February 21, 2020 — With about 20 years of experience on the seas, Crista Bank has worked in academia as a fisheries biologist, conducted research with commercial fishermen, earned her 100-ton U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license, journeyed across the globe aboard traditional sailing vessels and taught marine science in New England, Southern California and the Florida Keys.
In May 2018, she became a fisheries liaison for Vineyard Wind, an offshore wind developer based in New Bedford where she grew up and now lives. The company has two projects in the works — Vineyard Wind I, a 800-megawatt project off the coast of Massachusetts and Park City Wind, an 804-megawatt project for the Bridgeport region.
According to Bank, the “big objective” is communication between fishermen and Vineyard Wind.
“Some of it is teaching two industries about [each other] because the fishermen don’t totally understand offshore wind and developers don’t understand the fishing industry, so my job is to try to have both industries understand the other a little bit better,” she said.
The main purpose of her job is to make sure the developers at Vineyard Wind are receiving accurate information about the fishermen’s concerns and how the fishing industry might be impacted by offshore wind. She also relays information to the fishermen about offshore wind projects and Vineyard Wind’s work “to make sure that the fishermen are not going to be pushed out of their industry,” which she said has been beleaguered by multiple challenges.