March 18, 2024 — Gov. Janet Mills and state congressional leaders on Friday praised a decision by a federal agency to exclude an important lobster fishing ground from the area in the Gulf of Maine that will be leased for offshore wind development.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Friday released its final designated Wind Energy Area for the Gulf of Maine, which the agency said could ultimately support the generation of 32 gigawatts of clean energy.
The area excludes the entirety of Lobster Management Area 1, which is a crucial fishing ground for Maine’s lobster industry. That decision comes after Mills, Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden repeatedly asked last year for that fishing ground to be excluded from the project.
“We appreciate that the Bureau has heeded our concerns and the majority of the concerns of Maine’s fishing communities in its final designation of Wind Energy Areas for the Gulf of Maine,” Mills, King, Collins and Pingree said in a statement. “This decision preserves vital fishing grounds and seeks to minimize potential environmental and ecological impacts to the Gulf of Maine.”