Saving Seafood

In Reversal, Trump Officials Will Allow Huge Offshore N.Y. Wind Farm to Proceed

May 20, 2025 — The Trump administration on Monday allowed construction to restart on a huge wind farm off the coast of Long Island, a month after federal officials had issued a highly unusual stop-work order that had pushed the $5 billion project to the brink of collapse.

In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Democrat of New York, said she had spent weeks pressing President Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to lift the government’s hold on the wind farm.

The project, known as Empire Wind, is being built by the Norwegian energy giant Equinor and when finished is expected to deliver enough electricity to power 500,000 New York homes.

“After countless conversations with Equinor and White House officials, bringing labor and business to the table to emphasize the importance of this project, I’m pleased that President Trump and Secretary Burgum have agreed to lift the stop work order and allow this project to move forward,” Ms. Hochul said on Monday evening.

When the Trump administration halted work on Empire Wind last month, it stunned observers and sent shock waves through the wind industry.

Read the full story at the New York Times

NEW YORK: New York’s wind farms on Long Island face uncertainty after President Trump halts lease sales, permits

April 8, 2025 — Smith Point’s Park Beach is where offshore wind energy will soon come ashore. Crews there are laying cables for New York’s second wind farm with 84 turbines 30 miles off Montauk.

“We have this untapped renewable resource, the wind… this is going to power millions of homes… with almost zero fossil fuel use,” Melissa Parrot, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island said. “The planet is at stake. We see the glaciers melting… you see the storms, you see the floods… and the number one way to curb climate change is to stop our CO2 output, which is fossil fuel use.”

Hope has turned to uncertainty. On his first day in office, President Trump halted ocean wind lease sales and permits, ordering a full review. His strategy prioritizes oil, gas and coal to lower prices, he said.

“We have more energy than anybody and we are going to be unleashing it,” Mr. Trump said.

On the other end of of Long Island and on the flip side of the debate, Christina Kramer of Protect Our Coast – LINY applauds Mr. Trump’s decision. She turned against offshore wind when a transmission line was proposed on her Long Beach block. Her group argues wind energy is unreliable, costly and environmentally harmful.

Read the full article at CBS News

NEW YORK: Dire Straits: Montauk Inlet Emergency Dredging to Restore Safe Passage for NY’s Top Fishing Port

February 20, 2025 — So much sand built up in Montauk Inlet that commercial fishing boats bumped the bottom, ran aground, some large trawlers were forced to dock in Rhode Island, and surfers rode waves crashing over the shoals.

It was dire straits for the largest commercial fishing port in New York State until a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dredge ship that arrived over Valentines Day weekend began the emergency project to make the inlet safely passable again. The arrival came two weeks after the agency secured funding for the project and surveyed the inlet to verify reports that shoaling made for dangerously shallow waters in parts of the inlet, especially at low tide.

“It’s been a really treacherous situation,” Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk, told Dan’s Papers. “The month of January was pretty much a loss to the packhouses. The inlet was three feet in places.”

Read the full article at Dans Papers

NEW YORK: Community Offshore Wind partners with fisheries to donate fresh seafood

October 11, 2024 — Community Offshore Wind is teaming up with local fisheries and hunger relief organizations to deliver thousands of fresh seafood meals to families in need across Long Island, including Long Beach, this fall.

“Commercial fishing is an important industry for New York’s long-term economic growth, and it is critical that offshore wind developers work closely with fishermen to ensure their projects share the waters off our coast effectively,” Steven Wong, owner of Aqua Best Seafood Market, said. “By working with us to purchase the fish for these donations directly from regional fishermen, Community Offshore Wind has shown that they are serious about supporting the industry and delivering clean energy in a way that will not negatively impact our marine ecosystem.”

Read the full article at the Long Island Herald

 

NEW YORK: Turbine blade debris from Nantucket wind farm may wash up on Long Island

August 22, 2024 — Pieces of a 300-foot blade that broke off a wind turbine south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, a month ago may soon begin washing up on Long Island beaches, according to an alert today from the Town of East Hampton.

The turbine debris is from Vineyard Wind, a wind farm located in the ocean about 22 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Parts of the shattered blade that broke off its turbine on July 13 soon turned up on the shores of Nantucket, temporarily closing beaches. Now, officials anticipate debris is honing in on Montauk.

“We have been made aware that debris may wash up on the shores of Montauk,” reads the alert posted on Instagram by the Town of East Hampton. “The debris has been described as ‘non-toxic fiberglass fragments.'”

Read the full article at the Greater Long Island

NEW YORK: Ground Broken on Long Island’s Sunrise Wind, the largest offshore wind farm in the nation

July 18, 2024 — There was a historic groundbreaking Wednesday for New York’s next offshore wind farm, which will be seven times bigger than the first one.

Years in the making, winds of change are coming to the state’s energy grid. Months after South Fork Wind went live, the far bigger Sunrise Wind will have 84 turbines to generate 924 megawatts, making it the largest wind farm in the nation.

Ocean winds will be supplying the project’s clean energy by 2026.

“Six hundred thousand homes. That is the metric and that is a true game changer for Long Island,” said Doreen Harris, president of the New York State Research and Development Authority.

Read the full article at CBS

Montauk Fisherman Who Took Too Much Fluke Gets a 30-Month Sentence

July 15, 2024 — A Montauk, N.Y., fisherman was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Thursday for his role in a conspiracy to harvest and sell thousands of pounds more fluke and black sea bass than limits allowed.

The man, Chris Winkler, 64, who helms a 45-foot trawler called the New Age, was convicted by a Long Island jury in October on federal charges of hauling too many fish from the sea. The jury also found him guilty of falsifying records and selling his illegal catch to partners at Gosman’s Dock, a waterfront mall and restaurant complex in Montauk, and to dealers at the Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx.

Mr. Winkler was unanimously convicted on the five counts he faced, which included criminal conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced on Thursday by Judge Joan M. Azrack of the Eastern District of New York and will surrender in December.

“I consider this a serious crime,” said Judge Azrack, who called the trial “illuminating, educational and disturbing.” Mr. Winkler, she said, “undermined the integrity of the whole fisheries management program.”

Read the full article at The New York Times

The Best Fish Is Also the Most Local. Why Is It So Hard to Find?

April 23, 2024 — On a cold, windy February morning on Shinnecock Bay, on the South Fork of Long Island, N.Y., Ricky Sea Smoke fished for clams from the back of his 24-foot boat. The fisherman, whose real name is Rick Stevens, expertly sorted through haul after haul as they were dumped onto the sorting rack.

Among the usual littlenecks and cherrystones were delicacies that would make chefs swoon: sweet, plump razor clams; vermilion-fleshed blood clams; and dainty limpets (also known as slipper snails) with their inimitable saline, buttery flavor. Depending on the season, fishers like Mr. Stevens can bring in even more treasures, like scallops, squid, blue crabs, striped bass, mackerel and skate.

But almost none of them are available locally.

But late last year, Mr. Stevens found a workaround by sending his clams to Dock to Dish, one of a growing number of small businesses across the country — including restaurant suppliers, shops, farmers’ markets and community-supported fisheries — that are dedicated to helping fishing communities sell their catch directly to local markets.

For chefs and home cooks, this means that finding truly fresh, local wild seafood is getting a little easier — at least for anyone willing to wade past the deluge of imported farmed salmon to find it.

Dock to Dish is committed to buying whatever seafood fishing boats bring in, limpets and all, then selling it directly to nearby customers, often within 24 to 48 hours. Chefs at New York City restaurants, including ILIS, M. Wells and Houseman, get to offer local specialties like exceptionally fresh royal red shrimp and blood clams.

Read the full article at the The New York Times

Fishing for Scallops When the Scallops Are Nearly All Dead

January 16, 2024 — Mike Tehan pilots a fishing boat called Nibbles out of Shelter Island. An hour before sunrise on the first day of scallop season in November, as he unwound the ropes, started the outboard motor and piloted the 25-foot fiberglass boat from an island cove into the open waters of Peconic Bay, Mr. Tehan knew just what he’d find.

“I didn’t come out here with big plans to get rich today,” he said. “You can’t say it’s depressing, because you already know. But you hope.”

He bashed north against the waves, toward the protected bay off Orient, at the far northeast corner of Long Island. He dropped four rusty dredges into the water, just as the bay turned pink with sunrise. He let the outboard rumble the boat around for five minutes. Then he pulled the dredges back up and dumped the contents into a sorting tray.

Read the full article at the New York Times

Developers cancel offshore wind power contract off Long Island due to costs

January 7, 2024 — Developers behind a proposed offshore wind farm off the coast of Long Island have terminated their contract on the project. Energy firms Equinor and BP said it is no longer financially feasible.

The project was expected to generate more than one gigawatt of electricity, or enough to power at least 800,000 homes. The state is now expected to reopen the bidding process for the project at the end of the month.

Pete Sikora, the climate campaigns director for the advocacy group, New York Communities for Change joined Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” to talk about the project and more. “Offshore wind is not moving forward as fast as it should…These offshore wind projects are absolutely necessary, they need to be put into place and they need to be done fast under the governor,” Sikora said.

Read the full article at Spectrum News