Saving Seafood

New buoy could help scientists protect whales from wind farm construction off the coast of Ocean City

August 5, 2021 — Each day, they appear as colorful blips on a black graph. The dispatches from a new buoy 23 miles off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, could be nothing more than noise from passing ships or rough waves. But they could be whales.

It’s up to researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science to tell the difference.

In groups of three, the small sound waves might be sei whales. A symphonic pattern of notes could be humpbacks — the “songbirds of the sea,” said Amber Fandel, a faculty research assistant with the center’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory.

The buoy’s algorithm, developed by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, often thinks it’s discovered passing baleens. But the discerning eye of a researcher knows best. The hydrophone aboard the bright yellow and blue buoy, with brethren up and down the East Coast, hasn’t tracked a whale since it was plopped in the water in late May, though some are expected as the fall draws closer, Fandel said.

Lately, the scientists’ work has taken on fresh urgency. The buoy is located in the 80,000-acre lease area carved out for the MarWin wind farm. Construction on the win farm is likely to start sometime in 2024, officials said, and could present dangers to marine mammals.

Read the full story at The Baltimore Sun

Fisheries Joint Meeting on the NY Bight PSN

August 5, 2021 — The following was released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management:

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is hosting its fifth virtual meeting regarding the New York Bight Proposed Sale Notice in an effort to continue gathering important input from commercial and recreational fishing communities.

Please note the following:

We look forward to the discussion tomorrow.

Apollo-Backed US Wind Seeks Approval for Turbines off Maryland

August 4, 2021 — US Wind Inc. has submitted a bid to Maryland regulators to build a massive wind farm off the state’s shoreline, the latest proposal for such projects off the East Coast and a potential step closer to the Biden administration’s goal of eliminating carbon emissions from power plants.

The Momentum Wind farm would include up to 82 turbines producing about 1.2 gigawatts of power at full capacity, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Baltimore, Maryland-based US Wind also plans a steel-fabrication facility near the port city to build the foundations for its offshore turbines.

State regulators are also weighing a competing bid from Denmark’s Orsted AS, the world’s biggest offshore wind power developer. Officials could award permission to build the entire 1,200 megawatts to one company or split the approval between them. Both are already building smaller projects in the area.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

New Bedford to host meeting on New York Bight offshore wind

August 4, 2021 — The Port of New Bedford is hosting an in-person meeting for fishermen and industry advocates in the city Aug. 6, with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management officials to discuss the impact of offshore wind development in the New York Bight.

BOEM representatives will attend the 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. session virtually, in a follow-up to a July 20 conference call with port officials and the Fisheries Survival Fund that discussed potential dangers for the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast scallop fishery.

Friday’s meeting at the Fairfield Inn and Suites at 185 MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, Mass., “will highlight fishing industry concerns over offshore wind development, particularly in relation to the valuable scallop fishery, which has helped make New Bedford the nation’s most valuable fishing port for 20 consecutive years,” according to an announcement from the port agency Tuesday.

“We want to focus on every fishery we have in the port,” said Blair Bailey, the port’s general counsel. It’s important to get fishermen together in person, so port officials are getting a meeting room with seats for about 50.

“This is the fishing industry, these people deal in person,” said Bailey. “At this time of year, it’s not easy for these captains to get the time” away from working at sea, he said.

A digital flyer is circulating around the fleet, encouraging attendance at the meeting.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

More endangered right whales using New England wind energy areas

August 4, 2021 — North Atlantic right whales, one of the most endangered species in the world, are spending more time in southern New England waters where immense offshore wind energy installations are to be built.

A new analysis, published in the July 29 edition of the journal Endangered Species Research, shows how measures to protect the whale population – estimated at only around 366 animals – will be crucial if the Biden administration’s drive to develop offshore wind is to succeed.

“We found that right whale use of the region increased during the last decade, and since 2017 whales have been sighted there nearly every month, with large aggregations occurring during the winter and spring,” said Tim Cole, lead of the whale aerial survey team at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a co-author of the study, in a summary of the findings issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Marine mammal researchers at the New England Aquarium and colleagues at NEFSC and the Center for Coastal Studies examined aerial survey data collected between 2011–2015 and 2017–2019 to quantify right whale distribution, residency, demographics, and movements in the region.

The New England Aquarium used systematic aerial surveys, and NEFSC and the Center for Coastal Studies directed surveys conducted in areas where right whales were present, to document aggregations of right whales. Aerial photographs of individual right whales to help estimate the whales’ abundance and residency times, and the photos identify individual whales by distinctive patches of raised tissue on their head, lips, and chin, and by scars on their body.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Pacific Council News, Summer 2021

August 4, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Council has formed a new advisory body, the ad hoc Marine Planning Committee (MPC), focused on marine planning, which includes offshore wind, aquaculture, and other offshore development activities. The Council formed the group after hearing strong support from its advisory bodies for improving the Council’s capacity to address the effects of offshore activities on fisheries, coastal communities, and habitat. The Council intends for the MPC to provide an open and transparent process to gather industry and stakeholder input and advice on marine planning, and a mechanism to funnel constructive recommendations to the Council.

The MPC met with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and members of the Pacific Fishery Management Council and the public on July 22-23 to discuss offshore wind considerations for each Council-managed fishery. The MPC itself will meet in late August or early September to discuss and potentially develop a report for Council consideration.  Members of the MPC are Darus Peake for the Salmon Advisory Subpanel; Mike Okoniewski for the Coastal Pelagic Species Advisory Subpanel; Mike Conroy for the Highly Migratory Species Advisory Subpanel; Susan Chambers for the Groundfish Advisory Subpanel; Steven Scheiblauer for the Habitat Committee; Scott McMullen for the Ecosystem Advisory Subpanel; Megan Waters in the conservation seat; Chris Potter for California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife; Delia Kelly for Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife;  Corey Niles for Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, and Yvonne DeReynier for National Marine Fisheries Service. The appointment for a Tribal seat is pending.

Read the full release here

Zoom Registration for August 6 Meeting on New York Bight Offshore Wind

August 4, 2021 — This Friday, August 6, from 3 to 5 PM, the Port of New Bedford is hosting a joint in-person/virtual meeting with fishermen, industry advocates, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to discuss proposed offshore wind leases in the New York Bight.

Those who are able to attend the meeting in-person are encouraged to do so. Those who are unable to attend in-person are encouraged to join virtually via Zoom. The Zoom registration link is below. Please stay tuned for a detailed agenda in the coming days.

https://cbuilding.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIscOyhqTMtG93NnQLguiGkEE5m_Tlrb4vC

Representatives from BOEM, including director Amanda Lefton, are slated to attend the meeting virtually. The Port of New Bedford will be hosting an in-person gathering at the Fairfield Inn and Suites.

More information on the event is included below.

WHO:
Representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Stakeholders in New England’s Commercial Fishing and Scallop Industry

WHEN:
August 6, 2021 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

WHERE:
Fairfield Inn and Suites
185 MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, MA
Waypoint Meeting Facility

Port of New Bedford to Host Joint In-Person/Virtual Meeting with BOEM on Proposed New York Bight Offshore Wind Leases

August 3, 2021 — The following was released by the Port of New Bedford:

On Friday, August 6, from 3 to 5 PM, the Port of New Bedford will host an in-person meeting with fishermen and industry advocates on the impacts of proposed offshore wind leases in the New York Bight. Representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will attend the meeting virtually. The meeting will highlight fishing industry concerns over offshore wind development, particularly in relation to the valuable scallop fishery, which has helped make New Bedford the nation’s most valuable fishing port for 20 consecutive years.

Fishing industry owners and boat owners are encouraged to post the attached flyer to ensure their staff know about the meeting and can make their voices heard. Reporters are also encouraged to attend the meeting, which will help shape the future of offshore wind in the New York Bight.

While representatives from BOEM will be attending virtually, the in-person gathering hosted by the Port of New Bedford will take place at the Fairfield Inn and Suites. Discussion topics to be covered include:

  • Enhanced fishermen engagement requirements in the Final Sale Notice
  • Number, size, orientation, and location of the proposed lease areas
  • No build transit routes through the lease areas
  • Potential prescribed layouts in the leases
  • Science, Monitoring and Mitigation

More information on the event is included below.

WHO:
Representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Stakeholders in New England’s Commercial Fishing and Scallop Industry

WHEN:
August 6, 2021 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

WHERE:
Fairfield Inn and Suites
185 MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, MA
Waypoint Meeting Facility

TIM PLOUFF: Lobstering under attack

August 2, 2021 — A few weeks ago, Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) met with several dozen concerned citizens in Ellsworth for updates on Maine’s offshore wind proposals. The man facing that audience was grim-faced, fatigued and struggling for the proper words to express his apparent anxiety.

A husband, a father of three and a longtime lobsterman out of Winter Harbor, Faulkingham, who also serves on the Joint Standing Committee for Marine Resources, has been a strong voice of reason in our Legislature for many efforts at bettering our state, but primarily for working to protect Maine’s lobstering industry.

As Faulkingham described it, three seemingly combined forces are aligned and have put the bull’s-eye on the men and women in Maine whose lives depend on lobstering — whales, warming and wind power.

The right whale protection consortium has heightened its efforts to alter nearly every aspect of Maine’s primary (and most significant) fishing industry by pushing the federal fisheries agencies to limit, reduce and even eliminate the fishing methods currently employed in the local waters and the Gulf of Maine despite several studies indicating negligible right whale incidents within these waters over the last few years. At best, the supposed science is leaning toward saving whales, with little regard for the men and women who are active conservationists every day while doing their jobs.

The warming water folks, often the same groups and agencies that are involved with the right whale restrictions, also want to promote bureaucratic rules that will severely impact all forms of fishing in Maine’s coastal waters.

Read the full opinion piece at the Mount Deseret Islander

Study Reveals Right Whales Use Area Intended for Wind Energy

August 2, 2021 — Areas off the coast of Massachusetts slated for wind energy projects have also shown to be new areas of import for the endangered Right Wales.

Survey data collected over the last decade shows increased number of whales travelling through the Massachusetts and Rhode Island wind energy areas.

Whales were identified by distinctive markings found in aerial photos.

The study showed about a third of the population making significant use of the area.

Reproductive female use of the area is also of high importance as one of the reasons for the declining numbers that the species has faced is a reduction in calving rates.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com