Saving Seafood

Massachusetts: Largest U.S. contract to date makes SouthCoast a hub for offshore wind

May 29, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Now we have an industry, not just a plan.

That’s the feeling among would-be suppliers and others after Massachusetts and Rhode Island awarded offshore wind contracts on Wednesday to two developers for a combined 1,200 megawatts of power.

Though subject to negotiation and permitting, the Massachusetts award of 800 megawatts essentially green-lights the largest U.S. offshore wind farm to date. Together, the two projects could power about 620,000 homes, according to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

Even Bay State Wind, whose bid was not successful, is looking forward to a bright future in the region.

“This is the first of what we think will be many more to come,” said Lauren Burm, a spokeswoman for Ørsted, one of the partners behind Bay State Wind. She said solicitations on the Eastern seaboard are expected to exceed 7,000 megawatts in the next 10 years.

And Ørsted is moving on.

On May 17, the Danish company opened an office in Atlantic City for a prospective wind farm off New Jersey, where it holds another lease in federal waters.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a renewable energy law on May 23, the same day Massachusetts and Rhode Island made their awards. In it, he codified in law his previously stated goal of buying 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030. The state has not issued a request for proposals.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

First Squid Fishery in the World Certified as Sustainable

May 24, 2018 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council, Lund’s Fisheries, The Town Dock, and SCS Global Services:   

The U.S. Northeastern Longfin Inshore Squid fishery in the Northwest Atlantic is the first squid fishery in the world to achieve MSC certification as a sustainable and well-managed fishery. The certification was awarded on May 22 by independent certifier SCS Global Services following an 11-month long detailed assessment.

The Longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis (Amerigo) pealeii), also referred to as Loligo squid, has a lifespan of less than one year. They spawn year-round as they migrate long-distances between inshore and offshore waters. They generally remain inshore during spring and offshore during late fall. As with most squid species, environmental factors such as temperature play a significant role in the timing of migrations, distribution, growth, and spawning. Due to changing water temperatures, squid have been migrating further North up the coast than in past years. It is one species that may benefit from climate change, rather than be negatively impacted by it, according to studies.

“We are thrilled to congratulate the fishery for becoming the first squid fishery in the world to attain MSC certification,” said Brian Perkins, MSC’s Regional Director for the Americas. “This achievement is an acknowledgement and testimony to the great work that the fishers are doing to ensure that they fish responsibly, and will have the resource available for generations to come.”

The fishery takes place on the U.S. continental shelf from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Squid are harvested by small mesh bottom trawls by fishery client group Lund’s Fisheries Inc. of Cape May, New Jersey, and The Town Dock of Narragansett, Rhode Island along with independent fishermen throughout the region using the same fishing method. The bottom trawl fishery for longfin squid follows the species’ seasonal inshore/offshore migration patterns.

“We are excited to build additional trust with our customers through MSC’s certification of our longfin squid fishery,” said Wayne Reichle, President of Lund’s Fisheries. “This certification demonstrates that our domestic fisheries management system is working to sustainably manage our major squid fishery to the benefit of the resource, fishing communities, and calamari lovers everywhere.”

“All of us at The Town Dock are excited to be part of such a historic initiative,” said Ryan Clark, CEO of The Town Dock. “Our goal has always been to provide customers with a healthy and sustainable product. By certifying longfin squid, we hope to take the promise of sustainability a step further by protecting the fishery to ensure consumers have access to squid now and for many years to come.”

The two companies are also immediately pursuing a scope extension via an expedited assessment of the Northern shortfin squid small mesh bottom trawl fishery under MSC principles. Northern shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus), also known as illex, is a commercially important species with a broad range that extends between the Sea of Labrador and the Florida Straits.

Development of the U.S. domestic longfin squid bottom trawl fishery began in the early 1980s as the U.S. industry developed the appropriate technology to catch and process squid in large quantities, and became solely domestic in 1987.

The fishery is certified until 2023 and will undergo annual audits within that timeframe to ensure the MSC standard continues to be met.

 

New Jersey: Orsted celebrates A.C. office, gets first federal permit for offshore wind farm

May 18, 2018 — ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The Danish offshore wind firm Orsted, which holds a federal lease to develop an offshore wind farm 10 miles off the resort, officially opened its New Jersey headquarters here Thursday and announced it has received its first federal permit.

It has also hired former Atlantic County Utilities Authority communications manager Monica Coffey, of Margate, as its manager of community relations and communications.

“The state of New Jersey and Atlantic City in particular will have bragging rights to say it’s one of a handful of American cities to have an offshore wind farm,” Orsted North America President Thomas Brostrom said of the company’s Ocean Wind project.

“We are hopeful to see a wind farm going up in the early 2020s,” said Brostrom. “I know it’s still a long time, but it takes a couple more years to get all through the permitting. We can build a wind farm in one to two years … that’s not the problem. It’s getting through to that part where you can start actual construction.”

Brostrom said the company was notified Thursday morning that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had approved its site assessment plan, giving it the permit to deploy equipment offshore to measure wind speeds and wave height to help with final siting of windmills.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

 

Your dinner might be swimming North thanks to climate change, Rutgers study says

May 18, 2018 — Climate change is making oceans warmer and the fish are taking flight.

And that could have a big impact on New Jersey’s $7.9 billion fishing industry according to a new Rutgers-led study published Wednesday.

Aquatic life has a narrow tolerance for temperature range, so as the water heats up species populations are shifting northward to find suitable habitat according to Malin Pinksy, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor in Rutgers’ Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources.

By 2100, the Atlantic’s temperature off the Jersey Shore could rise to levels currently seen in Virginia. That could lead to species like black sea bass and summer flounder, both staples of New Jersey’s fishing industry, leaving the area and being replaced by more southern species like Atlantic Croaker.

Pinsky said the most dramatic example of a shifting fishery is the Atlantic Cod. The species could lose 90 percent of its habitat in U.S. waters by 2100 in a worst case scenario.

Read the full story at NJ

 

Washington must come to grips with offshore wind conflicts

May 17, 2018 — Offshore wind energy developers have momentum building for them in East Coast waters. But other maritime industries want to ease up on the throttle.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management recently held another round of public meetings in New Jersey and New York, gathering information for what could be a future round of lease offerings in the New York Bight. Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke has promised to help fast track future permitting.

Already Statoil has plan for its Empire Wind turbine array, tucked into a 79,350-acre federal lease near the apex of ship traffic separation lanes near the entrance to New York Harbor. That could mean a lot of new maritime jobs, along with a new kind of navigational risk.

The Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey supports renewable energy, said Edward Kelly, the association’s executive director, at a May 9 meeting BOEM hosted in Newark, N.J.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Asks for More Time to Analyze Offshore Wind Impacts on Commercial Fishermen

May 10, 2018 — WASHINGTON — New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is asking the federal government for more time to analyze the potential impacts of offshore wind development, specifically on the state’s important commercial fishing industry.

In a letter last week to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Gov. Murphy wrote that the 45 days allotted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for comments on wind development in the New York Bight “is simply not enough time” for New Jersey to conduct the extensive outreach to fishermen it needs. Citing the year of stakeholder outreach conducted by New York, Gov. Murphy requested a 180-day extension of the public comment period.

“New Jersey and its fishing industry need ample time to collect and provide to BOEM more detailed information to enable BOEM to do a responsible job during the next stage of its wind energy leasing process,” Gov. Murphy wrote.

Gov. Murphy called input from New Jersey fishermen “particularly critical” because the state’s main fishing grounds are in areas that New York has submitted to BOEM for potential wind energy development, including two vital areas that are closest to New Jersey’s coast.

“While New Jersey believes that wind energy and the fishing industry can coexist productively, it is critical that potential conflicts from these multiple uses be identified and planned for early in the process,” Gov. Murphy wrote.

According to the letter, New Jersey is “only now beginning [its] review and stakeholder process,” in contrast to New York, which has had four years to conduct studies of offshore wind areas. It pointed out that New York did not effectively engage with New Jersey fishermen or other stakeholders as part of this process.

Gov. Murphy was also critical of BOEM’s own lack of engagement with New Jersey’s fishing industry, stating that they have “not yet been meaningfully involved in the process.” He pointed to two letters from New Jersey to BOEM late last year, which highlighted the lack of stakeholder outreach and requested meetings between fishermen and BOEM before moving forward with a public comment period.

However, BOEM scheduled just one fisheries-based meeting on the New York Bight in one location after its call for comments.

“This minimal level of outreach and limited time frame for response from New Jersey’s stakeholders are simply not adequate or equitable,” Gov. Murphy wrote.

Gov. Murphy’s letter is the latest effort to ensure that the concerns of fishing communities are properly considered in the development of offshore energy projects. In April, members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities wrote to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, expressing their concerns over several proposed offshore projects and calling for more robust stakeholder engagement.

 

Murphy request could slow development of wind farms off NJ, NY

May 10, 2018 — Gov. Phil Murphy is asking the federal government to extend the public comment period on proposed new lease sales for offshore wind in the New York Bight, a step that could delay the process for up to six months.

In a letter to Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior, the governor requested more time (180 days) because the areas in New York under consideration for wind-energy development include New Jersey’s main fishing grounds, including two that are closest to its coast.

The request, if granted, could slow recent steps taken by both states to expedite building offshore wind farms in waters near New York and New Jersey. All along the Eastern Seaboard, states are bidding to lure developers to build large wind farms off their coasts, a process that is becoming increasingly competitive.

Read the full story at the NJ Spotlight

 

Long Island fishermen object to black sea bass quota deal

May 10, 2018 — Fishermen critical of a recent deal to ease black-sea bass regulations demanded further state action at a fisheries meeting Tuesday, but officials said the interstate agreement was the best they could get this year.

Around a dozen angry party- and charter-boat captains attended a meeting of the Marine Resources Advisory Council in Setauket Tuesday night to raise objections to the deal, which effectively nixed a planned 12 percent reduction in the state’s recreational black sea bass quota this year. They and a supporting lawmaker cited a more lenient quota for competing New Jersey fishermen, saying anglers would favor the Garden State given its earlier season open and ability to keep more fish at a smaller size.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s original order would have pushed New York’s season opening to July, but a deal brokered by the state and led by Jim Gilmore, the commission’s chairman and head of the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s marine division, resulted in a season that will instead open on June 23 – four days earlier than last year.

Read the full story at Newsday

 

New York: Fisheries commission repeals cuts to black sea bass quota

May 4, 2018 — An interstate fisheries commission voted Thursday to reverse a planned reduction to New York’s 2018 quota for locally-abundant black sea bass.

New York recreational anglers could have faced a 12 percent decrease in the allowable catch for black sea bass this year under a federal mandate. The season also would not have started until July.

But in response to an appeal filed by New York and other states, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission instead voted Thursday to extend the fishing season by four days, a commission manager said.

New York’s black sea bass season will open on June 23, compared with June 27 last year, according to Caitlin Starks, fishery management plan coordinator for black sea bass at the commission.

Reaction to the vote was mixed.

Joe Tangel, captain of the King Cod charter boat in Moriches, said the new quota still leaves New York fishermen at a disadvantage to New Jersey, where anglers can keep smaller fish and more of them — up to 15 fish a day in November at 12.5 to 13 inches or larger.

Read the full story at Newsday

New Jersey: Murphy Signs Bipartisan Legislation to Protect NJ’s Coast from Perils of Offshore Drilling

April 26, 2018 — TRENTON, N.J. — Taking swift action to ensure the environmental health and safety of the state’s coast and shoreline, Gov. Phil Murphy signed bipartisan legislation that bans offshore oil and gas exploration and its production in New Jersey’s ocean waters. The bill also prohibits the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from issuing any permits and approvals for the development of any facility or infrastructure related to offshore drilling within or outside of New Jersey waters.

“Offshore drilling would be a disaster for our environment, our economy, and our coastal communities,” stated Murphy in a release. “The bipartisan legislation I am signing into law, on the eighth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Spill, will block oil companies from drilling in state waters. We simply cannot allow the danger of drilling off our coast. The societal, economic and environmental costs would be detrimental to the overall quality of life for our residents.”

In addition, the bill requires DEP to review any proposed oil or natural gas development in the Atlantic region of the U.S. exclusive economic zone to determine if the proposal can reasonably be expected to affect New Jersey waters.

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald