February 12, 2024 — An interstate management board has approved fishing size limits for Atlantic striped bass that formalize an emergency order put in place over the summer.
NOAA designates fish habitat around New England wind power leases
February 8, 2024 — A swath of ocean off southern New England between Nantucket and Block Island – including tens of thousands of acres marked for offshore wind energy development – will be designated a ‘habitat area of particular concern’ by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA Fisheries will finalize the action March 6, implementing a proposal by the New England Fishery Management Council over its concerns of how wind development will affect essential fish habitat, including Cox Ledge, an important bottom area for cod spawning.
The designation itself does not impose new conditions on the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and wind developer plans for energy projects. The HAPC brings additional conservation focus when NOAA Fisheries reviews and comments on federal and/or state actions that could impact essential fish habitat – such as BOEM’s reviews of offshore wind energy construction and operations plans.
“EFH consultations provide non-binding conservation recommendations to the implementing (action) agency to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of federal actions on EFH,” according to the NOAA Fisheries Feb. 2 notice in the Federal Register.
Emergency Striper Size Limits Made Permanent
February 8, 2024 — Federal regulators took steps to bring the striped bass population back from the brink last month when the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission voted to approve restrictions on the size of fish recreational fishermen are allowed to keep.
The new regulation makes permanent the emergency actions to protect the striper stock taken by the ASMFC this summer. Recreational fishermen will be restricted to keep one fish a day between 28 and 31 inches during the season.
“We’re putting in rules to control fishing mortality, so we have a shot at keeping this stock healthy,” said Michael Armstrong, the deputy director at the state Department of Marine Fisheries who also serves on the ASMFC.
Now that the commission has approved the regulations, state level departments will be required to put them in place.
The restrictive size limits are meant to protect the class of striped bass spawned in 2015 – the last strong spawning year from the species.
Fishing regulators say no to catching more of this most valuable species
February 6, 2024 — Fishermen who harvest one of the most valuable marine species in the U.S. hoped for permission to catch more baby eels next year, but regulators said Monday the tight restrictions that have been in place for several years are likely to stay the same.
The tiny baby eels, which are often worth more than $2,000 per pound, are also called elvers. They are a critically important link in the worldwide supply chain for Japanese food. They are harvested from rivers and streams in Maine, sold to aquaculture companies and raised to maturity, then resold as food.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission needs to set a new quota for next year and beyond because the current management plan is expiring. The commission said Monday it’s only considering one option for next year’s limit and that is a little less than 10,000 pounds (4,535 kilograms), the same the level fishermen have been allowed to catch for several years.
California salmon disaster funding falls far short, say fishing advocates
February 6, 2024 –The $20.6 million allocated for federal relief to California’s Chinook salmon closure is just two-thirds of the state’s aid request, and threatens the survival of fishing businesses, California commercial anglers and for-hire recreational groups said Monday.
In a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, the Golden Gate Fisherman’s Association, and the Northern California Guides and Sportsmen’s Association called for “immediate full funding of salmon disaster funding assistance” in the $30.7 million figure sought by state officials.
“The State’s economic analysis already falls short of expected needs, and the federal disaster assistance package add insult to injury,” leaders of the fishing groups wrote in their joint letter. “Additionally, nearly a year after the declaration of the complete season closure, not one dollar of relief funds have been made available to affected businesses or their employees.”
BOEM Seeks Input on Draft Environmental Analysis for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Proposed Wind Energy Project Offshore Massachusetts
February 3, 2024 — The following was released by BOEM:
On Feb. 2, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will publish in the Federal Register the “Notice of Availability (NOA) of a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Beacon Wind, LLC’s Renewable Energy Lease OCS-A 0520,” opening a 30-day public comment period that ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Mar. 4, 2024. BOEM invites public comment on the Draft EA for additional site assessment plan (SAP) activities in the Beacon Wind lease area offshore Massachusetts.
The Draft EA analyzes the potential environmental impacts of proposed site assessment activities which consist of 35 deployments and removals of a single suction bucket foundation at 26 locations within the lease area to gather information to support the engineering design of wind turbine and offshore substation foundations that would potentially be installed within the lease area for a future Beacon Wind project.
On Nov. 7, 2023, BOEM published a “Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for Additional Site Assessment Activities on Beacon Wind, LLC’s Renewable Energy Lease OCS-A 0520.” The amended SAP and Draft EA can be found on BOEM’s webpage.
Virtual Public Meetings
Two virtual public meetings are proposed during the 30-day comment period for the Draft EA. All times are Eastern:
- Friday, February 23, 2024; 1 p.m.
- Wednesday, February 28, 2024; 5 p.m.
How to Submit Comments
- Through the regulations.gov web portal: Navigate to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket No. BOEM-2024-0006 to submit public comments and view supporting and related materials available for this notice. Click on the “Comment” button below the document link. Enter your information and comment, then click “Submit Comment”; or
- By U.S. Postal Service or other delivery service: Send your comments and information to the following address: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, Mail Stop VAM-OREP, Sterling, VA 20166.
BOEM seeks comments on important resources and issues, impact-producing factors, and potential mitigating measures analyzed in the Draft EA. The public comments will help inform BOEM’s decision on whether to approve the site assessment plan amendment. Following the comment period, BOEM will review the comments received to include information for consideration in the Beacon Wind Final EA.
More information, including registration for the virtual public meetings, can be found on BOEM’s website.
Dominion gets Virginia offshore wind approval
February 1, 2024 — Dominion Energy announced Jan. 30 received the last two major federal approvals it need to start construction of the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, with completion anticipated in late 2026.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s final approval of CVOW’s Construction and Operations Plan clears the way for starting work on what would be the largest offshore wind project in U.S. waters with 176 turbines across 113,000 acres of leased bottom. It comes after many months of inflation, supply chain issues and other challenges forced other wind developers to withdraw from or re-bid project commitments with other East Coast states.
“Virginia is leading the way for offshore wind as we near the start of offshore construction for Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind,” Bob Blue, Dominion Energy’s chair, president, and chief executive officer said in announcing the permit. “These regulatory approvals keep CVOW on time and on budget as we focus on our mission of providing customers with reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy.”
New wind strategy advanced to protect right whales
February 1, 2024 — The federal government announced a new strategy aimed at protecting the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale while the development of offshore wind ramps up.
The 78-page strategy from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and NOAA Fisheries, released Thursday, Jan. 25, lays out ways to continue evaluating and mitigating the potential effects on the whales and their habitat.
North Atlantic right whales are an endangered species, with an estimated 360 individuals remaining, a population that has been reported to be on the decline. That decline has been felt locally, as a juvenile right whale was found dead in Edgartown on Monday.
While NOAA reports that entanglement in fishing gear and ship strikes are the leading cause of death for the whales, the agency says that ocean noise is also a threat to the species, and sources can include energy exploration and development.
Feds’ plan aims to help whales and offshore wind farms coexist
January 31, 2024 — In the midst of the critical North Atlantic Right Whale calving season along the East Coast, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) unveiled a strategy to navigate the intersection of offshore wind projects and the endangered species’ habitat.
Marine mammal advocates welcomed a final joint federal strategy to save the whales and develop offshore wind where the two might collide. It stresses teamwork, research, strict monitoring and mitigation. That includes also avoiding leasing in areas where major impacts to North Atlantic Right Whales may occur.
“We believe that we can recover North Atlantic Right Whales and support responsibly developed offshore wind,” said Gib Brogan of Oceana. “But it puts a burden on the federal government to make sure that that balance happens.”
Cape residents air objections to current plans for offshore wind
January 30, 2024 — Cape Cod residents who object to the offshore wind plans for Massachusetts — in whole or in part — met for a four-hour conference Saturday in Hyannis.
More than 200 people turned out for the event, organized by Barnstable residents’ group Save Greater Dowses Beach and others.
Susanne Conley, chair of the Dowses Beach group, said the conference aimed to give voice to people who have been derided for their concerns about offshore wind turbines and the infrastructure they require.
“We have pitched a large tent here,” she said. “We do not think alike about ocean wind farms, but we share this: We have been dismissed, ridiculed, gaslighted by ocean wind developers and the federal and state regulatory agencies and officials that, in my opinion, are giving them a much, much too easy pass.”
Speakers pointed to potential harm to wildlife and fisheries, and to the difficulty of rescuing mariners from a storm if turbines are nearby.
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