August 23, 2017 — Commercial fishermen from throughout the South Fork last week pored over nautical charts showing the broad swaths of ocean south of Long Island being considered for future wind energy development by New York State—and saw a lot of the area where they harvest a living.
But the state officials who hosted two open-house discussions with fishermen last week, one at Shinnecock Inlet and the other in Montauk, said that is exactly what they wanted the fishermen to point out to them—so they can work to reduce the impact.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, is nearing the end of the research phase of its offshore wind master plan, due to be released next year. The state’s experts say they wanted to hear from fishermen which areas are most critical to their industry, and how the development of offshore wind farms could be coordinated to have the least impact on the fishing industry as possible.
“What we’re trying to understand from the fishermen is where they fish in these areas, how often they fish in what spots, what type of fishing they do in each area, and … we want to understand how the gear works,” said Greg Matzat, a wind energy expert for the Research and Development Authority. “If we can find areas where there is no fishing, or less fishing, happening, that’s where we want to go. If it makes sense that we would align the turbines along a depth contour, so that fishermen can fish alongside them and don’t have to criss-cross through them, we can do that, too.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo last year set a goal for the state to draw half of its energy supply from renewable sources by the year 2030. A large portion of that is expected to come from offshore wind developments—some 2,400 megawatts from 250 wind turbines, enough to power more than one million homes.
As part of its master plan development, the state is looking at more than 16,000 square miles of ocean, from the full length of Long Island coastline out to the continental shelf, to find the conditions right for potential development sites for offshore wind farms.