December 14, 2022 — Nine East Coast states put out a call for potentially creating a regional administrator for fisheries compensation and mitigation from offshore wind development, with fishing industry advocates calling for “an equitable and appropriate compensation strategy” from Maine to Virginia.
“Recognizing the importance of sustaining a vibrant fishing community that can coexist and thrive alongside offshore wind energy development, the states have released a Request for Information (RFI) aimed at receiving input from impacted members of the fishing industry, offshore wind developers, corporate and financial management entities, as well as interested members of the public, to inform efforts to establish a regional fisheries compensatory mitigation fund administrator,” according to a joint Dec. 12 announcement.
The RFI from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia follows on the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issuing its June 2022 draft framework for mitigating impacts to commercial and recreational fisheries.