Saving Seafood

Long-awaited federal report issued on Vineyard Wind

June 12, 2020 — The long road to construction of what may be the nation’s first utility-scale wind farm appears to be reaching the end as the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Thursday released its report on the impacts of the proposed Vineyard Wind project.

The report marked the last major hurdle faced by the 800-megawatt project of 57 to 100 turbines rising nearly 500 feet at the hub from the ocean. The wind farm is located about 40 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. This report, along with a Coast Guard report released late last month, represent additional measures required after the Coast Guard, National Marine Fisheries Service and the Environmental Protection Agency requested additional reports on the cumulative impacts on navigation, marine industry and the environment for the 1 million acres of ocean off Massachusetts and Rhode Island set aside for wind turbines.

The bureau’s report, a supplement to its original Environmental Impact Statement, looked at both local impacts and cumulative effects of offshore wind along the Atlantic seaboard. Environmental impacts were rated negligible, and deemed minor to moderate for marine mammals, birds, turtles, fish and marine and coastal habitats. The bureau found wind power would have a negligible to minor impact on local employment and economics, but would be beneficial when considering the wider Atlantic coast area.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

RODA Nets $150,000 Grant from NMFS to Hold Symposium on Fisheries and Offshore Wind

June 11, 2020 — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) received a $150,000 grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to hold a symposium on current knowledge of fisheries and offshore wind interactions.

The first of its kind project, “Understanding the State of the Science,” will advance agency, fishing industry, offshore wind energy developer and public understanding of existing research on interactions between the two industries, RODA said.

Read the full story at Seafood News

BOEM issues new draft environmental statement on Vineyard Wind

June 11, 2020 — A long-anticipated Bureau of Ocean Energy Management study of the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind offshore energy project – broadened to examine potential impacts of similar projects from Maine to Georgia – has been released for a 45-day public comment period.

The draft supplemental environmental impact statement acknowledges Vineyard Wind and other planned wind turbine arrays will have major impacts on the commercial fishing industry. That aspect was flagged as a failing of an earlier impact statement, when National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic regional fisheries office refused to sign off on BOEM’s study.

“Our goal is that all users can successfully coexist,” BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank said Thursday during the International Partnering Forum, an online event held by the Business Network for Offshore Wind.

Cruickshank, whose agency is viewed skeptically by many in the fishing industry, stressed BOEM recognizes fishing as a crucial maritime industry and is reaching out to commercial and recreational sectors.

With the covid-19 pandemic limiting public gatherings, BOEM began planning early on for alternatives to public hearings on the environmental statement. The process now includes five live virtual meetings from June 26 to July 9 for public comments and questions.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Capturing the green energy of the deep blue sea

June 10, 2020 — Nasser Alshemaimry was on a boat last month, heading for a spot in the Atlantic Ocean to test out his turbines. He was also, he said, heading for completion of his final life goal.

“This is my last hurrah,” said Alshemaimry, 70. “I’m going to do this and then retire.”

A year ago his company, OceanBased Perpetual Energy, agreed to work with Florida Atlantic University to develop a way to generate electricity by harnessing the steady-flowing Gulf Stream, the powerful ocean current that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic and up the East Coast to Canada. Now his company was ready for the first test of five types of turbines to see which one would work best while anchored 80 feet below the ocean’s surface.

A successful test, Alshemaimry said, would lead to a project that would cost an estimated $16 billion. The goal: in five years, producing 5 gigawatts of electricity from turbines spun by the Gulf Stream, which would be sent through underwater cables to a power distribution station built in the West Palm Beach area.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Feds release Vineyard Wind environmental assessment

June 10, 2020 — Federal regulators on Tuesday released a detailed, 420-page environmental assessment of the proposed Vineyard Wind project that includes predictions about the future of wind energy along the East Coast and suggests the impact on commercial fishing of six possible wind farm configurations would be roughly the same.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management put Vineyard Wind on hold last year to take a look at the project through the broader lens of what’s going on in offshore wind overall along the East Coast.  The resulting assessment, called a supplementl to the company’s draft environmental impact statement, forecasts 22 gigawatts of offshore wind development along the East Coast over the next 10 years, the equivalent of about 2 percent of current electricity production. The analysis estimates as many as 2,000 wind turbines will be installed over the 10-year period.

Vineyard Wind would be located off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and consist of between 57 and 100 turbines producing 800 megawatts of power. The project is jointly owned by Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

First major U.S. offshore wind farm reaches permitting milestone

June 10, 2020 — The first major U.S. offshore wind farm, planned for the Massachusetts coast, reached a key permitting milestone on Tuesday with the release of a long-awaited federal environmental study that considers the project’s impacts on fisheries and navigation.

Publication of the document marks a step forward for the Vineyard Wind project, which has experienced delays over concerns that its wind turbines will hurt commercial fishing. The supplemental review by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, announced last year, also considered the impacts of many such projects due to the growing number of offshore wind farms planned for the East Coast.

The Trump administration has sought to fire up development of the nascent offshore wind industry as part of its policy to boost domestic energy production.

The 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind is expected to generate enough power for more than 400,000 homes in Massachusetts. The lease area is located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

Read the full story at Reuters

Interior: Offshore wind to have major ‘adverse’ effects

June 10, 2020 — Offshore wind farms could have a major “adverse” impact on commercial fisheries, according to a long-awaited analysis from the Interior Department released yesterday.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s draft supplemental environmental review for Vineyard Wind — the first anticipated large-scale wind project in the United States — arrives nearly a year after a final decision on the project was expected.

BOEM delayed a final environmental analysis at the eleventh hour last summer and announced the launch of the supplemental review, arguing that the rapid expansion of offshore wind proposals and coastal state wind procurement policies necessitated a broader examination of wind’s foreseeable impacts (E&E News PM, Aug. 9, 2019).

The supplemental study, which is to be published in the Federal Register at an unspecified time, looks beyond Vineyard Wind — which is planned off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. — and outlines a host of effects that the burgeoning offshore wind sector in the Northeast could have on other industries, the environment and marine life.

It notes, for example, major cumulative impacts to commercial and recreational fishing, scientific research, and in some cases environmental justice across a suite of development scenarios. Additionally, moderate cumulative impacts are expected to marine mammals and minor cumulative impacts to air quality.

Read the full story at E&E News

Fishermen say Massachusetts, Oregon fail in offshore wind planning

June 9, 2020 — Massachusetts commercial fishing groups objected to a proposed $19 million fund to compensate them for impacts on the industry from the planned Vineyard Wind 804-megawatt offshore wind energy project, saying the plan emerged without adequate input from the fishing community.

“As far as we can tell, this plan was developed by Vineyard Wind through private meetings and consultations with officials from Massachusetts government,” the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership wrote in a May 29 to the state Office of Coastal Zone Management, following an email from state officials announcing the compensation plan. “Massachusetts officials may have had the best intentions for the fishing community, but they are not the fishing community and should not have developed a plan on behalf of the fishing community.”

“The plan dramatically undervalues the fishing industry and dismisses legitimate concerns raised by the fishing community and the National Marine Fisheries Service,” the group added.

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, “the Fisheries Mitigation Plan will provide funds to offset economic impacts to Massachusetts fisheries across two separate funds:” $19.18 million to provide compensation for claims by Massachusetts fishing businesses for economic losses during any phase of the Vineyard Wind project, and a $1.75 million “Fisheries Innovation Fund to support programs and projects that support innovative solutions and technology development to ensure safe and profitable fishing continues off the coast of Massachusetts.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ROSA is Seeking Applications for Advisory Council Members

June 9, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) is seeking applications from recreational and commercial fishermen to join its Advisory Council, which provides substantive direction and strategic guidance to the alliance.

ROSA is a nonprofit organization that seeks to advance regional research and monitoring of fisheries and offshore wind interactions through collaboration and cooperation. ROSA’s work currently concentrates on the waters from Maine to North Carolina.

The background information and applications are listed below and can be found online. The deadline for applications is July 15, 2020.

Read the full release here

Science Center for Marine Fisheries Funds Over $173,000 in New Research

June 8, 2020 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

At its spring meeting, the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS) approved 6 new research projects and awarded $173,547 in funding. Coming as the fishing industry continues to deal with the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis, the projects funded by the Center deal with some of the most economically important issues for the future of the industry.

These projects include efforts to study how offshore windfarms impact marine life; how to improve stock assessments for one of the largest fisheries in the country; and how to better use shellfish byproducts as commercial products. All projects were approved by the SCEMFIS Industry Advisory Board (IAB), which is composed of Center members in the finfish and shellfish industries. The SCEMFIS IAB encourages companies with an interest in promoting sustainability in the industry to consider joining.

SCEMFIS is a member of the National Science Foundation’s Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) program, a federal initiative to bring together academic researchers and industry members to fund projects improving our understanding of economically important issues.

The following projects were approved at the spring meeting:

  • Wind energy development team supporting fisheries – As offshore wind farms continue to expand, they will increasingly interact with critical fish species and ocean habitats. Understanding these interactions and assessing their impacts is essential to future coexistence between offshore wind and fisheries. The project, by Dr. Eric Powell (University of Southern Mississippi), will assemble a wind energy team with diverse areas of expertise to advise SCEMFIS members on potential environmental impacts for offshore development. ($20,200 in funding)
  • Could federal wind farms influence continental shelf oceanography and alter shellfish larval dispersal? A literature review – With over 1.7 million acres of federal waters under lease for wind energy development, new wind energy structures have a significant potential to interfere with ocean conditions, including in critical areas such as how shellfish larvae are dispersed. The project, by Dr. Daphne Munroe of Rutgers University, will review existing literature to determine how wind energy development has affected different oceanographic conditions, and prepare a report on these findings for the public. ($17,791 in funding)
  • Developing process and procedures for the refinement of surfclam and ocean quahog shells into calcium carbonate – Calcium carbonate is an important shellfish byproduct, used in animal feed, biomedical products, and other applications. Because of their chemical composition, quahog and surfclam shells are an especially good source of calcium carbonate compared to other shellfish, such as oysters. The project, by Dr. Alireza Abbaspourrad (Cornell University), will develop a process to tailor the carbonate byproduct to its other uses. ($50,000 in funding)
  • Evaluation the impact of plus group definition on the Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden stock assessments –Atlantic and Gulf menhaden are, by volume, two of the largest fisheries in the U.S. But one major source of uncertainty in its stock assessments are the number of older fish in the population. These fish are inadequately assessed by current surveys. The project, from Drs. Genevieve Nesslage (University of Maryland), Robert Leaf (University of Southern Mississippi), and Amy Schuler (National Marine Fisheries Service), will create a new model to simulate how different levels of these older fish would impact the results and accuracy of the menhaden stock assessments. ($53,414 in funding)
  • Atlantic menhaden stock review – The project, by Dr. Steve Cadrin (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth), will provide a technical review of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s stock assessment for Atlantic menhaden, as well as provide a new analysis of estimated rates of menhaden natural mortality, and the percentage of the population that is allocated for ecosystem needs. ($3,520 in funding)
  • Retention of Expertise in SS-III and evaluation of past and predictive modeling of future stock status – Stock assessments for ocean quahog and surfclams rely on a specific modeling tool, the Stock Synthesis V3. The project, from Drs. Eric Powell (University of Southern Mississippi) and Roger Mann (Virginia Institute of Marine Science) will recruit a Ph.D. student to train to use the model, with the goal of maintaining scientific expertise in using and understanding it. ($28,622 in funding)