Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Over 260,000 Sign Petition To Halt New Jersey Offshore Wind Farm Surveys

March 6, 2023 — Over 250,000 people have signed an online petition calling for Governor Phil Murphy to cease work on a massive off-shore wind energy farm off the Jersey Shore coast. Protest against the project began in December when dead whales mysteriously started appearing on beaches along New Jersey’s coastline.

Since December, thirteen whales have been found dead, eclipsing previous years’ data on file with NOAA.

The petition being disseminated by Protect Our Coast NJ calls for the immediate halt of all offshore wind activity along the New Jersey shore.

Read the full article at Shore News Network

NORTH CAROLINA: Offshore wind is ‘core’ to clean energy plans in N.C., Duke Energy VP says

March 6, 2023 — A Duke Energy official called offshore wind a “core part” of the company’s goals to reduce carbon emissions.

A bipartisan 2021 law requires North Carolina’s energy producers to reduce carbon emissions 70% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050. Duke Energy, North Carolina’s largest energy producer, and the state Utilities Commission continue to refine plans to hit the carbon reduction goals.

“We have 9 gigawatts of coal, and we need to replace that,” said Venu Ghanta, a vice president with Duke Energy. Three of the four plans the company submitted to the state to hit carbon reduction goals include offshore wind. “Offshore wind seems to be a core part of getting to 70% by 2030.”

Read the full article at Spectrum News

MAINE: Maine Fishermen’s Forum returns amid offshore wind debate

March 3, 2o23 — The 48th Maine Fishermen’s Forum kicked off as a celebration of the industry and informed discussion on developing challenges.

“The greatest things that the Maine Fisherman’s Forum does it negates or lessens a lot of the animosity between the groups involved in the fishery,” said Stephen Train, lobsterman.

“We have a trade show, we have a dance, we have an auction, we give out scholarships to children and fishermen. And we have some really nice meals and the seafood reception is amazing,” said Train.

The highlight of the day was a series of seminars on how offshore wind development may impact local fisheries. Leaders at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shared data-driven presentations but noted several gaps remain in the process.

Read the full article at WABI

NEW JERSEY: Citing federal letter, Van Drew touts planned hearing on wind power

March 2, 2023 — U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, again criticized the Biden administration Wednesday over plans to greatly expand offshore wind power generation, which includes projects in his South Jersey district.

Van Drew and others have connected recent highly visible whale deaths in the Northeast with survey work undertaken in advance of the wind power projects. He plans to hold a hearing on the issue March 16 at the Wildwoods Convention Center. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have said there is no evidence linking offshore wind surveys with any whale deaths.

“If the federal government and these offshore wind companies have nothing to hide, then prove it. They must prove that the development of these projects will have no effect on the environment, which is hard to believe following the death of over a dozen whales in the Northeast region where surveying is currently taking place,” Van Drew said Wednesday. “It is also hard to believe when their own scientists have been wholly ignored when attempting to highlight concerns about these projects and their effect on endangered whale species.”

Read the full article at The Press of Atlantic City

Congressman Jared Golden to NOAA: Share Findings on Recent Whale Strandings

March 2, 2023 — Maine Congressman Jared Golden is calling on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to release more information on the recent increase in whale strandings that have been happening along the Atlantic Coast.

“As you are aware, in the past two months alone, the Marine Mammal Stranding Network has reported at least 18 cases of whales found washed ashore along the Atlantic Coast,” Golden wrote in a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and National Marine Fisheries Service Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Janet Coit. “Alarmingly, humpback whales and North Atlantic right whales – both species currently experiencing Unusual Mortality Events – are the two species that account for the majority of these strandings. At least seven dead humpback whales have already been reported in 2023, including four in New Jersey. This is in addition to a North Atlantic right whale that was found stranded along Virginia Beach earlier this month.”

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford advocates for fishing industry compensation in response to offshore wind impact

March 2, 2023 — With offshore wind farms moving in, the fishing community faces the real possibility of a financial burden from revenue loss, officials say.

A proposed fisheries compensation fund has the potential to alleviate that burden from the likely physical and economic damages they will incur, including gear loss, habitat degradation, loss of essential fishing grounds and other impacts that will cause serious economic challenges to the fishing industry.

The New Bedford Port Authority supports the establishment of a common set of rules and procedures that would apply to the nine Atlantic Coast states that are working together to establish a framework that requires offshore wind developers to offer compensation.

Read the full article at Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford mayor has a plan to capitalize on the economic benefits of offshore wind

March 2, 2023 — The whaling industry put New Bedford on the map long ago by bringing the city commercial success, but in this day and age the focus has turned to offshore wind, in combination with the fishing industry as a way to drive New Bedford’s economy.

Civic and business leaders are joining Mayor Jon Mitchell in asking that investment in offshore wind be made a priority in Gov. Maura Healey’s statewide economic development plan as New Bedford strives to be a leader in both the offshore wind and fishing industries.

“We’ve been committed to the proposition that the two industries can coexist successfully, but we also know that it has taken a lot of work and will continue to take an awful lot of work,” he said. “We’re convinced that it’s in the interests of our city that we preserve our leading role as America’s leading fishing port and that we also lead on offshore wind.”

In a letter to Healey and legislators from committees focusing on climate and jobs, Mitchell recommends policies and approaches to strengthen the state’s ability to compete for investment the offshore wind industry with other states further ahead.

Read the full article at the Standard-Times

NEW JERSEY: Offshore wind critics try to block New Jersey grid link

March 2, 2023 — Opponents of offshore wind flooded a small New Jersey town meeting Monday in a bid to block a critical cable link for Ørsted’s Ocean Wind 1 project.

Energized by social media and publicity over winter whale strandings, more than 150 protesters tried to convince Upper Township officials to at least delay plans for moving an electrical substation, where power from the planned 1,100-megawatt wind turbine array would enter the regional power grid.

The protestors came close to that goal. In the end, the Township Committee narrowly voted 3 to 2 in favor of allowing the substation move.

With two New Jersey congressmen promising to challenge offshore wind plans – and 30 Jersey Shore mayors demanding a moratorium on projects – wind power critics seem determined to fight at the local level too.

Their coalition includes the state’s commercial fishing industry. A 2022 Rutgers University study found the surf clam fleet could lose 15 percent of its revenue if boat’s can’t fish on historic grounds after wind turbines are built.

The Ocean Wind 1 export cable would come ashore on the barrier island at Ocean City, N.J., go under the back bay and connect to the grid through an electrical substation at Beesley’s Point in Upper Township on the mainland. The connection survives from one of New Jersey’s last coal-fired power plants, the defunct 447-megawatt BL England generating station.

Upper Township officials set out a redevelopment plan for the Beesley’s Point neighborhood, envisioning a waterfront district, potentially with a hotel and marina, on the Great Egg Harbor River. At the town hall on Feb. 27, they considered moving the substation – Ørsted’s preferred connection to the regional power grid – and faced a standing-room-only crowd demanding they block it.

“Ocean Wind is clearly labeled on the plan,” said Roseanne Serowartka of Ocean City. “I do understand the people here who want jobs, who want that redevelopment, but not at that cost.

“Will the people who come to that hotel want to go to a beach with industrialization?”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW JERSEY: Mayors call for wind power moratorium amid whale deaths

February 28, 2023 — A group of 30 New Jersey mayors are seeking a temporary moratorium on new wind power projects, citing a recent spike in whale deaths.

In a letter to President Joe Biden and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, the mayors called for a suspension of wind power projects off the coast until federal and state governments conduct investigations to determine if activities are a “contributing factor in the recent whale deaths.”

The municipal leaders, who represent coastal communities that are reliant on beach tourism, said if a review determines wildlife is being impacted the projects should be halted completely.

“While we are not opposed to clean energy, we are concerned about the impacts these projects may already be having on our environment,” they wrote. “We again urge you to take action now to prevent future deaths from needlessly occurring on our shorelines.”

The request comes amid a rise in whale deaths on the eastern Atlantic coast, at least 10 of which have washed up on beaches in New Jersey and New York. Two weeks ago, a 35-foot humpback whale washed up on a beach along the New Jersey coastline.

Read the full article at The Center Square

Offshore Wind Shot Summit Heavy on Wind Support, Short on Seafood Industry Concerns

February 28, 2023 — Last week’s inaugural government-led Floating Offshore Wind Shot Summit was expected to be dominated by voices supporting the offshore wind industry and include cheering support for offshore wind, but some in the seafood industry viewed it as nauseatingly frustrating.

The Departments of Energy, Interior, Commerce, and Transportation convened federal, state, Tribal, community, labor, industry, and community leaders, all virtually, to discuss significant progress toward development of floating offshore wind in the United States and decreasing the cost of floating offshore wind — the most expensive type of offshore renewable energy — by more than 70%.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm kicked off the summit and announced efforts to jumpstart West Coast offshore wind transmission planning and research and partnerships.

“We see floating offshore wind as one of the clean energy technologies with the most upside potential for deployment in the coming decades,” Granholm said in a press release. “This Energy Earthshot is about so much more than just adding clean energy to the grid, this is about investing in American innovation and bringing supply chains home. It’s about creating jobs from sea to shining sea, and it’s about making America more energy secure and more energy independent.”

Read the full artixle at Seafoodnews.com