Saving Seafood

VIRGINIA: Virginia lawmakers could order sweeping study of menhaden

January 16, 2024 — The Virginia State Legislature is considering a three-year study of the ecology, fishery impacts, and economic importance of the Atlantic menhaden population in the waters of the Commonwealth.

House Bill 19 was introduced in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 10  by Delegate R. Lee Ware of Powhatan County. The bill directs the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in collaboration with Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) and with the cooperation of relevant stakeholders, including recreational anglers, Omega Protein – the lone company in the state’s reduction fishery – bait fishery sectors, and nongovernmental organizations, all to participate in the three-year study.

The bill states that the study must address nine concerns, which will include the seasonal abundance of Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay; the movement rates of Atlantic menhaden between the Atlantic coast and Chesapeake Bay; and the impacts of predator demand and consumption of Atlantic menhaden on the menhaden population.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Rare unveils new impact bond for small-scale fishers

December 31, 2023 — Rare, an international nonprofit based in Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A., has created what it calls a first-of-its-kind small-scale fisheries (SSF) Impact Bond to finance community-led co-management of small-scale fisheries.

Rare announced the bond at the COP28 meetings in the United Arab Emirates, and is targeting early 2024 for the launch of the program. Its plan for the SSF Impact Bond program is to scale up through three rounds, with a goal of mobilizing up to USD 160 million (EUR 146 million) to support the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of coastal ecosystems. Rare said along with the ecological and community benefits, the model is aimed at de-risking future investment in communities and small-scale fisheries

Read the full article at SeafoodSource 

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition Corrects Misleading Statements from Chesapeake Legal Alliance

December 26, 2023 — The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition addresses five inaccurate and misleading statements made in a recent press release by the Chesapeake Legal Alliance and the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization regarding their petition for rulemaking to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC). A brief overview of inaccuracies, expert statements, and scientific findings is listed below, followed by a more detailed discussion of each false claim.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

VIRGINIA: As other wind projects stall, Virginia’s approach keeps Dominion’s on track

December 24, 2023 — Back in 2011, Dominion Energy sent Diane Leopold, then a senior vice president for generation, to Greater Gabbard wind farm, 14 miles off the English coast in the North Sea, to look at a new-to-the-U.S. way of making electricity: offshore wind farms.

She came back with news that they could work in Virginia — wind conditions were similar, turbines could be anchored in deep and choppy seas and, key for this engineering graduate of England’s Sussex University, there was a clear path from the 3-megwatt turbines she saw to the larger ones that would make wind an affordable way to generate electricity.

“The biggest issue at the time was what’s the cost going to be for the customers,” said Leopold, who is now Dominion’s chief operating officer. “The technology fully proved out … but the ability to go from 3-megawatt turbines to 6-megawatt turbines to 11 to now almost 15 helps the economies of scale really get that cost down for the customers,” she said as she recalled Dominion’s first steps toward what became a $9.8 billion plan for an offshore wind farm capable of powering up to 660,000 homes.

Read the full article at the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Scientists to study how offshore wind construction off Virginia Beach impacts fish

December 18, 2023 — Researchers with the Nature Conservancy and federal government are embarking on groundbreaking research off the coast of Virginia Beach to see how driving offshore wind turbines into the seafloor impacts fish behavior.

The research will provide guidance for how the government should craft environmental regulations for offshore wind development, which is increasing as the U.S. transitions from fossil fuel generation to renewable energy sources.

“The renewable energy sector is really critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Kate Wilke, a marine scientist with the Nature Conservancy. “There really is a lot of scrutiny on this industry, and therefore we hope that that truly leads to better outcomes as the industry is developing and built out.”

While offshore wind has been slower to develop in the U.S. than in Europe or Asia, states along the East Coast have been racing to propose projects in recent years, especially after President Joe Biden announced a goal of having 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. That’s enough to power roughly 10 million homes.

Virginia set its own goal of developing 5.2 gigawatts of offshore wind as part of the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act, which seeks to decarbonize the state’s electric grid by 2050. Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest electric utility, is currently building a 2.6 gigawatt project that is expected to be the nation’s largest offshore wind farm when it’s complete.

The $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, also known as CVOW, will construct 176 turbines about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. While other projects along the East Coast have stalled because of economic pressures, Dominion has said CVOW is “on-time and on-budget.”

As the utility prepares to begin the drilling needed for the turbines, the Nature Conservancy is taking the opportunity to see how all the earth-shaking activity will affect fish.

“We are going to tag animals in such a way that it gives us the opportunity to observe behavior and gain an understanding of how that behavior may or may not change before versus during that construction activity,” said Brendan Runde, another scientist with the Nature Conservancy.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

Chesapeake Bay dead zone ‘smallest’ it’s been since 1985

December 2, 2023 — The “dead zone” in the Chesapeake Bay is the smallest it has been since recording began in 1985, according to new data from Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Old Dominion University and Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

The dead zone is the area in which there is a relative low amount of oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. Typically, this means that polluted runoff has brought in phosphorus and nitrogen, which feeds growth of algal blooms. These blooms eventually die and decompose, removing oxygen from the surrounding waters faster than it can be replenished. Animals such as crabs, oysters and fish need healthy levels of oxygen in the water to survive.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported dissolved oxygen levels in the Chesapeake Bay were “much better” than past years. The department reported the dead zone averaged 0.52 cubic miles from May to October this year, compared with the historical average of 0.97 cubic miles.

VIMS reported a dead zone of 0.58 cubic miles. The institute reported that hypoxia began earlier than usual, in April, but it remained “uncharacteristically low” from June until ending in late-September. The relatively early end resulted from cooling temperatures in September and strong winds during Tropical Storm Ophelia.

Read the full article at the Virginian Pilot

VIRGINIA: Virginia proposal to reopen winter crab dredge fishery aimed at providing winter jobs for watermen

November 27, 2023 — A proposal to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission considering whether to reopen a winter crab dredge fishery in the U.S. state on an experimental basis is intended to help watermen in the area, according to the proposal’s sponsor

If repopened, it would be Virginia’s first winter crab dredge since 2008, when the VMRC closed the fishery due to low crab survey results.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

VIRGINIA: Converted deck lugger is a winner for Chesapeake oyster growers

November 23, 2023 — Back in the October 2021 issue of National Fisherman, the 96’ x 24’ x 7’ Hopeful Harvest was featured as a converted Oil Supply Vessel (OSV) arriving from Bayou La Batre, Ala. to work as a Chesapeake Bay oyster planter.

“The 7-foot draft just did not make the boat workable for us,” says Jeff Kellum of W.E. Kellum Seafood of Weems, Va. “We have a lot of shallow oyster grounds that the boat simply could not get on. Since the boat would not work, this meant another year of me going back and forth to the Gulf to find and convert another boat.”

 Kellum found a 66’ x 26’ x 5’ deck lugger tug boat that had been used in the inland oil business, and named it Replenisher. Cobra Management and Dry Dock Services (CMDDS) in Houma, La. was hired to convert it into a Chesapeake Bay oyster planter.

When Kellum found her, the boat had not left the dock in five years and parts had been taken off her and used on other boats. “We really did not have to do a lot of work on the hull,” says Kellum. “There was some steel work done in the bow and we replaced the bulwarks,” he says.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

VIRGINIA: After Siemens turbine plant cancellation, can Hampton Roads still be a hub for offshore wind?

November 21, 2023 — Detroit is known for automobile manufacturing. San Francisco is known for technology. Hampton Roads hopes to be known for offshore wind development.

In 2020, the Virginia Clean Economy Act, an ambitious roadmap to decarbonize the state’s electric grid by midcentury, was signed into law with provisions encouraging the development of thousands of megawatts of offshore wind. The landmark legislation paved the way for the approval of Dominion Energy’s 176-turbine Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm off Virginia Beach earlier this year. That project in turn raised hopes that the industry would bring economic stimulation to the region. In October 2021, the announcement that the Spanish-German engineering company Siemens Gamesa had chosen Portsmouth for the site of the East Coast’s first turbine manufacturing facility seemed to bear out those hopes.

“Today’s announcement will help position Hampton Roads as the offshore wind development hub for the nation,” said Dominion CEO, President and Chair Bob Blue at the time.

However, on Nov. 10, Siemens Gamesa announced it was canceling those plans, saying that “development milestones to establish the facility could not be met.”

The loss of the turbine manufacturing facility, with its associated jobs and tax revenue, is a blow to Hampton Roads, one that has raised questions about whether the region’s dreams of becoming an offshore wind hub can be realized. But Dominion, local officials and environmental and economic development groups aren’t giving up hope: They say the ongoing work on CVOW, the region’s maritime infrastructure and workforce and burgeoning nationwide calls for a more renewables-focused grid keep them optimistic that Hampton Roads can still be an East Coast

Read the full article at the Virginia Mercury

VIRGINIA: Siemens Gamesa scraps plans to build blades for offshore wind turbines on Virginia’s coast

November 13, 2023 — A European company has canceled plans to build blades for offshore wind turbines in coastal Virginia, the latest sign of struggle within the U.S.’s nascent industry.

Siemens Gamesa confirmed the cancellation in a statement Friday. The company’s proposed $200 million factory at the Port of Virginia in Portsmouth would have created more than 300 jobs and aided the state in its aspirations to become a hub for offshore wind projects as part of the nation’s efforts to tackle climate change.

The change in plans by the Spain-based firm comes at a time when inflation, raised interest rates and supply chain issues have cut into the profitability — and even the viability — of some offshore wind projects in the U.S.

Read the full article at the Associated Press