Saving Seafood

RHODE ISLAND: Alleging ‘backroom deal,’ fishermen’s group opposes new plan for South Fork Wind Farm

May 25, 2021 — A board of fishermen that advises Rhode Island coastal regulators on offshore wind development has come out in opposition to  state certification of the South Fork Wind Farm.

A lawyer for the Fishermen’s Advisory Board said a recommendation by staff at the Coastal Resources Management Council that was agreed to by developers Ørsted and Eversource to reduce the number of turbines in the 132-megawatt project and set up a fishing compensation fund does not meet the concerns of board members.

“It was a backroom deal that happened over the weekend without our participation,” said Marisa Desautel.

She spoke Tuesday morning, hours before the coastal council was set to vote on a mitigation package that includes a reduction in the number of wind turbines from 15 to 12 and the creation of a $12-million fund, to be paid into over 30 years, that would compensate fishermen for lost access to fishing grounds in the project area in Rhode Island Sound.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

Vineyard Wind paying UMass scientists to survey ocean area it’s leasing

May 24, 2021 — The company that intends to build a $2.8 billion offshore wind project south of Martha’s Vineyard is paying the UMass Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association about $2 million a year to survey the sea floor before, during and after construction and see what impact the project has on the ocean.

Vineyard Wind has contracted with the School for Marine Science and Technology to send scientists out on local lobster and fishing vessels to measure, tag and count the lobsters and fish they catch before releasing them back into the ocean. The data they collect will establish a baseline of what sea life inhabits the 167,000 acres of ocean that the company is leasing, as well as an adjacent area for comparison.

“We have a strong interest in using local mariners with local knowledge as much as possible,” said Andrew Doba, a Vineyard Wind spokesman.

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

Massachusetts fishermen fear ‘dead zones’ as massive wind farms loom

May 24, 2021 — Vineyard Wind, the company given federal approval this month to build the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind project, could be the harbinger of a new age of wind energy in the U.S. — but some fear it also could irreparably harm Massachusetts fishing and lobstering industries where it will be built.

The 62 wind turbines will be located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and generate enough electricity to power approximately 400,000 homes by the time the project is completed in 2023, Vineyard Wind CEO Lars Pedersen said. He also said it also will create about 3,600 jobs — half of them permanent, the other half construction jobs.

But what worries Ed Barrett of Marshfield is what it might do to his livelihood. A commercial fisherman and lobsterman for 43 years, Barrett fears the project and others like it that are still in the planning stage, such as Mayflower Wind 20 miles south of Nantucket, could change the seasonal migration of many fish or even create “dead zones.”

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

Fisheries Survival Fund Disappointed Following Ruling on New York Wind Farm Appeal

May 24, 2021 — The Fisheries Survival Fund shared its disappointment following a U.S. Court of Appeals decision involving a New York offshore wind farm lease but said it will continue to work with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), other government agencies and wind farm developers to ensure they do not impact scallop grounds on the East Coast.

The court ruling said that due to BOEM not technically committing to anything at the lease stage of the offshore wind process, it is too early for the Survival Fund and the Garden State Seafood Association, the appellees listed on the case, to challenge a lease location under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Commercial fishermen say they are being ignored on wind power project

May 24, 2021 — For the past three decades, Town Dock fishermen and their counterparts across the Northeast have struggled to stay afloat in the face of strict regulations designed to rebuild depleted stocks of cod, flounder and other species.

Some diversified, turning to so-called underutilized species such as squid and whiting to supplement their declining income, while others retired or left for jobs on land.

But now that many of the species have rebounded and government regulators are increasing the amounts of fish they can land, the fishermen face a new threat: offshore wind power projects.

Last month members of Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, or RODA, a national coalition of fishing industry members, boycotted a meeting with a federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management task force, which is considering auctioning of 800,000 acres of New York Bight — shallow waters south of Long Island and east of New Jersey — to potential wind farm operators. RODA said its members feel they are not being listened to.

On April 6, RODA said 1,665 members of fishing communities in every U.S. coastal state submitted a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, and National Marine Fisheries Service requesting a transparent and balanced national planning process for offshore wind development.

Read the full story at Yahoo News

New Reports Available to Help the Public Better Understand Recreational Party and Charter Fishing Impacts Associated with Offshore Wind Development Along the U.S. Atlantic Coast

May 24, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries has developed new analyses and reports to help the public better understand the impacts on recreational party and charter boat fishing associated with offshore wind development along the U.S. Atlantic Coast.  The new reports complement the previously developed analyses and reports of commercial fishing impacts associated with offshore wind development in the same region.

To help analyze how party and charter boat fishing operations may be impacted by offshore wind energy projects, NOAA Fisheries compared vessel logbook fishing location data from 2008-2018 to current offshore wind energy project areas.  We identified where and when fishing occurred relative to these areas and developed reports of potential socioeconomic impacts from each offshore wind project area based on the historic data. These reports include information on the amount of primary species retained, number of party and charter boat trips, number of angler trips, revenue associated with party and charter boat trips, and communities affected by each offshore wind development project area.  These reports will help estimate the potential impacts of such development on managed recreational fisheries and associated fishing communities.

The socioeconomic impact reports are now available online.  All data included in reports have been aggregated, as necessary, to protect data confidentiality.

Read the full release here

Fishermen provide scouting, monitoring for offshore wind

May 20, 2021 — Fishermen from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York are providing vessels to help offshore wind developers Ørsted and Eversource in what the joint venture partners are calling the first substantial contract with “a commercial fishing consortium in the history of U.S. offshore wind.”

Sea Services North America, based in Waterford, Conn., and its fishermen partners will work in and around the companies’ Northeast offshore wind developments, including the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project, the 132 MW South Fork Wind, and the 924 MW Sunrise Wind.

The company’s work “ensures enhanced safety and protection of the ocean environment, but also will support the region’s economy by creating new jobs and providing an economic opportunity for our fishermen,” according to Sea Services CEO and co-founder Gordon Videll.

Starting in 2020 Sea Services fishermen helped Revolution Wind survey vessels to locate, identify and avoid gill nets and other fixed gear. During that pilot project, its fishermen worked 150 days over 6,000 miles to assist the vessels “without any gear conflict,” Videll said in an interview Thursday with NF.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

CAPE ISSUES: Needs to Address Community Concerns on Wind Farm

May 20, 2021 — The Danish firm Orsted is currently seeking federal permits for its planned 99 turbine wind farm 15 miles off the southern New Jersey coast. Public meetings held by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held in April did little to calm the growing skepticism surrounding the project.  

It is critical that this project only go forward with total transparency concerning its economic and environmental impacts. The project must serve as a model for renewable energy initiatives if we are to gain the level of public support so necessary for a long-term battle with climate change. 

Cape May County’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism and commercial fishing. Nothing is more important than our coastline and the ecosystems that maintain it. The issue here is so much more than the potential for visible turbines on a clear day.  

Already conflicting information is flooding the internet as public groups, non-profit environmental organizations, and local business coalitions present opposing views. Save Our Shores argues that the turbines pose a threat to migratory birds and marine mammals. The Sierra Club says those opposing the wind farms are doing so based on bad science. The Garden State Seafood Association contends that the location studies did not consider the potential negative impact on commercial fishing.  

Read the full opinion piece at the Cape May County Herald

FSF Statement on Appeals Court Ruling in New York Wind Farm Case

May 20, 2021 — The following was released by the Fisheries Survival Fund:

The Fisheries Survival Fund is disappointed in the decision issued today by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. However, we will continue to work with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and all federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as wind energy farm developers, to ensure that these new uses of our coastal waters are created in such a way that they do not devastate existing uses, which in this case is one of the most important scallop grounds on the East Coast.

The court ruled that because BOEM doesn’t technically commit to anything at the lease stage, it is too early to challenge the siting of the wind farm under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The decision means that affected parties cannot challenge a lease location under NEPA until BOEM approves a Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for the wind farm. However, that is very late in the process, and changing the lease location at such a late date would be exceedingly difficult.

Since this litigation was filed, eight additional leasing areas have been proposed, all of which conflict with natural scallop habitat and historic scalloping grounds.

We will continue to work with BOEM to seek modified versions of several of the leasing areas due to their proximity to sensitive scallop areas. Under the current boundaries, historically important scallop areas will be directly next to wind turbines, and all of the negative environmental impacts they bring with them. By shifting the boundaries of some of these areas, and creating additional buffer zones between scallop areas and the turbines, BOEM can better ensure that scallop fishing will be unaffected, without diminishing the potential for wind power in the area.

Following Vineyard Wind’s final approval, Mayflower Wind is next up seeking permits

May 20, 2021 — Last week’s federal approval of Vineyard Wind’s first-in-the-nation project was hailed as the start of the offshore wind era — and the project that moves up in the state’s queue is introducing itself to more residents as it prepares for its own turn under the microscope.

Mayflower Wind, the Shell and Ocean Winds North America joint venture, selected unanimously by Massachusetts utility executives in 2019 to build and operate an 804-megawatt wind farm about 20 miles south of Nantucket, held the first in a series of virtual open houses Tuesday night to explain its project and answer questions from residents.

The second offshore wind farm to secure a contract with Bay State utilities, Mayflower Wind expects to get the state and federal permitting ball rolling in 2022, with the wind farm scheduled to be in operation by mid-December 2025.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times