Saving Seafood

Ocean environmental studies to be paid for in New Jersey by offshore wind developers

December 28, 2021 — New Jersey’s offshore wind developers will help fund research on marine life, paying $10,000 per megawatt of capacity to help New Jersey scientists better understand the impacts of wind farms on the Atlantic Ocean’s ecosystem.

The state’s Research Monitoring Initiative will direct a total of $26 million from the power companies toward the study of wind turbines’ impacts on ocean wildlife and commercial fisheries, according to state officials.

“There’s a lot of data that still needs to be better understood, both during the planning phases, but then also during construction and operation,” New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette told a group of reporters during a virtual meeting.

The money will be distributed to research institutions across New Jersey with cooperation from the Regional Wildlife Science Entity and the Regional Offshore Science Alliance, two independent organizations focused on learning more about offshore wind impacts on the environment.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

 

NJ to Receive $26 Million from Offshore Wind Developers to Pay for Ocean Research

December 17, 2021 — More than $26 million in fees paid for by developers of New Jersey’s offshore wind farms will go to the state in an agreement approved this week, and officials say the money will pay for research and monitoring of hundreds of turbines to be erected in the years ahead.

New Jersey will also soon join a multi-state organization that jointly researches the effects of the nascent offshore wind industry along the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard, according to a memorandum of understanding by the state’s Board of Public Utilities.

Both agreements approved Wednesday are the newest steps in New Jersey’s long path toward allowing construction of several wind farms miles off the coast, which eventually will provide 7,500 megawatts of renewable energy by 2035.

In June, the BPU approved the state’s second and third wind farm projects: a 110-turbine, 1,509-megawatt wind farm by Atlantic Shores, which is owned by European power companies Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America, and a 82-turbine, 1,148-megawatt farm by Ørsted called Ocean Wind 2.

Read the full story at NBC Philadelphia

Scallop prices soar

December 16, 2021 — The Christmas season demand for fresh seafood is giving another jolt to Atlantic sea scallop prices, with $37 to $38 prices reported for U12 product in Massachusetts and New Jersey ports this week.

The holiday peak comes on top of a year with tight supplies, as the scallop fleet and fishery managers wound down pressure on the resource. With the bounteous 2012-2013 class of scallops fading away, supplies will remain tight after the New England Fishery Management Council issued its specifications for the 2022 fishing year.

In New Bedford, the Buyers’ and Sellers Exchange (BASE) seafood auction reported a Dec. 15 price record of $37 per pound paid for U12 Great South Channel scallops landed by the F/V Furious. At Barnegat Light, N.J., scallop prices touched $38.

The new peaks come after a season when the industry bounced back from its covid-19 nightmare of 2020, when prices already were approaching $30 in spring 2021.

The New England Fishery Management Council finalized the 2022 fishing year plan during online meetings Dec. 7-9 and issued the complete decision Dec. 14 on its Amendment 34 changes.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Ocean City Residents, Officials Air Concerns About Offshore Wind

November 9, 2021 — The proposed offshore wind project along New Jersey’s southern coast drew a mix of support and opposition from residents and officials during an open house in Ocean City on Saturday morning.

The Danish energy company, Ørsted, plans to construct 99 wind turbines about 15 miles off the coast from Atlantic City to Cape May. Ørsted expects the wind farm to be operational by 2024 and capable of powering half a million homes.

The wind project is part of New Jersey’s goal of achieving 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035 and 100 percent clean energy by 2050.

A panel of Ørsted representatives fielded questions on Saturday about the wind farm’s potential impact on Cape May County’s tourism and the commercial fishing industry during a nearly three-hour forum.

“We believe in coexistence with a wide range of industries. We think that we can all productively exist,” said Maddy Urbish, Ørsted’s head of Government Affairs & Policy for New Jersey. “When it comes to tourism, Ocean Wind, PSEG and Ørsted — we really want to be good community partners.” Urbish noted that in previous projects, Ørsted has not seen an impact on tourism.

Read the full story at Patch.com

 

NEW JERSEY: Atlantic Shores Wind scoping evokes Hurricane Sandy trauma

October 22, 2021 — Some Jersey Shore people who recovered and rebuilt their homes after Hurricane Sandy say projects like Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind must be part of the renewable-energy answer to climate change and rising sea levels. The storm legacy loomed large in this week’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management scoping sessions.

The New Jersey shoreline “is in critical danger of being destroyed by climate change,” said marine science teacher Amy Williams of the New Jersey Organizing Project, a community group that arose after Sandy struck in October 2012.

For others, the prospect of 800-foot turbine towers on the horizon 10 miles off Long Beach Island presages another kind of disaster.

The location is “completely inappropriate” said Wendy Kouba of the LBI Coalition for Wind Without Impact, a group calling for BOEM to include its Hudson South wind energy area – 30 to 57 miles offshore – as an alternate site in the environmental impact study for Atlantic Shores.

With two major offshore wind projects – the Atlantic Shores joint venture by Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF Renewables North America, and Ørsted’s Ocean Wind on a neighboring lease to the south off Atlantic City – New Jersey has become a battleground for the wind industry’s fiercest critics and supporters.

Commercial fishing conflicts are one major issue for the New Jersey projects. Barnegat Light and Cape May are ports for the thriving sea scallop fishery, while large volumes of surf clams are landed in Atlantic City, Wildwood and Point Pleasant Beach.

Both fleets have engaged with BOEM and wind developers for years, foreseeing their dredge boats could be effectively excluded from future turbine arrays with their towers and buried power cables.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Comments Sought on Offshore Wind Farms Proposed Off Jersey Shore

October 19, 2021 — The US. Department of the Interior is seeking comments for an environmental impact statement being developed by its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for two wind farms proposed off the coast of New Jersey that include an area off Long Beach Island. The public has until Nov. 1 to comment on possible disruptions to fishing, migrating whales, porpoises and sea turtles, bird and bat impacts and tourism.

Proposed by partners Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF Renewables North America, the projects would be located approximately 8.7 miles from the New Jersey shoreline at the closest point. BOEM is seeking public input to “identify issues and potential alternatives” for the preparation of an environmental impact statement for two Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind projects off New Jersey’s coast. BOEM will determine whether to approve, approve with modifications, or disapprove Atlantic Shores’ construction and operations plan.

Read the full story at The SandPaper

 

NEW JERSEY: Ørsted To Address Offshore Wind Farm Concerns In Ocean City

October 15, 2021 — A planned offshore wind farm off New Jersey’s southern coast will be the topic of discussion during a town hall meeting on Nov. 6 at the Ocean City Music Pier.

Ørsted plans to construct 99 wind turbines about 15 miles off the coast from Atlantic City to Cape May. Ørsted expects the wind farm to be operational by 2024, and capable of powering half a million homes.

The wind farm has drawn opposition from several southern coastal communities, citing environmental concern for marine life and its impact on fishing and tourism industries.

Ørsted’s open house will update residents of Ocean City and other communities on the status of the offshore wind farm. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m., with the program beginning at 10 a.m. and running until approximately 1 p.m.

Read the full story at Patch

 

Slow Zones South of Nantucket, MA and South of Atlantic City, NJ

October 8, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces an extension of a voluntary right whale Slow Zone. On October 7, 2021, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s vessel survey team observed the presence of right whales 20 nm South of Nantucket, MA. The right whale Slow Zone is in effect immediately and expires on October 22, 2021.

Also, on September 29, 2021 a voluntary vessel speed restriction zone under the Right Whale Slow Zone program was triggered and is currently in effect 65 nm South of Atlantic City, NJ to protect an aggregation of right whales. This Right Whale Slow Zone is in effect immediately through October 14, 2021.

VOLUNTARY Right whale “SLOW Zone”

Mariners are requested to avoid or transit at 10 knots or less inside the following areas where persistent aggregations of right whales have been detected. Please visit www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/shipstrike for more information.

Slow Zone Coordinates:

South of Nantucket, MA — in effect through October 22, 2021

NORTHERN BOUNDARY: 38° 38′ N

SOUTHERN BOUNDARY: 37°58′ N

EASTERN BOUNDARY: 74°13′ W

WESTERN BOUNDARY: 75°04′ W

South of Atlantic City, NJ — in effect through October 14, 2021

NORTHERN BOUNDARY:41°20′ N

SOUTHERN BOUNDARY: 40°35′ N

EASTERN BOUNDARY: 69°32′ W

WESTERN BOUNDARY: 70°32′ W

 

Widening NJ Shore Beaches Is Waste of Money, Fishing and Environmental Groups Say

October 8, 2021 — A coalition of environmental and fishing groups says New Jersey should drop a plan to double the amount of money it spends on beach replenishment, asserting that money could be better spent on more effective ways to protect the state from climate change.

Standing on a beach in Deal, a Monmouth County shore town due to get new sand as part of a $26 million replenishment project next month, the groups on Thursday decried New Jersey’s plan to increase the amount of money it spends on shore protection from $25 million to $50 million a year.

They say that money would be better spent on measures to address repetitive flooding in the northern and central parts of the state along the Raritan and other rivers that often sustain catastrophic damage during storms like Tropical Storm Ida.

Read the full story from NBC New York

 

Another offshore wind project eyed off New Jersey coastline

September 30, 2021 — A company that has already received preliminary approval to build a wind farm off the southern coast of New Jersey is planning a second project.

Atlantic Shores, a joint venture between EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US, already has approval from New Jersey regulators to build a wind farm about 8.7 miles off the coast.

But in a construction plan filed with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Atlantic Shores revealed it is planning a second such project, one it has not publicly announced.

Read the full story at the AP