June 27, 2012 — Even as Cape Wind continues to battle opponents over the project's effects on airspace, the company has won over another surprise convert on the water.
Cape Wind officials and representatives of the Martha's Vineyard/Dukes County Fishermen's Association announced Tuesday that they settled a lawsuit challenging the project's approval by the federal government.
"We just filed this morning papers that would settle and dismiss our lawsuit," association president Warren Dotty said during a joint teleconference with Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers.
The nonprofit association, which represents island fishermen and has about 100 members, is one of several groups that sued the federal government over Cape Wind's approval.
The settlement includes support from Cape Wind for a trust to buy permits to lease out to young fishermen on the island, Dotty said.
Dotty and Rodgers declined to comment on how much money is included in the settlement.
"We signed a confidentiality agreement that we would not disclose any financial terms of this settlement," Dotty said.
A fishermen's preservation fund in Gloucester started with about $12 million, but the Vineyard fund would likely be closer to the $3 million raised for a Cape Cod permit bank, he said.
"We'll also work together to ensure that fishermen continue to have access to Horseshoe Shoal during construction and operations," Rodgers said about the area in Nantucket Sound where the company plans to build its 130-turbine wind farm.
Studies of European offshore wind farms have shown that they can act as artificial reefs and attract fish, Rodgers said.
Fixed-gear fishermen should be able to work in the area with little problem, but there are still concerns about fishermen who use mobile gear, Dotty said, adding that these issues will be addressed by Cape Wind and fishermen.
The seven-member board of the fishermen's association voted 6-0 with one member absent to approve the settlement, which includes fisherman and board member Jonathan Mayhew, who was named separately as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Mayhew did not return a telephone message left Tuesday at his Chilmark home seeking comment on the announcement.
In its lawsuit filed two years ago against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement in federal court the association argued that the Cape Wind project would require fishing boats to add crew members to monitor the turbines and would restrict the ability of fishermen to follow and catch schools of fish.
Read the full story in the Cape Cod Times