Saving Seafood

Fishermen concerned about wind turbines being built off Ocean City coast

June 22, 2022 — A federal agency will begin a series of public hearings Tuesday on the planned wind farm off the coast of Ocean City.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is looking at potential environmental impacts and what measures can be taken to reduce them.

Members of the commercial fishing industry have concerns with wind turbines being built on their fishing grounds.

Ted Smith has fished for conch off the coast of Ocean City for 20 years, setting out to sea before dawn. His shortest days are 12 hours long and there’s no time off. He fishes in storms, heat, rain and ice. Smith said fishing and family are the most important things in his life.

“To wake up in the morning and to know that I am to get in this boat and drive out that inlet and the sun is going to come up and I am going to be able to go to work, other than being a father, probably (is) one of the best feelings in my life,” Smith said.

Smith tosses 250 conch pots onto the ocean bottom each trip. Conchs are snail-like creatures that live on the bottom of the ocean. Considered a delicacy by the Chinese, they can fetch up to $4.50 a pound. Smith’s goal is to catch 1,000 pounds each trip. He considers his six-figure salary a modest living, supporting his wife and four children.

Read the full story at WBAL-TV

 

Interior to auction 7 new offshore wind leases

October 14, 2021 — Federal regulators will auction off as many as seven new offshore wind leases by 2025 in an attempt to broaden the industry’s geographic footprint and meet President Biden’s climate goals, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced this afternoon.

The plan is potentially significant. Biden has set a goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, but experts say the U.S. will have a hard time meeting that goal without opening new swaths of ocean to development. Haaland’s announcement, made at an industry conference in Boston, marks an attempt to do just that.

Developers are currently planning 16 projects along the East Coast from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Under Interior’s plan, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will for the first time auction off leases in the Gulf of Maine and the Gulf of Mexico and near California and Oregon.

Lease sales will also be held in areas where proposed wind farms are already moving forward, such as the New York Bight, south of Long Island, and in the mid-Atlantic.

Read the full story at E&E News

 

New York Wind Farm Parts Will Be Built on Hudson, Float to Sea

October 12, 2021 — Orsted A/S and Eversource Energy, the companies building a big wind farm off the Long Island coast, are teaming up with construction firm Riggs Distler & Co. to build turbine parts near Albany and then float them down the Hudson River.

The companies signed an $86 million supply contract for construction of turbine components at the port in Coeymans, New York, about 140 miles north of New York City, according to a statement from Governor Kathy Hochul’s office.

The Sunrise Wind offshore wind farm is slated to generate about 924 megawatts of electricity, enough to power almost 600,000 homes, and will be located about 30 miles east of Montauk on Long Island. It’s scheduled to start generating power in 2025.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

Study: Offshore wind’s impacts on fisheries unclear; federal report calls for more research

December 3, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Advocates for regional fishing industries and marine life are concerned about the impacts of offshore wind turbines as deep-pocketed, experienced developers eye construction in ocean waters south of Martha’s Vineyard.

The offshore wind industry has been touted as a key piece of New Bedford’s economic future, but advocates’ concerns are reflected in a federal report that says little is known about how turbines could affect fish populations.

“Potential impacts of offshore wind energy development on fisheries resources are not well understood, both here in the U.S. and abroad,” states a study released in July by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), citing a “comprehensive” review of related literature.

“The site-specific project data needed to evaluate the potential impacts on fisheries resources in these (wind energy areas) is lacking, resulting in uncertainty and speculation,” the study also states.

BOEM’s new committee on ocean energy management and the environment will hold its first meeting next week, in Washington, D.C. The group of respected scientists from across the nation — none from SouthCoast — will help guide BOEM’s stewardship of offshore energy resources, a BOEM news release says.

The group could help fill the void of information cited by the BOEM study over the summer.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard – Times

 

Maine pilot project receives $3.7 million award, reviving vision for offshore wind farm

November 16, 2015 — An experimental offshore wind turbine being developed by a University of Maine-led consortium has won a $3.7 million federal award, Maine’s two U.S. senators will announce Monday, reviving ambitions that the state could be the home of a floating, deep-water wind farm and a new clean-energy industry.

Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King learned last week that the Department of Energy is committing the additional money to the Maine Aqua Ventus project.

Maine Aqua Ventus had been competing with demonstration projects in other states for a $47 million grant, but was passed over last year in favor of ventures in New Jersey, Virginia and Oregon. Instead, Maine got $3 million to continue engineering and design work.

Since then, each of the three winners has been unable to secure a power purchase agreement, and each has had trouble with cost and/or regulatory issues. Last week, the Energy Department told King and Collins that those projects would receive extensions until May, while Aqua Ventus would get $3.7 million to help overcome remaining barriers to successful development of a pilot wind farm off Monhegan.

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald