Saving Seafood

Management & Regulation

Release of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument Draft Management Plan and Environmental Assessment

September 12, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have prepared a draft management plan and environmental assessment for the proper care and management of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, as directed by Presidential Proclamations 9496 and 10287 (September 15, 2016; October 8, 2021).

The plan defines agency management roles and responsibilities and lays out the goals, objectives, and proposed management activities for the next 15 years. The plan includes an environmental assessment to evaluate the potential impacts of implementing the proposed management actions.

The goals and objectives in the plan are derived from the Presidential Proclamations, federal mandates, and public input. The draft plan ensures transparency on management activities and addresses priority management, research, and education needs to foster stewardship of the Monument’s natural, historical, and cultural resources.

How Do I Comment?

The draft management plan and environmental assessment is available for comment on USFWS website. Information about upcoming public meetings will be available on the website as well.

We are accepting public comments on the draft management plan and environmental assessment for the Marine National Monument through October 26, 2023. The public can comment on the plan via mail or regs.gov.

Thank you for your attention to this draft plan and environmental assessment, which will guide NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in protecting and conserving resources, managing environmental threats, and better understanding the Monument ecosystems.

Protecting ‘fisheries dependent communities’

September 11, 2023 — Leigh Belanger, the fisheries outreach coordinator for Businesses for Conservation and Climate Action (BCCA), sent out an email blast on Sept. 7, advising fishermen and other stakeholders that there is still time to comment on NMFS and NOAA’s proposed revision of the guidelines for National Standards 4, 8, and 9, which guide fisheries management.

According to a BCCA letter to NOAA – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – “Current fisheries management undermines ecosystem and community health, violates NOAA’s emergent commitment to equity and environmental justice, and favors short-term economics at the expense of resource and fishery dependent communities.”

Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association represents one of several fishermen’s organizations from all over the country that have signed onto the BCCA letter. “We want to integrate NOAA’s new commitment to equity and environmental justice into the National Standard guidelines,” says Behnken

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

As US East Coast ramps up offshore wind power projects, much remains unknown

September 11, 2023 — As the U.S. races to build offshore wind power projects, transforming coastlines from Maine to South Carolina, much remains unknown about how the facilities could affect the environment.

And that worries some people, particularly those who depend on the sea for their livelihoods.

“We don’t have the science to know what the impact will be,” said Jim Hutchinson, managing editor of The Fisherman magazine in New Jersey. “The attitude has been, ‘Build it and we’ll figure it out.’”

Read the full article at Associated Press

NOAA Issuing Biological Opinion on the Empire Wind Offshore Energy Project

September 10, 2023 — The following was released by the NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA Fisheries is issuing the final Biological Opinion under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) considering the effects of the proposed Empire Wind offshore energy project off the coast of New York on threatened and endangered species.

The agency has concluded that the proposed action is likely to adversely affect, but is not likely to jeopardize, the continued existence of any species of ESA-listed whales, sea turtles, or Atlantic sturgeon or destroy or adversely modify any designated critical habitat. This conclusion was based on NOAA Fisheries evaluation of BOEM’s analysis of the effects of this project on endangered and threatened species, and in consideration of  the best scientific and commercial data available. 

The proposed project includes a number of measures designed to minimize, monitor, and report effects to ESA-listed species, and additional measures are included through the Biological Opinion’s Incidental Take Statement. No serious injury or mortality of any ESA-listed whale is anticipated as a result of the proposed project. All effects to North Atlantic right whales will be limited to temporary behavioral disturbance.

NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Protected Resources is also proposing to issue regulations and an associated Letter of Authorization pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which was evaluated through the Biological Opinion. A notice of the proposed regulations was published in April 2023.

Other authorizations or permits will be required from a number of other federal agencies. BOEM is the lead federal agency for approving the construction, operation, and decommissioning of the proposed Empire Wind offshore energy project.

We will continue working closely with BOEM and other federal agencies to ensure effects from the Empire Wind offshore energy project to NOAA Fisheries’ trust resources are minimized.

The Biological Opinion will be available online upon publication in our libraryin approximately 10 days.

Announcing the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program 2023 Awards

September 10, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries has awarded approximately $2.5 million to 14 projects under the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. Five of these projects are in the Greater Atlantic Region. 

Bycatch reduction is a top priority for NOAA Fisheries, as outlined in our National Bycatch Reduction Strategy. Bycatch can contribute to overfishing, can threaten endangered and threatened species and protected marine mammals, and can close fisheries, significantly impacting U.S. economic growth. This year’s projects focus on several priority bycatch issues related to a variety of species, including whales, sea birds, sharks, striped bass, and salmon.

NOAA Fisheries’ Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program has resulted in innovative technological solutions to some of the nation’s top bycatch challenges. NOAA Fisheries is proud to continue to partner with fishermen, fishery managers, industry, academia and the environmental community to avoid and minimize bycatch.

For descriptions of the funded projects please visit our website.

Ørsted resumes off-shore survey for wind farm

September 10, 2023 — Ørsted, a clean energy company, will conduct offshore geophysical surveys in Delaware this Fall in support of Skipjack Wind’s development.

Skipjack Wind is a 966-megawatt offshore wind farm that is planned to power nearly 300,000 homes in the region. It’s important to note however that there is no site at the moment for an interconnection facility that would bring cables on shore. An onshore site is necessary before the project can come to fruition. Past proposed interconnection facility sites included Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island State Park, but nothing has been finalized. The latter was struck down after massive public opposition.

The US-flagged R/V Shackleford will conduct high-resolution geophysical surveys in the nearshore ocean environment to approximately 6 miles off Delaware’s coast. The purpose is to collect data about the seafloor and the geology beneath it, and to identify potential archaeological resources and debris left by other ocean users.

NOAA ‘National Seafood Strategy’ looks to climate change, aquaculture, fair trade

September 7, 2023 — The National Seafood Strategy report from National Oceanic and Atmospheric focuses on climate change, global market disruptions and new ocean uses like offshore wind energy.

The paper outlines four goals. At the top, it ranks “maintain or increase sustainable U.S. wild capture production.”

Climate shifts are forcing fish populations to gradually move – such as the decline in Mid-Atlantic lobster and northward shift of black sea bass into New England waters. Ocean “heat waves” of higher water temperatures and bigger storms “are affecting access to fishing opportunities, production of seafood, and fishing to support local dietary needs, cultural traditions and tribal treaty rights,” according to a NOAA summary of the plan.

The report ranks its second goal as increasing “sustainable U.S. aquaculture production.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Updates proposed for national standards for fisheries

September 7, 2023 — Comments are due by Sept. 12 on proposed updates to federal National Standards for commercial fisheries under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, specifically those standards addressing allocations, communities and bycatch.

The National Standards are guidelines for regional fishery management councils on how to interpret and balance the 10 standards as they develop fishery management plans.

The marine resource consulting firm Ocean Strategies said in a statement released on Tuesday that reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens legislation is long overdue and a gridlock in Congress is preventing stakeholders from offering critical, time sensitive input to federal fishery management through reauthorization of that legislation.

Read the full article at the Cordoba Times

US offshore wind projects seek looser subsidy rules in fight for survival

September 6, 2023 — A fleet of U.S. offshore wind projects central to President Joe Biden’s climate change agenda may not move forward unless his administration eases requirements for subsidies in the year-old Inflation Reduction Act, according to project developers.

Norway’s Equinor, France’s Engie (ENGIE.PA), Portugal’s EDP Renewables (EDPR.LS), and trade groups representing other developers pursuing U.S. offshore wind projects told Reuters they are pressing officials to rewrite the requirements, and warning of lost jobs and investments otherwise.

“The components needed for our projects to progress simply do not exist in the U.S. at this time, and we see no signs that the supply chain will be ready in time to meet our procurement schedule,” said David Marks, a spokesperson for the U.S. renewables division of Equinor (EQNR.OL).

Denmarks’ Orsted (ORSTED.CO), a top offshore wind developer, warned last week that barriers to securing U.S. subsidies under the IRA, combined with soaring interest rates and supply chain delays, could lead to $2.3 billion in impairments for three projects, sending its stock plummeting.

Read the full article at Reuters

Second Wind Developer Moves to Terminate its Contracts

September 6, 2023 — Another offshore wind developer took a major step Tuesday toward scrapping its initial plans for an installation in waters off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

SouthCoast Wind, whose pair of successful bids represented a combined 1,200 megawatts of anticipated offshore wind power, agreed to pay utility companies $60 million to terminate contracts the parties previously struck for the clean energy.

The penalty would be divided into $32.4 million for Eversource, $27.3 million for National Grid, and $591,000 for Unitil, according to contract amendments filed with the Department of Public Utilities.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com