Saving Seafood

Summer heat waves and low oxygen prove deadly for bay scallops as a New York fishery collapses

January 20, 2023 — A new study by Stony Brook University researchers published in Global Change Biology demonstrates that warming waters and heat waves have contributed to the loss of an economically and culturally important fishery, the production of bay scallops. As climate change intensifies, heat waves are becoming more and more common across the globe. In the face of such repeated events, animals will acclimate, migrate, or perish.

Since 2019, consecutive summer mass die-offs of bay scallops in the Peconic Estuary on Long Island, New York, have led to the collapse of the bay scallop fishery in New York and the declaration of a federal fishery disaster, with landings down more than 99 percent.

This study led by Stony Brook School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences graduate Stephen Tomasetti, Ph.D., and Stony Brook University Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation Christopher Gobler, Ph.D., and a collaborative team of researchers reveals that extreme summer temperatures, becoming more frequent under climate change, exacerbate the vulnerability of bay scallops to environmental stress and has played a role in the recurrent population crashes.

Read the full article at phys.org

Survey Work Begins for Offshore Wind Farms in NY Bight

January 13, 2023 — Less than a year after the record-setting auctions for leases in the New York Bight, initial survey work is beginning for the U.S.’s next large offshore wind farms. Coinciding with the start of the offshore survey work, however, a group of environmentalists is calling for a suspension of the efforts after whales recently beached on the New Jersey shoreline.

Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture between RWE Renewables and National Grid, which won one of the leases in the middle of the area off the New Jersey shore reported that it would be kicking off its survey work. The company highlighted the depth of its efforts to coordinate with the local fishing community to limit disruptions with the survey which will be continuing through summer 2023 with two vessels from Furgo. Community Offshore Wind said it has collaborated with Fugro on the project phasing to accelerate the overall development process.

The geophysical survey campaign will study seabed conditions within the project lease area and potential export cable corridors in the New York Bight. According to Community Wind, the data collected will help inform the project design and engineering, identifying potential geohazards and obstructions, as well as benthic habitats and archaeological resources.

“The start of the site survey is an important milestone for the project,” said Doug Perkins, President and Project Director of Community Offshore Wind. “The technical data collected will help us develop a more responsible and cost-effective project design.  Our success relies on communication, safety, and collaboration with other parties out on the water.”

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

BOEM Releases Draft Environmental Statements for Next Two Wind Farms

December 15, 2022 — Progress continues to be made on the development of several of the first large-scale offshore wind projects in the United States. On December 16, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will publish the draft Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for two projects, Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Wind and Sunrise Wind being jointly developed by Ørsted and Eversource, as one of the final steps in the permitting process.

The release of the two EIS statements begins a 60-day comment period. BOEM will use the findings to inform its decision on whether to approve the Construction and Operating Plan (COP) submitted by each of the developers. BOEM will also determine which mitigation measures it would require at each of the sites. As part of the process, BOEM will be conducting virtual public meetings to hear comments on the plans.

“This important federal permitting milestone puts Sunrise Wind one significant step closer to advancing New York’s ambitious climate goals. As we review the draft findings we want to thank the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for its comprehensive and diligent review,” Sunrise said in a statement in response to the news of the release of its EIS.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

 

Wind Farm Update From Orsted on a Blustery Beach

December 10, 2022 — Is that Poseidon’s triton reaching from the littoral shallows, or are you just trying to build a 132-megawatt wind farm?

The South Fork Wind project site at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott certainly gives pause, if not a shudder of megalophobia. Three intimidatingly large steel pilings jut into the sky just off the beach, while nearby, drills continue with the jarringly loud work of drilling a horizontal tunnel from a cable tie-in near the Long Island Rail Road line to the north to the workers’ barge just offshore, temporarily anchored by the pilings.

Troy Patton, head of program execution, Americas, for Orsted, which is building the wind project via a 50-50 partnership with Eversource, was on the scene last week to give an update on the project, which will see the installation, 35 miles to the east off Montauk, of a dozen 11-megawatt wind turbines. The turbines will tie in by an undersea cable, to the land-ho connection point in Wainscott.

It’s a windy Thursday afternoon, but not as windy as the day before. “We like the wind,” Mr. Patton said as he updated reporters on what has happened to date.

Read the full article at the East Hampton Star

NEW YORK: Scallops keep dying in Long Island’s Peconic Bay, harming the local fishing community

November 15, 2022 — Usually during November, veteran scalloper Chris Tehan would be on the Peconics — his boat dredging for the prized mollusk living in the pair of bays squeezed between Long Island’s North Fork and South Fork.

But in 2022, Tehan is hardly finding any because the Peconic scallop population is crashing. Scientists blame the climate crisis, but they’re also hopeful the marine animal could be saved before the fishing community goes bust.

This year represents the fourth in a row of record die-offs for Peconic Bay scallops. Their population density has dropped more than 90% since 2018, according to new survey data from the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County that is yet to be published.

“We monitor 21 different sites. And in total, we found only 19 adult scallops in those 21 surveys,” said Harrison Tobi, an aquaculture specialist who helped lead the study. Recent counts have been so low that the federal government issued a disaster declaration in 2021 promising federal relief to the fishery.

Tobi said climate change-induced warmer waters are causing better conditions for a parasite that harms the scallops and impedes their reproduction. He added that Peconic scallops are essential to the bay’s ecosystem, given their position in the food web and their ability to filter algae and bacteria from the water.

Read the full article at the Gothamist

Leading Light Wind picks fisheries liaison team for New York Bight project

October 22, 2022 — Developers of the Leading Light Wind offshore energy project in the New York Bight said Tuesday that they have brought on a new fisheries stakeholder engagement team from Sea Risk Solutions LLC.

Sarah Hudak has joined as fisheries liaison officer, supported by Ron Larsen, managing partner of Sea Risk Solutions, a maritime and fisheries communication consultant. Sea Risk is a maritime risk mitigation and liaison services company that started in 2013 working on subsea cable protection, and now is involved in offshore wind planning.

Leading Light released its new “fisheries communication plan,” a detailed document on how it will work with commercial and recreational fishermen, fisheries managers and others during planning, construction and operations.

Leading Light Wind is a led by project sponsors Invenergy and New York-based energyRe. Planned as a 2,000-plus megawatt capacity at 90 turbine locations, the 84,000-acre federal lease site 40 miles east of Atlantic City, N.J., and 80 miles south of Long Island would be tied into the New York metro energy grid by a 190 kilometer export cable, according to the company.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Claws out! Maine lobster listed as seafood to ‘avoid,’ angering restaurateurs

September 7, 2022 — This is not the way to butter up the people of Maine.

The claws are out in the New England state after an environmental group put the region’s renowned lobsters on a list of seafood to “avoid” because their harvest is allegedly putting whales in danger.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s environment-focused seafood watch program’s decision to “red-list” the tasty crustacean left state officials steaming mad.

“This is an outrageous act with very real-world consequences, and no real scientific evidence,” US Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) fumed to The Post. “It’s infuriating.”

Industry reps and restaurateurs — including owners of beloved lobster roll joints in the Big Apple and the Hamptons — also said the list can go to shell.

Read the full article at the New York Post

Offshore wind farms could reduce Atlantic City’s surfclam fishery revenue up to 25%, Rutgers study suggests

July 1, 2022 — New research from Rutgers University shows Mid-Atlantic surfclam fisheries could see revenue losses from planned offshore wind farms, at least in the short- to medium-term after the development takes place.

The data is sure to fuel opposition from the fishing industry to the Biden administration’s rapid offshore wind development along the New York, New Jersey, and Delaware coasts. President Joe Biden has a goal of generating 30 gigawatts of wind energy by 2030 as part of his effort to tackle climate change.

Clammers and scallop fishermen fear a shrinking patch of fishable ocean will lead to the collapse of the industry.

Surfclam harvests stretching from Maine to Virginia generate about $30 million in annual revenue. The Rutgers study, “The Atlantic Surfclam Fishery and Offshore Wind Energy Development,” published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, used a newly-developed model to determine average revenue reductions between 3 and 15% overall.

Read the full story at WHYY

New York wind developers, environmental groups sign agreement on right whales

June 28, 2022 — Offshore wind developers Ørsted and Eversource say they have struck an agreement with environmental groups to improve protection of endangered north Atlantic right whales during construction and operation of the South Fork Wind project.

The companies say they will adopt monitoring measures to make sure right whales are not nearby during construction activity, and use mitigation steps to reduce underwater noise during pile driving.

They will also evaluate other new monitoring technologies, including thermal cameras, acoustic sensors, and data integration software. Developers say the findings from South Fork will be used in future projects.

A 10-knot vessel speed limit will be in place for all boats working on the project, “unless an effective adaptive speed management plan is in place,” according to the developers.

Such 10-knot limits are commonly sought by the National Marine Fisheries Service when its monitoring detects right whale movements off the East Coast, triggering announcements of special management areas to reduce the danger of ship strikes. Accidental encounters in the shipping lanes are a major cause of death for right whales, now estimated to number only around 340 animals.

NMFS whale monitoring has shown substantial overlap between right whale movements and offshore wind development areas off southern New England.

Read the full story at National Fisherman