Long Island For Wind Power Future

April 1, 2021 — President Joe Biden’s administration this week declared all of the waters between the south shore of Long Island and the New Jersey coast — including a swath of water less than 20 miles south of the Shinnecock Canal — a priority area for the development of offshore wind.

It’s the foundation of an already accelerating rush to establish a new multibillion-dollar industry, create tens of thousands of jobs and set the United States on a course away from reliance on fossil fuel energy.

To do so, the White House threw its weight behind accelerating the pace of planning and development of offshore wind farms in the waters south of Long Island, which potentially could see thousands of turbines, each nearly 800 feet tall, sprout from the sea in the coming decade.

The call for an even faster pace of growth than is already underway also could mean that regions seen as suitable for wind farm development directly south of Southampton and East Hampton will get closer consideration.

While the administration’s announcement made no actual reference to specific areas of the sea where wind turbines should be built, it did say that the Department of the Interior will advance the creation of new leases of ocean floor for the development of wind farms. The goal will be to have 16 projects approved and ready for construction by 2025.

The regions of ocean directly south of the East End are particularly sensitive for fishermen, according to Bonnie Brady, a commercial fishing advocate from Montauk, since they are critical grounds for the small boats that sail out of Shinnecock Inlet and Montauk to harvest sea scallops, fluke and squid.

Placing wind turbines in Fairways North, she said, would pose a navigational hazard and would drastically change the habitat of the ocean in the area, which is currently a sandy ocean plain, to one of hardened structure, which could upset the ecological balance that fishermen rely on.

Commercial fishermen have been the most strident opponents of offshore wind farm development and met this week’s announcement from the White House with renewed exasperation at the breakneck speed with which offshore wind development is apparently going to be introduced to the ocean off the Northeast coastline.

“Here we have the administration that holds science so near and dear just throwing science right out,” Ms. Brady said. “They are throwing up $4 billion to create this future industry, but they are not funding the science that should be the basis of all this and has to be done before build all these turbines. They could screw it all up, and then they’ll just say, ‘We didn’t know’ — but it’s the fishermen who will be hung out to dry.”

Read the full story at The Southampton Press

Biden administration aims for vast offshore wind expansion

March 30, 2021 — Top Biden administration officials on Monday outlined new goals for building 30,000 megawatts off offshore wind energy generation by 2030, including another wind energy area covering nearly 800,000 acres in the New York Bight.

The Bureau of Offshore Energy Management announced it will initiate its environmental impact statement process for the Ocean Wind project, Ørsted’s planned 1,100 MW array off New Jersey, as the agency recently started an EIS for the South Fork wind development south of Rhode Island and just weeks after finalizing its analysis for the 804 MW Vineyard Wind project in southern New England waters.

Environmental reviews could start for as many as 10 more projects this year, the agency said.

The waters between the New Jersey beaches and Long Island already include federal lease held by developers intending to build the Atlantic Shores turbine array off Atlantic City, and the Empire Wind project close to the New York Harbor approaches. BOEM has been gauging potential developer interest in areas farther offshore and said it will now begin an environmental assessment of those areas.

With 20 million inhabitants in the region, it’s “the largest population center in the United States” with an enormous energy market, said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who spoke of the opportunity for U.S. shipbuilders and other industries in a new energy sector.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

What Biden’s New Offshore ‘Wind Energy Area’ Means for NJ, NY and US Clean Energy

March 30, 2021 — The Atlantic Ocean off of New Jersey and New York will become the epicenter of a national effort this decade to energize its power grid with renewable sources like wind and solar after President Joe Biden named the continental shelf off the two states as a “wind energy area.”

The White House’s announcement Monday locks in the federal government to an already all-in race by Mid-Atlantic coastal states to build thousands of skyscraper-sized turbines.

The efforts to build wind farms from North Carolina’s Outer Banks to Cape Cod off of Massachusetts are already nearly a decade in the making, with 17 current projects in development up and down the coast. Several are in planning stages for the waters off of New Jersey and New York. All involve European power companies, including the Danish developer Ørsted, which in 2019 won New Jersey’s first bid for a farm.

For years, the projects languished in a federal queue or permitting processes at the state level. But recently, governors like Phil Murphy in New Jersey have established ambitious goals for renewable energy production from wind farms. Biden’s announcement all but cements offshore wind’s place in the future of American power production.

Only seven wind turbines currently rotate in American waters, but more than 1,500 are in planning or development stages from North Carolina to Massachusetts, according to an NBC10 Philadelphia analysis of the federally leased areas and the 17 projects currently in development.

Read the full story at NBC Washington

Biden to Push Offshore Wind Projects

March 29, 2021 — The Biden administration plans to give wind-power developers access to more of the Atlantic Coast and start a slate of new environmental reviews in an attempt to jump-start the country’s offshore wind business.

White House officials said Monday they want to fast-track leasing in federal waters off the New York and New Jersey coasts, a priority for wind-power interests and state officials.

Much of the concern centers on how wind turbines might affect shipping, whale migrations and commercial fisheries.

The New York Bight is among the country’s three most prolific areas for scallops, said David Frulla, a lawyer who represents the Fisheries Survival Fund, a group including most of the country’s Atlantic Ocean scallop boats.

More turbines will make it harder for large fishing boats to navigate by disrupting the radar they depend on at night, Mr. Frulla said.

“We’re concerned that there’s such a momentum for offshore wind that the fishing industry is going to end up as collateral damage,” Mr. Frulla said.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal

NEW JERSEY: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Surveying Schedule – Spring/Summer 2021

March 23, 2021 — The following was released by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind:

Geophysical
Fugro Enterprise | March 19, 2021
Fugro’s Enterprise (LOA: 52 m, Call Sign: WDD9388) vessel will conduct survey operations within the Atlantic Shores Lease Area and along potential Export Cable Corridors towards Atlantic City and Manasquan.

Geotechnical
Tidewater Regulus | April 15, 2021
The Tidewater Regulus (LOA: 82.6m, Call Sign: WDG8927) is a multiservice offshore support vessel that will mobilize to conduct geotechnical borings and seabed PCPTs for investigation of the Atlantic Shores lease area for soil characterization.

Alpine Shearwater | May 15, 2021
Alpine Shearwater (LOA: 33.5m, Call Sign: WDF5838) will mobilize to conduct geotechnical vibracores along the potential export cable routes for soil characterization.

Northstar Commander | June 1, 2021
The Northstar Commander (LOA: 73.2m, Call Sign: WDG5396) will mobilize to conduct seabed PCPTs along the potential export cable routes and in the lease area for soil characterization.

Laredo Brazos | June 14, 2021
The three-legged lift boat Laredo Brazos (LOA: 44.2m, Call Sign: WDG9589) will mobilize to perform geotechnical boreholes for the potential export cable route land fall areas.

Marine Survey Operations

For more information:

  • As our Fishing Liaison Officer, you will see Kevin around the docks. He is here to answer your questions and address concerns from fishermen of all sectors.
  • Please feel free to reach him at: 609.290.8577 or kevin.wark@atlanticshoreswind.com.

The Lease Area is located about 10 to 20 miles off the New Jersey coast, between Barnegat Light and Atlantic City in water depths ranging from 60 to 100 feet (10–17 fathoms).

The maneuverability of all survey vessels will be restricted. It is important that mariners maintain a safe distance of at least 2 kilometers (1.0 nautical miles) from each vessel.

Survey operations will be conducted 24/7, weather permitting. They are expected to conclude on or about August 2021, but may run longer as weather and operational conditions dictate. A Notice to Mariners will be issued prior to operations and vessels will monitor and broadcast on VHF Channel 16 during operations.

NEW JERSEY: 1,500 Wind Turbines. 2,700 Square Miles. Offshore Wind in the Atlantic Will Be Big. Really Big

March 22, 2021 — Off the coast of New Jersey these days, surveillance vessels hired by European energy companies are taking measurements of the ocean depths, and underwater research drones are analyzing water temperatures to accumulate data on the Mid-Atlantic “Cold Pool.”

Onshore in places like the Port of Paulsboro along the Delaware River south of Camden and Philadelphia, labor unions, port officials and politicians are angling for new marine terminals to build and ship off massive steel monopiles.

And in weekly board meetings, state-appointed officials in charge of the Garden State’s public utilities are discussing massive overhauls to the power grid and many miles of new transmission lines.

Billions of dollars will be invested in the next several years — at sea and on land — to erect hundreds of wind turbines miles from the coast in order to bring New Jersey 7,500 megawatts of renewable energy. That’s enough to power half of the state’s 1.5 million homes.

Politicians, environmentalists and European companies have invested interest in the plans. Big issues still to confront include lucrative North Atlantic fishing concerns; ecological effects on what is known as the Mid-Atlantic Bight’s “Cold Pool”; and the fundamental remaking of power grids that bring the electricity into homes and businesses of 100 million Americans.

Every year off the coast of the eastern United States, from Cape Hatteras in North Carolina to Cape Cod in Massachusetts, forms a unique oceanographic feature called “the Cold Pool.”

It’s a layering of water temperatures that makes for breathtakingly cold water near the ocean floor and much warmer water near the surface and beaches. The effect is called stratification, and it is created each spring, peaks each summer and mixes up once again each fall.

The stark difference in water temperature during the late spring and summer months makes it one of Earth’s unique marine ecosystems. It gives the continental shelf off the northeastern United States a diversity of fauna that has persisted for centuries. Fishermen and scientists alike credit the Cold Pool with powering the renowned fisheries of New England, New Jersey and Maryland.

No one knows the extent to which thousands of wind turbines would have on the stratification process, or if the twirling horizon-scrapers will affect the Cold Pool at all.

Read the full story at NBC Philadelphia