Saving Seafood

Offshore wind farms concern fisherpeople

April 25, 2018 — When Greg Mataronas steams out of Narragansett Bay as early as 3 a.m., he is headed for grounds he knew as an eight-year-old. A native Rhode Islander, Mataronas grew up lobstering in Little Compton. After college, he returned to the ocean, unable to resist a profession rife with memories of his childhood. But as a commercial lobsterman, Mataronas’ days are far from youthful. Early morning wake-up calls, 16-hour days and occasional bouts of seasickness take their physical toll, and he has watched the lobster population around him decline over the last two decades. But more than the grueling lifestyle, there is a new force threatening Mataronas’ ability to provide for his wife and children: offshore wind energy.

Many fisherpeople see a future where segments of their industry will ultimately disappear unless the federal government ensures their concerns are taken into account in the construction and development of wind farms. Fisherpeople’s fears include the incompatibility of certain types of fishing gear with the clustered placement of wind turbines and a lack of site-specific research regarding economic and ecological impacts of the turbines.

Meghan Lapp, a fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Limited, an R.I.-based producer and trader of sea-frozen seafood, is also frustrated with a lack of communication between fisherpeople and wind energy companies. Though BOEM requires each wind energy company to construct and implement a “fisheries communication plan,” which details how the company will engage with and hear from the fishing industry, many fisherpeople complain that talk is not translating into action.

“All of our concerns fall on deaf ears,” Lapp said. “I personally have been meeting with BOEM for three years.” Lapp added that she gave “confidential business information” from over 20 fishing vessels to BOEM to demonstrate that there was heavy fishing activity on one particular lease site, but she said BOEM issued the lease regardless.   

Read the full story at the Brown Daily Herald

 

Massachusetts: Fishermen air concerns about Vineyard Wind

April 19, 2018 — Looking to create a sea change in energy production in Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker signed “An Act to Promote Energy Diversity” with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2016. A key provision of the legislation mandated that utilities solicit long-term contracts with offshore wind farm developers, with the goal of adding 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2027.

Fast-forward to Tuesday night, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, where federal and state officials, along with representatives from Vineyard Wind, gathered for a “scoping session” to hear how Islanders feel about having the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States — 106 turbines, 700 feet tall, spaced about a mile apart, covering 167,000 acres — being built 14 miles south of home. The facility will produce between 400 and 800 megawatts of electricity.

Tuesday’s Tisbury gathering was one of five scoping sessions to be held this week by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in southeast Massachusetts and Rhode Island, to garner public input for the Vineyard Wind draft environmental impact statement (EIS).

Turnout was robust. The discussion remained even-keeled, which, according to one member of the large BOEM contingent, was a stark contrast to the previous night’s heated scoping session in New Bedford.

Read the full story at the Martha’s Vineyard Times

Fishermen fear fallout from proposed wind project

April 17, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Comments surrounding Vineyard Wind’s offshore wind projects filled the Waypoint Convention Room on Monday night and they came from a diverse group ranging from climate change deniers to environmentalists.

But the main discussion revolved around jobs.

Fishermen strongly criticized the process with one saying he feared Europeans would commandeer all the jobs associated with offshore winds.

Union workers stood in support of those jobs that they want to fill.

“Don’t tell me we’re going to have Europeans overrunning our workers,” one union member said. “It ain’t going to happen. We’ll train our workers.”

Vineyard Wind said it has created a $2 million workforce training fund. It proposed hundreds of jobs would be created from the project. The Port of New Bedford would be one of the homes for construction. Bristol Community College and UMass Dartmouth have also said they plan to invest in offshore wind programs in the future.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times   

 

Massachusetts: Series of Hearings on Offshore Wind Starts in New Bedford

April 17, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The waters off the coast of Massachusetts have been a popular topic of conversation as of late. From the ban of commercial fishing in nearly 5,000 square miles of coastal waters in 2016 to the ripple effect of the restrictions put on the industry following the indictment of “Codfather” Carlos Rafael, the area has procured the interests of the local, state, and federal government.

It’s also developed an interest in the offshore wind industry from the government as well as private enterprise, with companies already establishing a foothold in the area. One of those companies, Vineyard Wind, is planning to construct and operate turbines in an area just 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, if awarded a state contract.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM) along with representatives of Vineyard Wind and the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board kicked off a series of public meetings in New Bedford detailing the project on Monday night.

At the meeting, held at the Waypoint Event Center along the city’s waterfront, the public was provided an overview of the plans for the project’s development in the federal waters off the coast of the state. Those in attendance also got the opportunity to either submit questions and comments to BOEM privately or speak out to them directly at the meeting.

Environmental Coordinator of BOEM Brian Krevor began the meeting with a presentation of the federal guidelines, laws, and construction operation plan for offshore wind development. Currently, two of the four areas designated for wind farms have been acquired by two companies, Bay State Wind and Vineyard Wind. The remaining two areas are still open for bidding.

Read the full story at WBSM

State and Federal Agencies to Hold Public Meetings on Vineyard Wind

April 17, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Management and Massachusetts’ Energy Facilities Siting Board have each announced upcoming public hearings in April for the proposed Vineyard Wind offshore wind project.

The BOEM meetings, which will take place during the week of April 16th through the 20th and the EFSB hearing, which will take place on April 24 in Hyannis, will allow members of the public to submit comments regarding the project’s environmental impacts and related issues.

The upcoming public hearings are the latest signs of progress for Vineyard Wind, which is the only offshore wind project in the US to have started the federal, state, and local permitting review process.

Read the full story at Cape Cod

 

New York: How fishermen could thwart Cuomo’s offshore wind master plan

April 16, 2018 — Earlier this month, hundreds of developers, many from the well-developed wind energy industry in Europe, attended the United States’ largest technical wind power conference, which was held in Princeton, New Jersey. Dozens of public officials, including Zinke, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and NYSERDA President and CEO Alicia Barton, expounded on how to best seize the offshore opportunities.

Under Cuomo, New York has played a leading role in selecting the offshore areas for wind development, overseeing 20 research studies, working closely with BOEM and conducting “unprecedented outreach” to stakeholders, Doreen Harris, NYSERDA’s director of large-scale renewables, told City & State. “Obviously, this becomes a federal process at this point,” Harris said. “But we believe New York’s work provides the solid foundation for areas that are the most favorable.”

Indeed, after NYSERDA requested that BOEM open vast tracts of seafloor for leasing, Zinke told attendees at the April wind power conference that BOEM was opening an additional 2,711 square miles for potential wind farm development, more than 20 times larger than the Empire Wind lease area in the New York Bight, a broad expanse of ocean south of Long Island and east of New Jersey. It seemed to be everything NYSERDA asked for and more. The decision opens the possibility of rows and rows of wind turbines the height of skyscrapers plotted out in an area twice the size of Long Island.

There’s just one scallop-sized problem standing in the way.

The combined 2,836 square miles where BOEM is either leasing or seeking information and nominations for commercial wind leases is worth hundreds of millions – if not billions – of dollars in revenue to the scallop industry over the life of a 25-year wind lease, the scallopers’ lawyers say. The impact on the scallop fisheries would be far worse than they first feared, if those areas are developed.

“It puts an exclamation mark on all our concerns,” said David Frulla, the lead lawyer on the scallopers’ lawsuit. “We’re not trying to stop offshore wind. It is just that this is right at the heart of where the fishing is.”

The Fisheries Survival Fund, an advocacy group that represents the scallopers’ interests in their lawsuit against BOEM, is arguing that the federal offshore wind leasing procedure gave away some of the most productive scallop beds in the world and failed to evaluate alternative options appropriately.

In particular, they are rebelling against the Empire Wind project. The envisioned 194 towers whirling above the waves would make it impossible to safely fish there, they say.

Read the full story at City & State New York   

 

Fishing industry proposes ‘reset’ for offshore wind energy

April 13, 2018 — With Massachusetts moving faster toward offshore wind energy, a national coalition of commercial fishing groups this week urged state officials to limit a first project to no more than 400 megawatts, and set up a new system for the seafood and offshore wind industries to jointly plan a way forward.

“We are pragmatic and we understand that we do not ‘own’ the ocean where these wind farms are being sited,” the National Coalition for Fishing Communities wrote in an April 9 letter to Massachusetts Gov. Charles D. Baker Jr.

“But we do not believe that a renewable resource like wind energy should be allowed to displace another renewable resource like wild fisheries. To guard against that outcome, a measured, restrained approach to the initial project size is best,” the letter stated. “It is irresponsible to allow construction of sizable wind farms without a deep understanding of their impacts.”

This month Massachusetts officials are looking to select an offshore wind development proposal to fit their plans for adding more renewable energy sources to the state’s power mix. The ill-fated Cape Wind plan to build turbines in Nantucket Sound was defeated by strenuous local opposition to siting in nearshore waters, and now proposals are over the horizon on federal offshore leases.

Read the full story at the National Fisherman

 

New Jersey Revives Plan for Wind Farm Off Atlantic City Coast

April 13, 2018 — New Jersey lawmakers have revived a long-stalled plan to build a wind farm off the coast of Atlantic City.

Both houses of the state Legislature approved a bill Thursday allowing the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to reconsider a 24-megawatt project by Fishermen’s Energy LLC that was rejected under Republican Governor Chris Christie. The measure gives regulators 90 days to act on Fishermen’s application, which will be filed in May, the company’s secretary Paul Gallagher said.

While Christie shunned offshore wind, his Democratic successor Governor Phil Murphy has a goal for the state to have 3.5 gigawatts operating by 2030.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

 

Jon Mitchell: Wind Developers Must Take Fishermen Seriously

April 12, 2018 — Earlier this week, fishing industry officials sent a letter to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker asking for a larger role in the decision making when it comes to granting the state’s first offshore wind contract.

The letter particularly asked for the New Bedford Port Authority to act as the mediator between commercial fishing and wind energy, and in his weekly appearance on WBSM, Mayor Jon Mitchell said that request makes “all the sense in the world.”

“The place where these two industries intersect more than anywhere else will be New Bedford,” he said, noting he agrees that the fishermen haven’t been given enough of a voice. “That’s why we’re prepared to do something about it.”

Mitchell, who as mayor is also chair of the Port Authority, says the fishermen have valid concerns that he feels may have fallen on deaf ears.

“It has to do with safe navigation through wind farms, and with the siting of new wind farms that might intrude on traditional fishing grounds,” he said. “Wind developers have to do a better job of taking fishermen seriously, and we’re going to work on that. We’re going to make sure that they are taken more seriously.”

Read the full story at WBSM

Bay State Wind Announces Plans For Grants to Protect New England Fisheries, Whales

April 12, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Bay State Wind, an offshore wind developer, announced on Tuesday that they plan on providing more than $2 million in grants for research and programs to protect New England’s fisheries and whale populations.

The grants would be spread out amongst different organizations. The developer plans to offer $1 million for a Bay State Wind Marine Science Grant Program for directed fisheries resources research on the Bay State Wind lease area. Woods Hole Oceanography Institute, which has been working on a ropeless fishing concept to protect whales, would receive a $500,000 multi-year grant to use for the development of advanced whale detection systems. The New England Aquarium Right Whale Research Project and the Lobster Foundation of Massachusetts would each receive $250,000 to prevent gear entanglement of the North Atlantic Right Whale. Bay State Wind also plans on offering grants to Whale Alert Project, Center for Coastal Studies and the National Ocean Science Bowl/ Blue Lobster Bowl.

“These grants demonstrate Bay State Wind’s commitment to environmental responsibility,” Bay State Wind environmental manager and whale biologist Laura Morse said in a press release. “We are taking steps to strengthen the population of the North Atlantic Right Whale, which is weakened by boat strikes and fishing gear entanglements. In addition, Bay State Wind will address two of the main threats to marine life – rising ocean temperatures and ocean acidification – with the clean energy that is wind farms will produce.”

Bay State Wind is currently in the running to supply offshore wind power to Massachusetts, a hot topic for the Massachusetts fishing industry. Just this week a group of fishing industry officials set a letter to Governor Charlie Baker suggesting changes to “make offshore wind more palatable.” The group suggested that the state’s first offshore windfarm be “modest in size and scope” so that the impacts on commercial fishing can be studied.

Bay State Wind, which is a joint venture between Ørsted, the offshore wind global leader, and Eversource, a New England transmission builder, released a statement reaffirming their commitment to the fishing industry in Massachusetts: “We are the only project that has hired a marine biologist to ensure that we protect marine species and do not interfere with migration patterns, and we will continue to work closely with the fighting industry in the South Coast to minimize disruption and to preserve fish stocks for future generations.”

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished with permission.