Saving Seafood

Commercial shrimp fishing could be coming to Virginia Beach

June 25, 2021 — Virginia could open a small commercial shrimp fishery off Virginia Beach, after a four-year experiment showed it is ecologically sustainable and commercially viable.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission plans to hold a public hearing July 27 to consider proposed regulations to allow trawling for shrimp. Unlike the shrimpers operating to the south, Virginia fishermen would be allowed to tow only small nets, to reduce the chance of trapping too many other species.

“This will be a small-boat, small-gear fishery,” Pat Geer, VMRC’s Fisheries Management Division chief told the commission in a recent briefing.

While shrimp have been seen in Virginia waters for years, fishermen began reporting large numbers of them in 2017.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA WIND TURBINE PILOT PROGRAM EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

June 23, 2021 — The two-turbine pilot program of Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind venture has yielded better results than expected.

The pilot is Dominion’s precursor for plans to install 180 wind turbines in a leased block on the Atlantic’s continental shelf roughly 27 miles off Virginia Beach, at a cost currently projected at $8 billion. In doing so, Dominion is following a General Assembly directive to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

Running since October, the two 600-foot tall pilot turbines, each driven by three 253-foot-long blades, are giving Dominion’s engineers a real-world education in the potential for Virginia coastal wind power. The turbines’ efficiency over winter and spring is beating the forecasts, and their downtime for maintenance is less than expected (about two percent).  Automated controllers that turn their mounts to “aim” them and adjust the blade angles to “harvest” the wind have proven more effective than human operators.

Still to be determined, though, is how well they perform in the summer months when winds drop below the 5–8 knots needed to start the blades. Scientific field studies are showing fish using the area and minimal interactions with birds, according to cameras on the towers.

The news may be encouraging, but the project still faces many challenges. The immediate one is the environmental impact statement needed for the full 180-turbine wind farm. Dominion plans to have a draft out for public comment next year and a final version in the fall of 2023.

Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Coastal Virginia project set to be next Biden milestone for offshore wind

June 18, 2021 — Twenty-seven miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, stand two offshore wind turbines, each taller than the Washington Monument, generating power for up to 3,000 homes.

In five years, Dominion Energy hopes to be finishing construction of its own ocean skyline — complete with 180 turbines standing roughly 200 feet taller than the pilot project, three underwater power substations, and a deep-sea transmission line to bring that electricity to shore.

The Virginia-based utility expects the commercial project, now the largest proposed offshore wind project in the country, to generate 2.6 gigawatts of electricity. That is enough zero-carbon electricity to power 660,000 homes.

Dominion Energy’s offshore wind efforts are a microcosm of what is happening all up and down the eastern seaboard. States and power companies invest billions in putting turbines in the water and turning East Coast ports into offshore wind industry hubs.

Read the full story at The Washington Examiner

US completes construction of second offshore wind farm

July 1, 2020 — The second offshore wind farm in the U.S. has been completed, featuring the installation of a two-turbine, 12-megawatt pilot facility 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The project was completed by Dominion Energy.

The first U.S. offshore wind farm is a five-turbine facility off the coast of Rhode Island, the Block Island Wind Farm.

Called the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project, this new wind farm is the first to be approved by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to be installed in federal waters, and the second constructed in the United States, according to a press release.

The turbines will undergo testing before being used later this summer. At peak output, they will produce enough power for 3,000 Virginia households.

“The construction of these two turbines is a major milestone not only for offshore wind in Virginia but also for offshore wind in the United States,” said Dominion Energy Chairman, President and CEO Thomas F. Farrell II in a prepared statement. “Clean energy jobs have the potential to serve as a catalyst to re-ignite the economy following the impacts of the pandemic and continue driving down carbon emissions.”

Read the full story at The Hill

June 16-18 MAFMC Webinar Meeting Agenda

May 19, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold its June Council Meeting via webinar June 16-18, 2020. Due to public health concerns related to COVID-19, this webinar-based meeting replaces the in-person meeting previously scheduled to be held in Virginia Beach, VA.

A detailed agenda is available here. Topics to be discussed at this meeting include:

  • Black Sea Bass Commercial State Allocation Amendment
  • Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Commercial/Recreational Allocation Amendment
  • Summer Flounder Commercial/Recreational Allocation Study Model Update
  • Recreational Reform Initiative
  • Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment
  • 2020-2021 Illex Specifications
  • Update on Habitat Activities
  • Unmanaged Landings Update

Briefing documents and webinar connection details will be posted at https://www.mafmc.org/briefing/june-2020 as they become available.

Written comments may be submitted using the online comment form linked below or via email, mail, or fax (see this page for details). Written comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. on June 3, 2020 to be included in the briefing book. Comments received after this date but before 5:00 p.m. on June 11, 2020 will be posted as supplemental materials on the Council meeting web page. After that date, all comments must be submitted using the online comment form linked below.

June 2020 Public Comment Form
Questions? Contact Mary Sabo, msabo@mafmc.org, (302) 518-1143.

VIRGINIA: Dominion chooses turbine supplier for $7.8B offshore wind farm

January 9, 2020 — Richmond-based Dominion Energy has selected Spanish renewable energy engineering company Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A. as the preferred turbine supplier for its proposed $7.8 billion offshore wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach, Dominion announced Tuesday.

Dominion announced plans in September 2019 to build a 220-turbine wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach by 2026. The wind farm, which would be the largest in the nation, is being proposed as part of Dominion’s initiative to reduce its carbon emissions by 55% in the next decade and 80% by 2050. The project would produce enough zero-carbon electricity to power 650,000 Virginia homes.

Biscay, Spain-based Siemens Gamesa manufactured two 6-megawatt turbines for Dominion’s $300 million Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot offshore wind energy project off Virginia Beach’s coast, which is the first step towards building the larger wind farm. Construction on the CVOW pilot project began in June 2019 and is expected to be complete by spring. The turbines will be brought online and producing power for up to 3,000 homes later this year, according to Dominion.

Read the full story at Virginia Business

Shrimping has begun off the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Maryland could be next.

December 5, 2019 — White shrimp are being pulled by the thousands from the water off the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

The water is not usually warm enough for them. But from this year forward, the shrimp are likely here to stay.

White shrimp, which thrive in the Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic Ocean, typically only venture as far north as North Carolina in any significant numbers. A ghost of a shrimp market has existed off Virginia for only one or two weeks out of the year, but this year, it’s something different.

This fall, six watermen have been granted licenses to trawl for much larger quantities of the succulent 4-8 inch shrimp in an experimental fishery, which stretches three miles off the ocean side of Virginia Beach and three miles off the ocean side of the Eastern Shore, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission reports.

Read the full story from the Salisbury Daily Times at Delmarva Now

Notice to Offshore Fishing Fleet East of NC and VA

November 4, 2019 – The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

This fall and winter, Avangrid Renewables will continue to study the Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind Lease Area (OCS-A 0508) by conducting High-Resolution Geophysical Surveys to characterize the seabed within the lease area and cable corridor to the northwest. The survey will commence November 1 and is expected to run through January 30, 2020, weather dependent.

Fishermen fishing or transiting northeast of Oregon Inlet, NC, and southeast of Virginia Beach, VA are encouraged to note the survey area locations, activities, and timing. From November 1 through November 15, the M/V Gerry Bordelon will be towing survey equipment up to 1,000′ astern, with limited maneuverability. Mariners are asked to maintain a 1 nautical mile closest point of approach, and fishermen are requested to move any fixed fishing gear out of the area during this period.

Additional information, including charts showing the sampling areas is available at: www.avangridrenewables.com/kittyhawk. For questions, contact Rick Robins, Fisheries Liaison, Avangrid Renewables, 757/876-3778.

Dominion planning large wind farm off Virginia coast

September 20, 2019 — Dominion Energy announced plans Thursday to seek approval to build what it says would be the largest offshore wind project in the United States off the Virginia coast.

The company told The Associated Press ahead of a public announcement that the project would include about 220 wind turbines in federal waters it has already leased 27 miles (43 kilometers) off Virginia Beach.

If approved as proposed, Dominion says, the approximately $7.8 billion project could produce more than 2,600 megawatts of energy during peak wind by 2026, enough to power 650,000 homes.

“This is, to us, big news. It’s a big step for us to accomplish our carbon reduction goals,” Mark Mitchell, vice president of generation construction for Richmond-based Dominion, said in an interview.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

America’s Second Offshore Wind Farm Is Now Under Construction

July 2, 2019 — Dominion Energy Inc. began work to install cables for a wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean near Virginia, marking the start of construction on the second such facility off the U.S. coast.

The Richmond, Virginia-based utility owner is working with Denmark’s Orsted A/S to install the two 6-megawatt turbines 27 miles (43 kilometers) east of Virginia Beach. They’re expected to start producing power for up to 3,000 homes next year, according to a statement Monday.

Read the full story at Bloomberg