Saving Seafood

Federal Meeting On Deepwater Application In New York On Monday, November 5

October 31, 2018 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will host a public hearing Monday, November 5, on the application by Deepwater Wind to construct 15 wind-generated power turbines in the ocean off Block Island.

The public hearing will begin at 5 p.m. at the American Legion Hall at the corner of Abrahams Path and Montauk Highway in Amagansett. There will be a presentation on the application at 6 p.m., and public input will be welcomed until 8 p.m.

The hearing will focus on the scoping session portion of the application, at which the public will be asked to offer input of the sort of issues and concerns about the project that should be addressed by the company and BOEM during the federal review of the project.

Read the full story at 27 East 

 

BOEM Announces Public Meetings For South Fork Offshore Project

October 31, 2018 — The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced three upcoming public meetings in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to discuss Deepwater Wind’s proposed South Fork offshore wind project.

BOEM plans to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction and operations plan (COP) of Deepwater Wind’s South Fork Wind, proposed offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The plan would allow construction and operation of up to 15 turbines that connect via a transmission cable to a grid in East Hampton, N.Y., the east end of Long Island.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

 

BOEM opens process for New York offshore wind power

October 31, 2018 — Federal energy officials are opening an environmental impact study for what could be the first offshore wind power project in East Coast federal waters, with public sessions next week on the South Fork Wind Farm proposal east of Montauk, N.Y.

The 15-turbine array is proposed by Deepwater Wind, the company that pioneered the first U.S. commercial offshore wind project at Block Island, R.I. Now in the process of being acquired by Denmark-based energy company Ørsted for $510 million, Deepwater Wind would build the South Fork array about 19 miles southeast of Block Island and 35 miles east of Montauk.

The Bureau of Offshore Energy Management is holding public scoping meetings Nov. 5 to Nov. 8 at Amagansett,  N.Y.;  New Bedford, Mass.; and Narragansett, R.I. Agency officials say they provide “multiple opportunities to help BOEM determine significant resources (e.g. avian, marine mammals) and issues, impact-producing factors, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigating measures to be analyzed in the EIS.”

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Fight for New Fluke Quota in New York

October 26, 2018 — For many years, commercial fishermen in New York have complained about the inequities they faced in the numbers­­­ of summer flounder they could land (as well as other popular species), when compared to other states along the East Coast. The fight has gone on for nearly 30 years and continues to this day.

In April, the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council approved a summer flounder commercial issues draft amendment that rejected a motion by New York representatives to add provisions that would more adequately address the state-by-state quota inequity in the fluke fishery. Once again, the council and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission solicited public comment on the draft amendment, which ended last week. While a decision has yet to be made, it’s very clear that frustration abounds concerning an imbalance between many on land and those who work on the water.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has called for two additional options in the summer flounder commercial issues draft amendment — to negotiate new state quota shares of summer flounder and to include a coast-wide quota and management of summer flounder.

“The state-by-state quotas created by the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council and the Department of Commerce’s National Marine Fisheries Service, pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, are based upon faulty and incomplete collection data, which discriminate against commercial fishermen in the State of New York,” Mr. Thiele said in an Oct. 15 statement.

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

 

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition: Menhaden Fishing in New York, New Jersey is Sustainable, Infrequent

October 25, 2018 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

The past few months have seen an unnecessary controversy over legal and routine menhaden fishing in the federal waters off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. With the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) having met this week for its annual meeting, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) would, once again, like to unequivocally state that our members’ fishing operations in both the reduction and the bait fisheries are sustainable, and in compliance with all menhaden regulations.

The recent misleading attacks on menhaden fishermen have claimed that the fishery threatens the food supply of marine mammals and other predator species, despite there being no evidence to support this allegation. Instead, the best available science points to a thriving menhaden population that is successfully meeting its ecological roles.

Over the last three years, the ASMFC, which manages Atlantic menhaden, has repeatedly delivered good news for the stock, confirming in a stock assessment last year that the species is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. As a direct result of this news, the Commission voted to once again raise the quota, which they determined could be implemented withno risk of overfishing the resource.

Looking at the Commission’s stock assessment data, there is no evidence suggesting that menhaden fisheries are negatively impacting predator species. A MFC analysis of that data published last year found that 92 percent of Atlantic menhaden are left in the water to serve as food for predators and to meet other environmental functions.

As part of the coastwide menhaden fishery, New York’s and New Jersey’s menhaden quotas are conservatively set by the ASMFC to ensure sustainability. Most of the recent criticism of the fishery has focused on two individual days of fishing: one in late August and another in early September. Since then, activist groups have continued to push a misleading narrative to the public, ignoring the ample evidence that points to there being more than enough menhaden to support whales, fish, fishermen and fishing communities.

Members of the MFC who support a healthy menhaden fishery off New York and New Jersey include Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, New Jersey; the Garden State Seafood Association in Trenton, New Jersey; the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk, New York; and Omega Protein in Reedville, Virginia.

About the MFC
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Offshore wind farms planned on East and West coasts

October 19, 2018 — The U.S. government is taking steps to develop offshore wind farms off both coasts.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced this week the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold an offshore wind auction Dec. 13 for nearly 390,000 acres (157,831 hectares) of ocean off Massachusetts.

Zinke said the area, if fully developed, could supply power to nearly 1.5 million homes.

He also announced the bureau is opening its environmental review of a 15-turbine project off Long Island, New York, proposed by Deepwater Wind, operators of the nation’s lone commercial wind farm off Rhode Island.

And in California, Zinke announced the bureau is seeking comment on possible areas for wind development off the state’s central and northern coasts.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

Rep. Zeldin Announces $182,000 Grant for New York Sea Grant Program

October 19, 2018 — Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1), co-chair of the bipartisan Long Island Sound Caucus and member of the Congressional Shellfish Caucus, announced today that New York State Sea Grant has been awarded $182,000 in federal funding by the NOAA National Sea Grant Program. This funding will be used to support the seafood and aquaculture industry, as well as to foster relationships between the industry and next generation of fishermen and other seafood professionals. New York Sea Grant (NYSG) is headquartered at SUNY Stony Brook in New York’s First Congressional District.

Congressman Zeldin said, “New York Sea Grant is a critical program that provides resources to our local anglers and businesses, and this federal funding will help them carry out this important mission. Their vital work helps preserve and support our local fishing industry. With 90% of consumed American seafood imported, we must ensure Long Island fishermen and shellfish farmers have access to the resources they need to sustain and grow their businesses.”

Interim Director of the New York Sea Grant Program Katherine Bunting-Howarth JD PhD said, “NYSG is pleased to partner on a project that promotes sustainable and healthy seafood—seafood that is produced in a manner that protects the environment, invigorates the economy and provides a vital source of protein for our diets.”

National Sea Grant and this $182,000 grant was funded through $72.5 million in federal funding, which Congressman Zeldin helped secure by leading a bipartisan effort of 95 Members of Congress.

Read the full story at LongIsland.com

EDWARD KRAPLES: We need more, not less, competition for offshore wind

October 15, 2018 — The offshore wind era in the United States is here. With no need to burn fossil fuel, to enrich uranium, to dam rivers, or to build thousands of acres of solar panels, offshore wind is the most benign form of bulk power available to mankind.

Plans to seize the potential of offshore wind already have powerful momentum on the East Coast. Between Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey alone, more than 8,000 megawatts of wind power is envisioned. Building out 1,000 megawatts entails up to $5 billion of capital investment, drawing the attention of developers far and wide. So far, European companies — mostly giant, state-spawned enterprises with deep experience in the offshore — have been quickest to recognize this enormous investment opportunity. This week the Danish firm Ørsted bought the only remaining independent US company with offshore wind positions, Deepwater.

Ørsted’s acquisition of Deepwater naturally diminishes the amount of competition for offshore wind contracts. Policy-makers in Massachusetts should immediately take two actions: first, Gov. Charlie Baker should ask the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to increase the number of planned offshore wind lease areas from two to three. Another lease area would assure that the loss of Deepwater as a competitive entrant will be offset by the emergence of a new lease owner off the coast of Massachusetts.

Second, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources should even more strongly promote an ocean grid that serves as a platform for multiple offshore wind developers. The first request for proposals that have solicited offshore power did not stipulate anything about the transmission that will take it to market. Naturally, extremely large and competent offshore wind generators dearly wish to own both the wind farms and the conduit to land and have advanced arguments to the effect that, they, and they alone, can get the job done right.

But letting each generator plan and build and own major transmission lines to shore is akin to letting Walmart plan and build and own the interstate that leads to its stores using its customers money. Bundling generation and transmission limits bidders to the few that have the capacity to do both. Limiting the offshore opportunities to only a few competitors is never good for those paying the bills.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

Judge Tosses Seafood Industry Challenge to East Coast Wind Farm

October 3, 2018 — A seafood industry challenge to a $42.5 million lease for a wind farm off the coast of New York was filed prematurely, a federal judge has ruled.

Led by the Fisheries Survival Fund, the plaintiffs in the case said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management failed to adequately consider how the Statoil Wind US LLC wind energy facility would impact fishermen, along with other environmental and economic impacts.

The plaintiffs also argued that the agency failed to consider adequate alternatives or prepare an environmental impact statement, which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said was unnecessary after determining that there were no foreseeable environmental impacts that would significantly impact the human environment.

But U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, while finding that  the Fisheries Survival Fund and the other  plaintiffs had standing to bring claims under the National Environmental Policy Act, ruled Sunday they were not yet ripe.

That’s because Statoil Wind US LLC, the company developing the 26-mile wind farm roughly 11 miles out from Long Island, must first submit its construction and operations plans, along with a site assessment, while the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management retains authority to reject any or all of those.

“The presence of these ‘conditions’ does not transform the lease into an irretrievable commitment of resources,” the 24-page ruling says.

Chutkan later adds: “The lease sale does not represent the final word on anything, nor does it commit any resources, even putting aside the question of whether it does so irretrievably,” the 24-page ruling says.

If its site assessment plan is approved, Statoil will have five years to conduct surveys and propose construction and operations plans.

Read the full story at Courthouse News

Fisheries Survival Fund Expresses Concern Over Recent Ruling in NY Wind Farm Case

October 1, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the Fisheries Survival Fund:

Late yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied a ruling for summary judgment in the ongoing lawsuit against the leased wind farm area in the New York Bight. While the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) is pleased that the court found that the fishing industry and affected port communities have standing to bring claims in the case, we are concerned with other aspects of the ruling.

Specifically, we are troubled by the court’s finding that our claims under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are not ‘ripe.’  The court held that, because the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) retains some authority to preclude surface disturbing activities in the period between issuing a lease and the approval of a construction and operations plan, the lease itself does not constitute the irretrievable transfer of resources required under NEPA. The court found that the “lease sale does not represent the final word on anything, nor does it commit any resources, even putting aside the question of whether it does so irretrievably.”

This suggests that the court views the lease as something akin to a ‘ticket’ to proceed, rather than a guarantee of any rights.  Just as a concertgoer’s ticket can be revoked by a venue for inappropriate behavior, the court seems to contend that the leaseholder’s ‘ticket’ for at-sea development can be revoked by BOEM at any time. But in fact, judicial precedent interpreting the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) has held that the leaseholder gains more rights as development proceeds, and as more time and money are invested in a project.  This means that, the further development proceeds, the more difficult it becomes for plaintiffs to overturn a leasing decision.

We are concerned that the court’s view of the case as premature at the leasing stage, combined with case law finding a leasing challenge too late at the construction and operation plan phase, leaves plaintiffs with no opportunity to challenge this siting decision.

We are encouraged the court never contested our view that the unsolicited bid procedure allowed BOEM to decide, behind closed doors, what area of the ocean was to be leased. But we are troubled by the court’s ruling that our OCSLA claims are barred because we did not comply with the provision requiring 60 days notice of an intended filing. We were not able to provide 60 days’ notice, because BOEM scheduled the lease sale only 45 days after publication of the Final Sale Notice.

The court held that we were not excused from compliance with the 60-day notice period because the statute does not require BOEM to schedule its lease sales with sufficient time to accommodate potential claimants. If the court’s position is upheld, BOEM apparently would have the ability to lease any portion of the ocean unchallenged, and would deny any harmed parties their right to challenge a proposed lease sale under the OCSLA.  We believe given these circumstances that we should have been granted an exemption from this requirement.

About the Fisheries Survival Fund
The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) was established in 1998 to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery.  FSF participants include the vast majority of full-time Atlantic scallop fishermen from Maine to North Carolina.  FSF works with academic institutions and independent scientific experts to foster cooperative research and to help sustain this fully-rebuilt fishery.  FSF also works with the federal government to ensure that the fishery is responsibly managed.