New York Archives - Saving Seafood

Report finds seafood mislabeling “rampant” in New York

December 18, 2018 — The New York Attorney General’s office may take enforcement action against some supermarket chains after it found “rampant” seafood mislabeling at grocers across the state, according to a recent report.

The report, from New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood, found that around a quarter of the seafood sampled at New York grocery retailers was mislabeled. These findings are the result of the first major U.S. government investigation of seafood fraud at supermarket chains.

The incidence of mislabeling popular species was “rampant” among New York retailers, the Underwood’s office said in statement. For example, 27.6 percent of species sold as “wild” salmon were mislabeled, oftentimes being substituted for farmed salmon.

A significant 67 percent of red snapper samples were mislabeled, the report found. Approximately 87.5 percent of lemon sole was also discovered to be mislabeled.

“The substitutes were often cheaper, less desirable, and less environmentally sustainable species,” the AG office statement said. “This includes farm-raised salmon sold as wild salmon, lane snapper sold as red snapper, and swai sold as lemon sole.”

Ray Hilborn, a professor of marine science at the University of Washington and a member of the International Fisheries Innovation Network steering committee, said the report showed the mislabeling was at times intentional and at times accidental.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

‘Wild’ Salmon May Be Straight From the Farm, NY Report Finds

December 17, 2018 — That wild sockeye salmon in the refrigerated aisle may be straight from the fish farm, New York’s attorney general said in a report released Friday.

The report from Attorney General Barbara Underwood found that more than one-fourth of the seafood her office sampled in a statewide supermarket survey was mislabeled, typically as a more expensive or more sustainably fished species.

“We’re taking enforcement action, and consumers should be alert and demand that their supermarket put customers first by taking serious steps to ensure quality control at their seafood counters,” Underwood said.

The report was based on DNA testing of fish samples performed by the Ocean Genome Legacy Center, an academic laboratory at Northeastern University.

It found that farmed salmon was frequently sold as wild, and fish sold as red snapper or lemon sole were more often different varieties.

The investigation is not the first to uncover fish fraud.

A 2017 study from researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and Loyola Marymount University found that almost half the sushi from 26 Los Angeles restaurants that they tested between 2012 and 2015 was mislabeled.

An Associated Press investigation into seafood fraud published in June linked one national fish distributor to widespread mislabeling and other deceitful practices.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Offshore Wind Bonanza Draws Bidding War in Record-Setting Sale

December 14, 2018 — Companies competed Thursday for the opportunity to install wind turbines in Atlantic waters off Massachusetts in an auction that shattered records even as it headed toward a second day of frenzied bidding.

After 24 rounds of sealed bidding, companies had already pledged $285 million toward the three offshore wind leases that are up for grabs — more than six times the previous high-water mark: Norwegian energy company Equinor ASA’s $42.47 million bid in 2016 for the rights to build an offshore wind farm near New York.

High bids in the offshore wind auction, set to resume Friday, also already eclipsed the $178 million the U.S. government collected in its August sale of offshore drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Thursday evening, when Interior Department officials called an overnight halt to the auction, four companies were still vying for the territory, drawn by growing demand for renewable power in the Northeast U.S. and a chance at gaining a foothold in the nation’s growing offshore wind market.

“The unprecedented interest in today’s sale demonstrates that not only has offshore wind arrived in the U.S., but it is set to soar,” said Randall Luthi, head of the National Ocean Industries Association.

Active Bidders

Some 19 companies were deemed qualified by the Interior Department to participate in the auction — higher than in any of the previous seven competitive sales of wind leases in U.S. waters. The prospective bidders included units of established offshore wind developers and renewable power companies that have primarily focused on land as well as oil companies such as Equinor and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Eleven companies were actively bidding at the start of Thursday’s sale, nearly twice the most-recent record, in 2016, when six developers competed for the New York offering. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is conducting the sale, will name participants after the auction ends, expected sometime Friday.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

BOEM to present next offshore wind energy areas in New York

November 27, 2018 — A new chart of potential offshore wind energy areas by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management accounts for concerns raised by the maritime and commercial fishing industries in the crowded New York Bight.

“There is a lot going on there,” said Walter Cruickshank, acting director of BOEM, which will present its draft plan in New York City at the Hotel Pennsylvania on Wednesday. “We got a lot of great input from a lot of sources.”

BOEM outlined large “call areas” for potential wind power development in the New York Bight, a heavily trafficked arm of the Atlantic between Cape May, N.J., and Montauk, N.Y. The draft chart released Nov. 14 shows primary and secondary areas for wind development, which BOEM could develop into future lease offerings to offshore wind energy developers.

One recommendation was for an offshore tug and tow transit lane diagonally across the bight between Cape May and Montauk, with wide lanes and safety setbacks from future turbine arrays. The Coast Guard and maritime groups likewise want ample buffers around the three existing shipping separation lanes leading in and out of New York Harbor.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

BOEM elaborates on map for New York Bight areas for offshore wind

November 26, 2018 — Walter Cruickshank, the acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, provided some details to an otherwise ambiguous map the agency released last week for potential offshore wind sites along the New York Bight Call area.

The map featured four sections of land off the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey and included shaded areas deemed as “primary recommendations” and “secondary recommendations.”

The labels left commissioners at the Port Authority confused.

“There’s secondary and primary leases,” Port Director Ed Washburn said at last week’s meeting. “We’re not exactly sure what secondary or primary means other than one they prefer over the other. We don’t know exactly why.”

In an interview with The Standard-Times earlier this week, Cruickshank elaborated on the map.

“It’s not a decision yet,” he said “But it’s things we want to get some feedback on before we make a decision on what areas we’ll conduct the environmental analysis on.”

The idea of primary and secondary areas, Cruickshank said, was to elicit discussion from stakeholders. However, they also represented areas where BOEM felt the least conflict existed among fishermen, wind developers, the Department of Defense, environmentalists and others claiming any kind of value in the areas.

The conflicts that arose in the areas not shaded at all, Cruickshank said, were too large to overcome.

“Any area you pick is still going to have some conflicts,” Cruickshank said. “This was the primary sort of our view where there might be some ability to manage conflict and move forward.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Fishermen divided on plans for more offshore wind

November 13, 2018 — Commercial fishermen and sport fishermen are split over the benefits of offshore wind facilities.

Commercial fishermen say the wind-energy projects planned for southern New England, such as the South Fork Wind Farm, are the latest threats to their income after decades of quotas and regulations.

“I don’t like the idea of the ocean being taken away from me after I’ve thrown so many big-dollar fish back in the water for the last 30 years, praying I’d get it back in the end,” said Dave Aripotch, owner of a 75-foot trawl-fishing boat based in Montauk, N.Y.

In the summer, Aripotch patrols for squid and weakfish in the area where the 15 South Fork wind turbines and others wind projects are planned. He expects the wind facilities and undersea cables will shrink fishing grounds along the Eastern Seaboard.

“If you put 2,000 wind turbines from the Nantucket Shoals to New York City, I’m losing 50 to 60 percent of my fishing grounds,” Aripotch said during a Nov. 8 public hearing at the Narragansett Community Center.

Dave Monti of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association said the submerged turbine foundations at the Block Island Wind Farm created artificial reefs, boosting fish populations and attracting charter boats like his.

“It’s a very positive thing for recreational fishing,” Monti said. “The Block Island Wind Farm has acted like a fish magnet.”

Offshore wind development also has the support of environmental groups such as the National Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Law Foundation, which view renewable energy as an answer to climate change.

“Offshore wind power really is the kind of game-changing large-scale solution that we need to see move forward, particularly along along the East Coast,” said Amber Hewett, manager of the Atlantic offshore wind energy campaign for the National Wildlife Federation.

Read the full story at National Wind Watch

It’s Official, Orsted Acquires Deepwater Wind

November 12, 2018 — Orsted, Denmark’s largest energy company and the world’s largest offshore wind developer, has completed the acquisition of Deepwater Wind from the D.E. Shaw Group. The $510 million transaction was announced last month.

As a combined organization, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind becomes the leading American offshore wind platform, with a goal of delivering renewable energy to the eight states on the East Coast from Massachusetts to Virginia that have committed to a combined 10 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

The acquisition comes as Deepwater Wind’s proposed South Fork Wind Farm, to be constructed approximately 35 miles from Montauk, is undergoing review by federal and state agencies, and the East Hampton Town Board and trustees ponder whether to grant easements or leases allowing the 15-turbine wind farm’s transmission cable to make landfall at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott, the company’s preferred site. From there it would be buried along a route to the Long Island Power Authority substation near Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton.

Read the full story at the East Hampton Star

Governor Cuomo Issues New York’s Large-Scale Offshore Wind Solicitation

November 12, 2018 — Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today issued a comprehensive solicitation seeking 800 megawatts or more of new offshore wind projects for New York. This highly anticipated first offering, issued by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority kicks-off competition for New York State’s first large-scale offshore wind development contracts, an initial step toward its goal of 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030 to combat climate change. The solicitation accelerates New York’s progress towards Governor Cuomo’s mandate for 50 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030 and significantly jump starts the emerging offshore wind industry in New York.

“This action is a watershed moment in New York’s renewable energy development efforts as we work to establish a secure, reliable and cost-effective clean energy future,” Governor Cuomo said. “New York will continue to combat climate change, investing in robust offshore wind development and clean energy that provides a path toward a greener and more sustainable future in our state and around the world.”

“This solicitation for offshore wind projects advances our commitment to reach our aggressive clean energy goals,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “We are continuing to advance renewable energy developments across the state to ensure a cleaner and greener environment for future generations. New York is leading the way in our efforts to grow the industry and combat climate change.”

This historic offering marks an important new chapter in New York’s nation-leading offshore wind planning efforts, which have been conducted over three years and have included extensive stakeholder, agency, and public consultation along with detailed technical and financial analysis. These planning efforts provided the basis for New York’s Offshore Wind Master Plan, released in January of 2018, and the Public Service Commission’s July 2018 Order Establishing the State’s Offshore Wind Standard, which established the foundation for this important step forward.

Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance, said, “With this solicitation, New York takes a momentous step toward a clean, renewable energy future. Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, New York is creating a nation-leading offshore wind industry, bringing high quality jobs and greater economic opportunities for New Yorker’s with a lower costing, cleaner, and a more efficient energy system. New York is ideally positioned to capture this growing technology and demonstrates that investments in clean energy can benefit New Yorkers both economically and environmentally.”

Read the full story at LongIsland.com

Closer scrutiny for offshore wind energy

November 9, 2018 — The first environmental impact assessment for a major offshore wind energy project in federal waters got underway this week.

The South Fork Wind Farm, Deepwater Wind’s plan for 15 turbines east of Montauk, N.Y., was the subject at a round of scoping meetings held in Long Island and southern New England by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

It is the first step in developing an environmental impact statement for what will be the second commercial East Coast wind project, following Deepwater’s Block Island Wind Farm, the five-turbine demonstration project that came in line in Rhode Island in late 2016.

Read the full story at WorkBoat