NEW BEDFORD — Wind turbines could one day straddle thousands of miles of rich fishing grounds in the waters south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket if federal plans to accelerate growth in the offshore wind industry are realized.
But the sheer size of the area that is open to wind projects has many in the fishing industry worried about their future.
An open meeting at the whaling museum this afternoon will offer both fishermen and the general public a closer look at the proposal.
"Looking at the gridded map, it seems like they are going to take the whole Nantucket Lightship area away from us and about 80 percent of the Great South Channel area," said Paul Wessecker, the owner of three local scallop vessels. "These are some of the most lucrative fishing grounds that we have."
Wessecker worries that in addition to areas potentially being closed, catch limits could be reduced.
"They might deduct the scallops that are in there from the overall biomass," he said. "That could cut our days in half."
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