Saving Seafood

Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) Seeking Advisory Council Applications

June 8, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

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. The deadline for applications is July 15, 2020.

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 at https://www.rosascience.org/. The deadline for applications is July 15, 2020.

Equinor Releases Details on New England Offshore Wind Project

June 4, 2020 — Equinor Wind has unveiled the official name of its wind project off the coast of New England, Beacon Wind.

“Beacon conveys a sense of hope and guidance, qualities that we value very highly at Equinor, especially now. Equinor is making substantial progress, even during these challenging times, in strengthening our ability to deliver renewable energy and further advancing our ambitions in the U.S.,” says Siri Espedal Kindem, president of Equinor Wind U.S.

“We are at a pivotal moment in the offshore wind industry and this project builds on the region’s momentum to bring renewable energy to Northeast households. I look forward to advancing Equinor’s position in the U.S. offshore wind industry through the development of Beacon Wind,” adds Kindem.

Equinor is pursuing the development of offshore wind projects on the east and west coasts of the U.S. and is at the forefront of the country’s growing offshore wind industry. Beacon Wind will be a key contributor to Equinor’s position in the U.S. alongside its 816 MW project in New York, Empire Wind.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance Calls for Changes to ‘Broken and Ineffective’ Wind Development Outreach

June 3, 2020 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is calling on state and federal regulators to extensively revise their approach to planning offshore wind development off of Oregon, calling the current system “broken and ineffective” for preserving sustainable seafood production. The comments come in a public comment letter submitted by RODA on the engagement plan for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Oregon Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force.

In the letter, RODA calls for BOEM to develop a new planning and engagement model that brings fisheries stakeholders into the process early, with greater participation from fisheries members on task forces and greater opportunities for public input.

Task forces need to work with the industry identify potential impacts on fishing before any offshore leases are issued. Often input from the fishing industry is sought too late in the process, after leases have been awarded and sites selected.

“Fisheries participants and experts must be wholly integrated into every step of the planning process through true collaboration,” the letter states.

Collaboration with the fishing industry is vital because of the many documented conflicts between fishing and wind energy development. These include potential environmental impacts on marine species and habitats; limiting fishing access; disruptions of scientific surveys; and interactions with protected species such as whales.

RODA is a membership-based coalition of fishing-related companies and associations committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. RODA’s approximately 170 members represent every Atlantic coastal state from North Carolina to Maine, and Pacific coast members in California, Oregon and Washington.

Read the letter here

Equinor names New England offshore Beacon Wind

June 2, 2020 — Norwegian energy company Equinor has given the name Beacon Wind to a planned offshore wind farm off the US New England coast.

Beacon Wind will be located about 32km south of Massachusetts and 112km east of New York.

Wildlife surveys for the project kicked off last year and this summer more surveys will be undertaken to characterise conditions of the lease area, the company said.

These include looking at the geologic conditions, benthic habitat and checking for the presence of obstructions and sensitive resources.

Equinor Wind said its Boston-based team is actively engaged with commercial fishermen and their representatives to ensure that the development of Beacon Wind coexists successfully with traditional northeast maritime industries.

“Insights and feedback from the fishing industry are critical to the collaborative development of Beacon Wind,” the company said.

Read the full story at ReNews

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

A ‘monumental day’ for US offshore wind as first turbine is installed in federal waters

May 28, 2020 — Thomas Brostrøm, President of Ørsted North America announced on LinkedIn that the first offshore wind turbine was installed in U.S. federal waters on Tuesday, May 26. He called it a “monumental day for the U.S. offshore wind industry.”

The Siemens Gamesa 6-MW turbine was installed 27 miles offshore near Virginia and is one of two turbines that will make up the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, a pilot project being developed by Ørsted and Dominion Energy.

The project is also noteworthy because it is the first to receive approval for the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (BOEM), which is the agency that oversees energy projects in federal waters. The only other U.S. offshore wind project, known as the Block Island Wind Farm, is located in state waters of Rhode Island and didn’t need approval from BOEM.

Read the full story at Renewable Energy World

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.

UMass Dartmouth scientists to help guide offshore wind growth

May 27, 2020 — The Baker-Polito Administration announced UMass Dartmouth as one of four institutions selected as part of a Southern New England pilot regional fisheries studies project worth $1.1 million, according to an administration press release..

Scientists at UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST) have been awarded $278,592 to conduct fisheries surveys as part of the Bureau of Ocean Science Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) Regional Fisheries Studies to Guide Offshore Wind Development.

The Baker-Polito Administration, in partnership with the State of Rhode Island and the BOEM, announced grants worth $1.1 million to four institutions to support regional fisheries studies that will collect data vital to the ongoing development of the offshore wind industry in North America, according to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs press release.

“Collaborating with our state and federal partners to support these studies will help us better manage fisheries and natural habitats while positioning the offshore wind industry to stimulate economic development and deliver clean, affordable energy to Massachusetts,” said Governor Charlie Baker.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

More offshore wind crewboat builds amid uncertainty for bigger investments

May 22, 2020 — Work is underway on the next support vessels for the fledging U.S. offshore wind energy industry, even as federal regulatory review — and now the global economic upheaval of coronavirus – clouds the prospect of building ambitious power projects.

The 804-megawatt Vineyard Wind project in southern New England waters, leading the pack of more than a dozen proposed wind energy arrays off the East Coast, remains stalled as the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reassesses the cumulative environmental impacts.

The agency’s final impact statement is scheduled for December 2020. In the meantime, Atlantic Wind Transfers LLC, North Kingston, R.I., the first U.S. provider of offshore services to a wind farm, is pushing forward with its builders at Blount Boats, Warren, R.I., to construct two more crew transfer vessels (CTVs).

Atlantic Wind Transfers president Charles Donadio — a 22-year veteran of the offshore ferry business who had Blount build the first U.S.-flag CTV — aims to be ready first when BOEM allows wind developers to proceed.

Read the full story at National Fisherman