Saving Seafood

Vineyard Wind: Notice to Mariners and Fishermen

May 16, 2019 — The following was released by Vineyard Wind:

Please be advised that Fugro USA Marine, Inc will perform met-ocean monitoring for the Vineyard Wind project site located at approximately 43 nm from the port of New Bedford and approx. 17nm off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The Vineyard Wind Lighted Research Buoy (VWM-01) with a water level recorder will be deployed at the above coordinates on May 16, 2019 and is expected to remain on site though 2019. Fishermen and mariners are requested to note the buoy location and to maintain a safe distance during fishing and marine activities. The buoy is moored using open link chain, with a heavy chain anchor.

The currently deployed buoy and mooring will be removed and a replacement buoy will be deployed nearby at the coordinates below. Download notice here.

Interior: Nine seismic testing permits in process

May 16, 2019 — Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management remains working on seismic airgun testing permits — a key prerequisite to offshore oil and gas drilling — while issues regarding the legality of the Trump administration’s offshore leasing plan work their way through the federal court system.

In late March, a federal district judge in Alaska ruled Executive Order 13795, and subsequent efforts by the Trump administration to open up offshore drilling access in waters off Alaska and the Atlantic Coast, were illegal in attempting to repeal former President Barack Obama’s withdrawal of unleased lands in those areas under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Since that point, there’s been some confusion about what the Interior Department will and won’t do. Attorneys for the federal government stated in a May 9 status report — in the seismic testing lawsuit in federal court in Charleston, S.C. — that neither the department nor Bernhardt made any announcement that Interior “may wait until the resolution of any potential appeal” of that ruling before making decisions on authorizing offshore activities.

Read the full story at The Brunswick News

Vineyard Wind project receives key approval in Massachusetts

May 15, 2019 — Vineyard Wind got the approval of Massachusetts authorities to build and operate electric transmission facilities that will deliver 800 megawatts (MW) of wind energy to the regional power grid.

The approval by the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) represents a key milestone in the development of the first commercial-scale offshore wind generation facility in the United States.

“Approval by the Massachusetts EFSB is another affirmation of the collaborative, community-focused approach that Vineyard Wind has taken in designing and developing the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project,” Erich Stephens, chief development officer of Vineyard Wind, said. “We want to thank the residents and officials of the Town of Barnstable who took the time to explore opportunities to address local concerns while simultaneously delivering enough cost-competitive, carbon-free energy to serve six percent of the Commonwealth’s electricity demand, making the project a real win-win-win.”

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved long-term power purchase contracts between Vineyard Wind and Massachusetts’ electric distribution companies in April for the delivery of wind energy.

“Today’s decision is another critical step forward as Vineyard Wind moves toward beginning on-shore construction later this year,” said Laura Beane, president and CEO of Avangrid Renewables, a partner in the Vineyard Wind joint venture. “The future of the American offshore wind energy industry is rising in Massachusetts thanks to the commitment of many stakeholders to deliver competitive solutions to climate change, and we remain committed to delivering environmental benefits and economic opportunity through our investment.”

The project moves forward as the owners seek more than 25 federal, state, and local approval processes. Reviews are still pending from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the Army Corps of Engineers, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the Cape Cod Commission, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and local conservation commissions.

Read the full story at Daily Energy Insider

Opponents of offshore drilling at New Jersey Shore are breathing sigh of relief

May 13, 2019 — The federal government has stopped pushing for offshore oil drilling off the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to Florida. And that’s good news for critics of the plan in South Jersey.

The Secretary of the Interior announced recently that plans to allow offshore drilling of oil and gas were postponed indefinitely. Opponents of seismic testing in South Jersey are relieved but say it’s not over yet.

“It’s very good news,” said Vicki Clark, president of the Cape May Chamber of Commerce. “But unless they say it is permanently abandoned, we still feel as though we have to continue to, continue on with our education about why this is not something we want to have anywhere along the Atlantic.”

Read the full story at KYW

“A Big Fugazi”: Why Fishermen Still Can’t Get Behind Offshore Wind

May 10, 2019 — In Ken Schneider’s 40-year fishing career, he’s fished for pretty much everything that’s out in the Mid-Atlantic.

Now, at 60 years old, Schneider spends most of his time hunting for lobster. On this day, he’s making some extra cash building a boat deck at Leonard’s Wharf in New Bedford before his next fishing trip. He takes his son with him sometimes.

“He don’t like fishing with me probably,” Schneider says. “Somebody else would be easier.”

His son works as an engineer at a drafting company. But if anything ever happens to him financially Schneider says, “he’s got a [fishing] license and everything and if everything else goes bad he’s always got this.”

Schneider’s daughter owns part of the family business too. But now, Schneider says all of it is at risk. He and other fishermen in New Bedford will soon have to share the open ocean with Vineyard Wind. The company is building the the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind farm…84-turbines about 14 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

There are final federal and state permits still pending approval but it’s expected onshore construction will start this fall. And by next year, construction will move to the ocean as the over 600 foot turbines settle in their new home.

Schneider says the seismic activity from the construction is going to change the ocean floor and marine life isn’t going to stay around. He thinks he could lose over 30-percent of his lobster catch because of the construction.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

ALASKA: Study pinpoints trend toward fisheries specialization

May 10, 2019 — Commercial fishermen in Alaska have gotten older in the past three decades. As it turns out, they’ve become more specialized, too.

Fewer permits overall are in the water; between the early 1990s and 2014, commercial fishing permits in Alaska decreased by 25 percent. On top of that, fewer individual fishermen are moving between fisheries.

From 1988-2014, the number of individuals holding multiple permits declined from 30 percent to 20 percent, according to a study published in the journal Fish and Fisheries.

The bottom line: fishermen are increasingly putting all their economic eggs into one basket, and that makes them more vulnerable to the ups and downs of fishing.

The study was born out of a workgroup that met through the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California Santa Barbara, said co-author Anne Beaudreau, an associate professor of fisheries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The original intent was to study the long-term effects of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, but the data on fisheries specialization arose out of that work, she said.

“As we worked on this, we realized there are so many things that have caused long-term changes in the Gulf of Alaska; in the fisheries, it’s really hard to see the long-term effects of the oil spill,” she said. “A lot of the focus of the working group was on the biological effects … this paper sort of came out of the end of that.”

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

OIL DRILLING RISKS NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL ECONOMY, MAYORS WORRY

May 9, 2019 — Mayors from along the North Carolina coast are discussing the costs of offshore oil drilling if something goes wrong.

About a dozen mayors from Duck to Topsail Beach are meeting Wednesday in Manteo to discuss their worries about offshore oil and gas exploration. Opponents say that one future oil spill could destroy the state’s $4 billion fishing business and badly dent the state’s $20 billion tourism industry.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WWAY

All New England Senators Renew Push To Ban Offshore Drilling Off Region

May 3, 2019 — All 10 U.S. senators in coastal New England reintroduced a proposal Friday to bar oil and gas drilling from the region’s shores.

The group said President Trump’s administration was stalling on the release of a new draft of its five-year offshore leasing plan. The group of senators, led by Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, said that means the Atlantic continental shelf off New England is still at risk of being opened up to drilling.

The senators said drilling off New England would be bad for the economy, tourism, wildlife and the environment. New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan said the region’s coast needs to be “off limits.”

The senators said tourism, fishing and recreation generate more than $17 billion for New England annually, according to the National Ocean Economic Program, and it would harm the five coastal states to jeopardize that revenue with drilling.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WBUR

NEW YORK: Offshore Oil Drilling Is on Hold

May 3, 2019 — The Trump administration’s plan to allow oil and gas exploration and extraction off the Atlantic Coast is apparently on indefinite hold.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that a federal judge’s March declaration that President Trump’s order revoking a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic is illegal may force the federal Department of the Interior to wait until that case is resolved before a final decision can be made about which offshore areas would be opened to the fossil-fuel industry.

Separately, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, with the musician Billy Joel by his side, signed legislation on Monday to ban offshore drilling in New York State waters. The legislation, according to a release from the governor’s office, will bar the state from granting permits for oil or gas exploration or drilling in offshore areas controlled by the state.

“This bill says no way are you going to drill off the coast of Long Island and New York,” the governor said in the statement, “because we must lead the way as an alternative to what this federal government is doing.”

The March decision by U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason once again rendered 3.8 million acres of the Atlantic Ocean, along with 125 million acres of the Arctic Ocean, off limits to exploration and drilling under a ban President Obama enacted in December 2016, shortly before leaving office.

“The recent announcement that the Trump administration is backing down on oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic Seaboard is good news,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said in an email on Tuesday, “as is Governor Cuomo’s signing yesterday of state legislation that would prohibit drilling for oil or gas exploration in state offshore waters.”

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

Sandwich lobsterman raises concerns about offshore wind farms

May 3, 2019 — After 40 years in the business, Sandwich commercial lobsterman Marc Palombo foresees the presence of fog in the summer months as his biggest worry as he considers whether or not to navigate through the proposed swath of offshore wind turbines south of the Islands.

“There’s a new generation of the world coming and we’re moving to different energy sources,” Palombo said Sunday, as he prepares to start his fishing season. “Is it going to really be a problem for me? In the bigger scheme of things, no. I’ll just change my course, and spend a little bit more time getting home and getting out. I’ll avoid it. So be it.”

The Coast Guard has begun a study of vessel traffic — a Port Access Route Study, or PARS — in and around the seven offshore energy lease areas south of the Islands, off both Massachusetts and Rhode Island, to determine if any new vessel travel routes are necessary to improve navigational safety, in a Federal Register announcement March 26.

While Vineyard Wind is the only leaseholder south of the Islands with a contract to sell electricity from what is expected to be an 84-turbine wind farm, there potentially will be several distinct wind farm installations, across what is close to 1 million acres, each with a unique number of turbines, turbine sizes and layouts.

On Thursday, the Coast Guard hosted one of its public hearings on the traffic study at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, and Palombo was one of a handful of fishermen who commented on two competing proposals for navigation routes announced by stakeholders following forums held last year in southeastern New England. Vessels that could be affected might be traveling between Georges Bank and New Bedford, Point Judith, Rhode Island, or Montauk, New York, according to the Federal Register notice.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times