Rhode Island Archives - Saving Seafood

First major R.I. offshore wind project faces further delays, with no clear completion date

November 25, 2020 — The 12-year saga of efforts to build a utility-scale offshore wind project off the coast of Rhode Island has been extended again, with no clear end-date in sight.

International developer Orsted A/S, which has a national hub in Providence, has pulled back on its previously estimated 2023 completion date for the Revolution Wind project slated for federal waters off the coast of Rhode Island. In an October earnings call, Orsted President and CEO Henrik Poulson said it was “highly likely” that the 50-turbine project, along with several others currently under federal review, will be delayed beyond anticipated construction years. Poulson cited uncertainty in the permitting process, which involves comprehensive review by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, as reason for the expected delay.

BOEM recently pushed back its approval timeline for Vineyard Wind, an 84-turbine project slated for the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Industry leaders have largely viewed the timeline and outcome of Vineyard Wind, slated to be the first large-scale wind farm to come online, as a direct indicator of when and if other offshore wind projects will move forward.

Exactly what this means for a new timeline for Revolution Wind is unclear. With BOEM’s decision to delay its environmental impact statement on Vineyard Wind until December, pushing off a final ruling until January, Orsted cannot “re-baseline our construction schedules,” Poulson said on the call.

Read the full story at the Providence Business News

Good works: Program is helping RI farmers, fishermen and the hungry

November 25, 2020 — Bad times bring out good ideas.

The Rhode Island Food Policy Council – in its work with Hope’s Harvest RI, Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Community Food Bank – is bringing food to those who need it and supporting Rhode Island farmers and fishermen at the same time.

This important work has just begun and there are many teams out there working to expand it and build on some work already done.

One problem is that farmers and fishermen have lost their valuable restaurant and institutional business, including colleges and corporate dining services, since the pandemic began in March.

The second problem is that food insecurity is soaring. Unemployment from the shutdown means more people in need of help. Food pantries across the state have reported they are working hard to keep up with the demand.

Demand is up 45% from a year ago this time, said Nessa Richman, Network Director of the Food Policy Council.

Read the full story at The Providence Journal

Coast Guard searches for four fishermen whose boat sank off Provincetown

November 24, 2020 — The Coast Guard was searching early Tuesday for four fishermen whose boat sank off the coast of Massachusetts, authorities said.

The hunt for signs of the fishermen from the Emmy Rose, an 82-foot commercial fishing vessel that sank early Monday roughly 20 miles off the coast of Provincetown, restarted Tuesday “at first light” by sea and air, Coast Guard officials tweeted.

A crew on USCG Cutter Vigorous searched for the fishermen throughout the night Monday and an aircraft was launched just after dawn Tuesday to continue the search, authorities said.

The Coast Guard in Boston was alerted by the ship’s radio beacon at about 1 a.m. Monday as it sank northeast of Provincetown. The owner of the vessel said four people were on board and calls to the fishing boat’s satellite phone were not answered, Coast Guard officials said in a statement.

Read the full story at the NY Post

DEM rolls out new feature on website that provides weekly updates of all seafood landings in Rhode Island

November 19, 2020 — The Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Collaborative, chaired by Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Director Janet Coit, today announced the availability of a new feature on the SeafoodRI.com website that provides weekly updates of all seafood landings in Rhode Island. This is the first time this information is being provided to consumers in a readily accessible, online format.

“We’re excited to offer this new tool on the SeafoodRI.com website so that Rhode Islanders can more easily find what’s fresh and available, and where they can find it,” said Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Director Janet Coit in a press release. “There is a strong demand for local seafood and we’re fortunate that our commercial harvesters are able to meet that demand by harvesting and landing wide varieties and large quantities of fresh seafood every day at our ports. Rhode Islanders can take pride in knowing that when they purchase fresh local fish, shellfish, lobsters and crabs, they are not only getting delicious seafood, but also helping to keep a vital part of our economy – our commercial fishing and seafood industry – up and running.”

The SeafoodRI.com website was established several years ago by the Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Collaborative. The website provides consumers with information on Rhode Island seafood including what’s available, where it can be purchased, how it’s harvested, and how to cook and enjoy it. Until recently, information on the availability of RI seafood was provided via an annual harvest calendar, which projected the likely availability of top local species on a seasonal basis over the course of a given year. It provided general guidance, but was not linked to real-time landings data.

Read the full story at What’s Up Newport

RI’s wind-farm plan poised to advance in ’21

November 19, 2020 — Much was made of the Raimondo administration’s selection in 2018 of a proposal for a massive offshore wind farm off the Rhode Island coast that would power as much as a quarter of the state’s electric load.

The project, known as Revolution Wind, cleared a key hurdle a year later when state regulators approved a contract for the wind farm to sell power to National Grid, Rhode Island’s dominant electric utility. And developers Orsted and Eversource Energy would get another boost when Connecticut also agreed to buy power from the wind farm, a move that nearly doubled the size of the project to 704 megawatts.

But since those very big and very public milestones, things have been relatively quiet for a project that could cost more than $2 billion to build.

The paucity of action is largely due to a hold-up in the federal permitting process for offshore wind projects amid concerns raised by commercial fishermen that arrays of towering turbines off the southern New England coast would interfere with fishing activities.

But a Biden presidency is expected to boost renewables overall, and a decision could come in a matter of weeks for the benchmark Vineyard Wind project, the first offshore wind farm to go before the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. A favorable ruling on the proposal could break the logjam for Revolution Wind and other projects.

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

Fishing Report: Wind farm developer seeks angler input

November 5, 2020 — Ørsted, owner of the Block Island Wind Farm and five other wind farms off the East Coast, is sponsoring a free Fishinar Series. The aim of the series is to encourage comments from anglers regarding offshore wind farm plans while relating strategies and tactics about how to catch the fish we love to eat through expert charter captains and private anglers.

The first Fishinar, “Angling for Ground Fish,” will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, via Zoom. Panelists will include Capt. Chris Willi of Block Island Fish Works, Capt. BJ Silvia of Flippin Out Charters of Portsmouth and Rich Hittinger of Warwick, who is the first vice president of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association and a ground fishing expert in the near offshore. Species discussed will include summer flounder, cod, tautog and scup.

The second Fishinar, “Angling for Pelagic Fish,” will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, via Zoom. Panelists will include charter Capt. John McMurray of New York, president of the American Saltwater Guides Association and a member of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission; Capt. Charlie Donilon of Snappa Charters, who is a shark fishing and shark cage diving expert; and Richard Pastore, an RISAA member and near offshore fishing expert. Species discussed will include tuna, sharks and mahi.

Read the full story at The Providence Journal

Rhode Island in Position for Offshore Wind Power Grab

November 4, 2020 — Local demand for offshore wind power continues to grow, as Rhode Island recently announced plans to buy up to 600 megawatts of new offshore wind energy to meet its renewable-energy targets.

The offshore power grab aligns with Gov. Gina Raimondo’s goal to source 100 percent of the state’s energy from renewable projects by 2030, either by paying for the electricity from renewable-energy projects or buying renewable-energy credits, known as RECs.

“Offshore wind will help us achieve that bold, but achievable goal, while creating jobs and cementing our status as a major hub in the nation’s burgeoning offshore wind industry,” Raimondo is quoted in an Oct. 27 press release.

Rhode Island energy commissioner Nicholas Ucci noted that new offshore wind energy will bolster the regional power grid. The added electricity will aid the transition from oil and gas heat to low-carbon heat sources such as heat pumps.

“Importantly, offshore wind can also help our electric system meet winter peak demand with stability-priced clean electricity, helping temper power price spikes faced by local homes and businesses,” Ucci said.

Read the full story at EcoRI

NOAA scientists study how offshore wind construction noise may affect black sea bass

November 3, 2020 — Scientists at federal fisheries laboratories are investigating how sound generated by the construction and operation of offshore wind turbines may affect black sea bass – a valuable species in the Northeast that is attracted to underwater structures like turbine foundations.

“No one knew for sure how much black sea bass can hear and how that changes as they age,” said Beth Phelan, a fishery biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s laboratory at Sandy Hook, N.J. and a co-author of the study, in a narrative published online by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We do know that black sea bass are attracted to underwater structures, and have anecdotal information that they move away from noise. We had to first determine the range of sounds they can hear by giving them a type of hearing test, much like we do to humans.”

Black sea bass typically congregate around hard structure, including docks, jetties and shipwrecks, and recreational fishermen and charter captains target them around the Block Island Wind Farm turbines off Rhode Island. The species supports a commercial fishery from the Mid-Atlantic into southern New England, and with waters warming in the Northeast black sea bass are extending their range into the Gulf of Maine.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

First offshore wind farm goes offline: An industry warning?

November 2, 2020 — In the new year, the first offshore wind farm in the United States will shut off its turbines, and its customers on nearby Block Island in Rhode Island will revert to diesel generation.

The rocky saeabed around Block Island has been worn away by tides and storms, sometimes exposing high-voltage cables in a popular swimming location that developers failed to bury deep enough when the facility was brought online in 2016. To splice in newly buried cables, the wind farm will go offline for a brief period this spring.

At $30 million for one leg of the fix and an undisclosed amount for the other, it’s a costly problem to crop up for the nation’s first offshore wind farm, and it’s not totally isolated.

Read the full story at E&E News

Rhode Island senators want a say in fishery rules

October 30, 2020 — Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both D-R.I., introduced Senate Bill S.4804, the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act. The bill would amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the fishing law of this nation, to add Rhode Island to the list of seven states represented on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and eight regional councils manage fisheries in our federal waters.

The Senate bill would give Rhode Island two new voting seats on the council. Many of the fish caught off our coast are regulated by the Mid-Atlantic Council, yet Rhode Island has no representation on the panel.

Spiny dogfish and monkfish are both managed under joint fishery management plans developed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Council. Many of the Mid-Atlantic Council’s managed fisheries are fished for in state waters, so the council works with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to coordinate management of summer flounder, scup, black sea bass and bluefish. All of these species are important to recreational and commercial fishers in Rhode Island.

Read the full story at The Providence Journal