Coonamessett Farm Archives

As Vineyard Wind Moves Forward, Fishermen and Scientists Raise Questions About Impact

November 23, 2021 — The Biden administration has approved America’s first large-scale, offshore wind power project – Vineyard Wind off the coast of Massachusetts. But for every supporter of the project, there are detractors raising questions. Lisa Fletcher looked at the pros and cons of ‘reaping the wind’ on “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”

Ms. Fletcher examined what the project could mean for New Bedford, Massachusetts, the nation’s top grossing fishing port, and its valuable scallop harvest, which averages around $400 million a year in landings.

“The amount of wind farms they’re proposing will displace fisheries,” said Ron Smolowitz, the owner of Coonamessett Farm in East Falmouth, Massachusetts and a former fishing captain who worked with NOAA. “The fish will adapt, the fishermen can adapt, but they’ll need funding.”

Mr. Smolowitz said that current funding proposed by Vineyard Wind to compensate fishermen for their losses is “nowhere near enough.” The proposed funding would average roughly $1 million a year over the 30-year life span of the project, Mr. Smolowitz said, while one scallop vessel alone can gross $2 million annually, and there are 342 scallop vessels. “And that’s just one fishery,” he said.

Ms. Fletcher also examined other obstacles for the project, including the potential threat to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

“The industrial activity will increase shipping markedly both during the construction phase as well as during the maintenance phase,” said Mark Baumgartner, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Mr. Baumgartner said he and his team are working on deploying acoustic monitoring, with funding from Vineyard Wind, to help prevent ship strikes with right whales.

Watch the full story here

WHFF Brings ‘Sustaining Sea Scallops’ To Coonamessett Farm

October 3, 2016 — The Woods Hole Film Festival will launch its 2016-2017 “Dinner & A Movie” series on Sunday, October 9, with a sea-themed dinner at Coonamessett Farm featuring the film “Sustaining Sea Scallops,” a short documentary by Woods Hole filmmakers Elise Hugus and Daniel Cojanu. The dinner will begin at 6 PM.

“Sustaining Sea Scallops” is a 35-minute film featuring the history and resurgence of the Atlantic sea scallop as told through the lens of local fisherman and researchers invested in keeping the scallop industry alive through sustainable fishing. In 1999, facing fisheries closures and bankruptcy, the scallop industry began funding a research program to minimize impacts on the marine environment. Fifteen years later, the Atlantic sea scallop is hailed as one of the most sustainable and lucrative fisheries in the world. From New Bedford to Seaford, Virginia, the film also highlights how cooperative research can serve as a new way to unite not only the fisheries, but also entire communities.

Made with support from the Coonamessett Farm Foundation, “Sustaining Sea Scallops” will screen outdoors at Coonamessett Farm with a question-&-answer session to follow with the film’s directors and Coonamessett Farm owner Ron Smolowitz, who is featured in the film.

Read the full story at The Enterprise

RON SMOLOWITZ: Working the system makes the system unworkable

April 4, 2016 — FALMOUTH, Mass. — As the owner of Coonamessett Farm in Falmouth and a partner at the Woods Hole Oyster Co., I spend as much time navigating regulatory hurdles as I do tending the farm or going to sea. Many farmers and fishermen have similar fights with overbearing bureaucracy, something likely to become more common as the noose of government regulations tightens.

The most recent regulatory push in Massachusetts is to ban the farming of caged chickens. I theoretically stand to benefit from this, as my free-ranged eggs would increase in value. But this doesn’t consider the regulatory system that will be imposed on my farm to ensure compliance. My farm currently allows visitors to pick their own eggs, an activity that kids enjoy but that will be illegal, I’m sure, under any regulations. The federal Food Safety Modernization Act, a result of food safety advocates working the system in Washington, continues to evolve as the Food and Drug Administration encounters hurdles to its enforcement. In some respects it resembles the farm animal protection initiative being advocated in Massachusetts, but it targets every crop on the farm. Looking at the FDA’s guidelines, I don’t think I can find a workaround to keep farming and sell to the public. I certainly won’t be able to allow the public on the farm or be allowed to keep my farm animals, given concerns about the proximity of animal dung to farm crops.

Things aren’t much better out at sea. I do a substantial amount of research for the scallop industry, and sustainability is the key reason scallop management is a continued successes. Through a system of rotational management, certain zones are fished while others are left off-limits to allow them to repopulate. Much as with farmland, this system allows the resources to remain sustainable.

Read the full column at the Cape Cod Times