Saving Seafood

New England looks to Europe to assess environmental impacts of offshore energy facilities

June 24, 2020 — Rhode Island is still the only state in the country with an offshore wind farm, but that will change in the coming years as wind farms are built along the entire Eastern Seaboard, from Virginia all the way up to Maine.

Now five years old, the Block Island wind farm, consisting of just five turbines, has been the subject of considerable study as scientists determine what impacts, if any, the construction of the facility and the turbines themselves are having on the ecosystem. Researchers are also looking to the future, when thousands of wind turbines will be coming online.

At the second of four webinars in the 17th annual Ronald C. Baird Sea Grant Science Symposium, scientists from the University of Rhode Island and elsewhere heard from researchers in Europe, where offshore wind power has been commonplace for decades.

Entitled “Offshore Renewable Energy — Changes in Habitats and Ecosystems,” the June 15 symposium focused on the impacts of individual turbines and larger-scale wind energy installations on the diversity and interactions of marine species.

Emma Sheehan of the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom and Jan Vanaverbeke of the Royal Institute for Natural Sciences in Belgium presented some of the findings of their research on the environmental impacts of large-scale commercial wind and wave energy farms.

Read the full story at The Westerly Sun

Coast Guard backs wind industry on turbine layout

June 1, 2020 — The offshore wind power industry cleared one of its last remaining bureaucratic hurdles Wednesday with the release of a long-awaited report from the Coast Guard that essentially agrees with an industry proposal on turbine layout.

The Coast Guard’s Massachusetts and Rhode Island Port Access Route Study has concluded that turbines should be spaced 1.2 miles apart and oriented in the same direction across seven offshore wind lease areas totaling around 1,400 square miles south of Nantucket.

Concerned with vessel safety and the ability to maneuver while fishing, some fishermen and industry groups sought larger lanes, as wide as 4 miles, to transit to fishing grounds, but the five wind power companies holding the leases said that would force them to crowd turbines outside the travel lanes, making it less safe to navigate and fish.

The offshore wind leaseholders — Equinor, Mayflower Wind, Orsted/Eversource and Vineyard Wind — had been concerned that some of the layouts proposed by other stakeholders could reduce the number of turbines and power generation. The increasing efficiency and power capacity of newer turbines have alleviated some of that concern.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Coast Guard favors turbine corridors sought by energy developers

May 28, 2020 — The U.S. Coast Guard has concluded that the best way to maintain maritime safety and ease of navigation in the offshore wind development areas south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket is to install turbines in a uniform layout to create predictable navigation corridors.

The results of the Coast Guard’s Massachusetts and Rhode Island Port Access Route Study are largely in line with a proposal that the five developers that hold leases for offshore wind sites off New England made late last year to orient their turbines in fixed east-to-west rows and north-to-south columns spaced one nautical mile apart.

Having a consistent turbine layout across the seven adjacent lease areas, the companies said, would provide fishermen with the benefit of not having to change their practices as they pass from one lease area to another, and would promote safe maritime navigation. The Coast Guard agreed.

“The USCG has determined that if the MA/RI [Wind Energy Area] turbine layout is developed along a standard and uniform grid pattern, formal or informal vessel routing measures would not be required as such a grid pattern will result in the functional equivalent of numerous navigation corridors that can safely accommodate both transits through and fishing within the WEA,” the Guard wrote in a summary of its findings published in the Federal Register.

Read the full story at the Taunton Daily Gazette

United States Coast Guard Announces the Completion of The Areas Offshore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Port Access Route Study

May 27, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today the United States Coast Guard announced the completion of The Areas Offshore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Port Access Route Study. The study focused on the seven adjacent leased areas of the outer continental shelf south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and east of Rhode Island that together constitute the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Wind Energy Area (MA/RI WEA). The study was conducted to (1) determine what, if any, navigational safety concerns exist with vessel transits in the study area; (2) determine whether to recommend changes to enhance navigational safety by examining existing shipping routes and waterway uses as any or all of the lease areas within the MA/RI WEA are partially or fully developed as wind farms; and (3) to evaluate the need for establishing vessel routing measures.

For more information read the notice published in the Federal Register or the final report posted online.

Seafood industry’s fragmentation makes recovery harder

May 26, 2020 — The seafood lobby says assistance from the federal government has not been enough to help everyone along the supply chain. That is leaving fishermen, processors and distributors worried about their ability to stay in business as the economic slowdown from the pandemic ravages the industry.

Various sectors are getting a $300 million boost from a coronavirus emergency aid package from Congress that will be distributed by states to help make up for lost sales after restaurants closed their doors. In addition, the Agriculture Department has promised to buy up $70 million of catfish, haddock, pollock and redfish to distribute to food banks and nutrition programs.

An industry coalition asked the Trump administration in late March for a combined $4 billion to be spent on buying surplus seafood, supporting supply chains and aiding fisheries, but only a fraction of that has been awarded.

Some in the industry say the meager aid doled out so far reinforces a long-held complaint that the industry is neglected on Capitol Hill, where power players like the beef and pork industries dominate in agriculture. The industry’s fragmented nature also makes it difficult to form a political force, compared with other agriculture sectors that lobby to support producers of a single animal, especially those from politically powerful farm states in the Midwest and South.

“The U.S. fishing industry is overlooked a lot when it comes to the food supply,” said Jason Jarvis, a fisherman in Rhode Island who catches fluke, black sea bass and scup. “Now it’s going to change. I think it has to. We’re looking at empty stores.”

Read the full story at Politico

Four New Studies to Examine Fisheries, Offshore Wind

May 21, 2020 — With the future of offshore wind waiting on the outcome of a major federal study, Massachusetts and Rhode Island officials announced plans Wednesday to take a look at one of the topics at the center of some of the tension about shared ocean usage: the fisheries.

The two states and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced grants worth $1.1 million to four institutions to conduct research on recreational and commercial fisheries, seabed habitat, and offshore wind policies in Europe.

“The continued success of offshore industries in the United States requires strong coordination and consultation with our state partners,” BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank said. “The studies announced today will help ensure BOEM has sufficient baseline information to support its environmental assessments of offshore wind projects on the Atlantic OCS.”

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the studies will “advance the assessment of the interactions between offshore wind development and fisheries in the northeast” and “will help establish baseline datasets on fisheries and seabed habitat.” The initiative will also support and inform a regional fisheries science and monitoring program being developed under the Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA).

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Sen. Reed Wants a Fresh Take on Federal Relief Efforts to Feed Families and Help Farmers & Fishermen

May 12, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Jack Reed (D-RI):

Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Rhode Island’s farmers, fishermen, and food industry are all facing widespread market disruption and hungry families in need require additional nutritional assistance.

In an effort to assist Rhode Island’s families, farmers, fishermen and food producers, U.S. Senator Jack Reed recently helped secure federal funding — including $3,294,234 for Rhode Island fishermen and $222,750 for Farm Fresh Rhode Island.  But Reed says Congress must take additional steps to protect the food supply chain, help families put food on the table, and support family farmers, fishermen, and food workers.

Reed helped include several food-related initiatives in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Public Law No. 116-136) to help Rhode Island’s agriculture, fishing, and food industries.  Overall, the CARES Act provides roughly $49 billion for food, agriculture, and nutrition assistance related provisions.  This total includes about $24.6 billion for domestic food programs and to help support farmers; nearly $16 billion to bolster nutrition assistance programs; and about $9 billion to enhance child and senior nutrition and fund meal programs for kids outside of school.

“Pandemic or not, people have to eat and farmers and fishermen have to be able to earn a living.  The next disaster relief package must addresses the hardships local and regional food producers are facing and keep the food supply chain steady, healthy, and intact,” said Senator Reed.  “Farmers and fishermen are resilient, but everyone has their breaking point, and without additional federal assistance, a lot of family farms and fishing boats could be forced to go under.  As food banks feed more families, the federal government can step up and ensure they are purchasing fresh, local produce, seafood, and dairy products at a fair price.  We are a bountiful country, and no American should be forced to go hungry because of this pandemic.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), nearly 38 million Americans participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2019, receiving an average monthly benefit of approximately $1.40 per person per meal.  In Rhode Island, over 140,000 residents are eligible for SNAP and Senator Reed helps direct about $244 million annually in federal funding to the state to help feed Rhode Islanders.  According to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s annual Status Report on Hunger, the average household SNAP benefit in Rhode Island is $223 per month.

Read the full release here

With Restaurants Shuttered, Oyster Farmers Face Market Collapse

May 11, 2020 — Oysters are a resilient species with ragged shells that will cut your hands when you try to pry them open, and adaptable insides that change from male to female and back to reproduce. They’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years, popping up in the Triassic period; they have survived human gluttony — in the 1800s, New Yorkers ate about 600 oysters per person every year — and, more recently, environmental degradation. Now, they and the people who farm them are facing a challenge they didn’t foresee: the coronavirus pandemic.

Of oysters, Roger Williams wrote, “This the English call hens, a little thick shell fish which the Indians wade deep and dive for.”

Valued more for their shells, which were used to make lime, in the early 1700s they were often chucked into kilns whole. By 1734, Rhode Island outlawed the practice, and people began harvesting them from estuaries and salt ponds for eating.

They soon realized what they had been missing out on, and developed a voracious appetite for the briny bivalve, so much so that by 1766 our predecessors’ hunger had to be checked, and a statute was instituted restricting harvesting to protect them.

Then, in 1798, the first oyster farm in Rhode Island was created, and the Ocean State’s aquaculture heritage was born — though it faced troubled waters.

Read the full story at EcoRI

Merkley, Murkowski, Reed Lead Bipartisan Push to Support Fishermen and Seafood Processors

May 6, 2020 — The following was released by the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR):

Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, along with Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Jack Reed (D-RI), are leading a bipartisan group of 25 lawmakers in pushing to make sure urgently needed federal assistance is delivered to America’s fishermen and seafood processors, who have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

In their letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the senators request that upcoming coronavirus relief legislation include funding and provisions to support this critical industry.

“Our seafood processors and fishermen have been dealt a significant economic blow as a result of coronavirus and are in desperate need of federal assistance,” the senators wrote. “It has been reported that many of the nation’s fisheries have suffered sales declines as high as 95 percent. In addition, while many other agricultural sectors have seen a significant increase in grocery sales, seafood has been left out of that economic upside, as stores have cut back on offerings.”

“The seafood industry is currently facing an unprecedented collapse in demand because of the novel coronavirus. We urge you to facilitate the government purchase of seafood products that would both ensure stability in this key sector and provide healthy, domestically produced food for Americans,” the senators continued.

Specifically, the senators recommend the allocation of $2 billion to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to purchase and redistribute seafood products to food banks—just as the agency is currently doing for other agricultural products. In addition, the letter requests that $1 billion be allocated to the Department of Commerce and NOAA to support direct payments to fisheries, seafood producers, and processors.

Not only do fisheries help Americans put food on the table for their families, they have long been the lifeblood of local and regional economies across the country. In 2016, the industry supported over one million good-paying jobs and generated more than $144 billion in sales, adding an estimated $61 billion to the nation’s GDP. In addition to the jobs, families, and communities it supports along every part of our country’s coastlines, the seafood industry fuels jobs throughout the country in processing, distribution, and food service industries.

Merkley, Murkowski, and Reed were joined in sending the bipartisan letter by U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tom Carper (D-DE), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Angus King (I-ME), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).

Read the full letter here

Lots of longfin squid, but markets locked up

May 6, 2020 — “Business has fallen off a cliff, for squid, and for every market that deals with restaurants,” says Chris Lee, of Sea Fresh USA, a supplier and processor in North Kingstown, R.I. “Every dockside processor is talking about coronavirus.”

While the year-round Northeast longfin squid fishery commercial harvest is used to fluctuation, the covid-19 pandemic is unparalleled.

“There’s always lots of uncertainty with squid availability and international demand/supply price effects. My understanding is that coronavirus-related restaurant shutdowns have had extreme immediate negative effects on domestic demand, and negative effects for exports are expected as well,” says Jason Didden of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

In the past decade, says Lee, most of his squid was sold domestically. But now, he says, “we haven’t just lost the U.S. market. I have containers of squid on the water that were going to Europe. Customers are already trying to renegotiate because those markets in Europe are not open, all their restaurants are closed.” If there is an upside right now, Lee adds, it’s China, where some markets are looking as if they are starting to reopen.

Read the full story at National Fisherman