Saving Seafood

NC fishing industry takes wait-and-see approach on coastal wind projects

October 29, 2021 — There has been a lot of recent discussion on major wind-energy projects along the North Carolina coast, and the state’s fishing industry has been watching closely to see how any announcements may affect their fisheries.

This year has had a lot of big headlines about wind-power on the N.C. coast. On June 9, Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order saying that the state would strive for development of 2.8 gigawatts of offshore wind-power generation by 2030, ramping up to 8 GW by 2040.

Then on Oct.13, there were two separate major developments. At the Governor’s Mansion, Cooper signed a compromise clean-energy bill, which will lean heavily on renewable energy, likely including offshore wind projects. That same day, President Joe Biden’s administration announced a major wind-power plan that would span much of the country’s seaboard, with one of the seven proposed sites being off the Wilmington coast. Biden wants to have 30 GW of wind-energy production in place by 2030, in large part using these sites.

Currently, the projects being proposed do not affect areas of the North Carolina coast that fishermen rely on, but representatives of the state’s fishing industry say they are taking a wait-and-see approach to the impact of any future plans.

“The things that are being proposed right now off the coast of North Carolina, those windmills would not be in an area that we actively participate in fishing,” said Jerry Schill, former executive director and current government relations director for the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a trade organization representing the state’s commercial fishermen. “There might be some transit interest, boats going back and forth, but off North Carolina, it would not negatively affect our fisherman in terms of where they fish.”

Read the full story at the North State Journal

 

RODA gives 60-day notice on possible suit regarding Vineyard Wind project

October 19, 2021 — A consortium of commercial fishing industry stakeholders announced on Tuesday, 19 October, it intends to file a lawsuit against federal officials over their approval of the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore energy development project if the U.S. government fails to address violations the stakeholders allege were made in its approval process.

The law firm representing the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) sent a 27-page letter Tuesday to six federal officials, as well as the CEO of Vineyard Wind, and attorneys general in three states, saying the group will file a lawsuit if federal officials do not make changes to the project that brings it into compliance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other federal laws.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

What’s behind one lawsuit against Vineyard Wind

September 21, 2021 — Annie Hawkins has a message you don’t hear very often in Massachusetts these days.

The executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a national group of fishing interests, Hawkins is questioning the rush to develop offshore wind. Her organization is suing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, alleging the agency is failing to protect the fishing industry as it races to develop the nation’s offshore wind potential to help address climate change.

“In taking action to address climate change, we have to acknowledge that these new uses [of the ocean] have a lot of environmental uncertainty. They have a lot of impacts of their own,” Hawkins said on The Codcast. “They can be better understood and minimized before we go whole hog on this 30 gigawatts tomorrow. A lot more upfront due diligence needs to be done.”

The 30 gigawatts reference refers to President Biden’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. It’s a goal that meshes with Gov. Charlie Baker’s push to develop 3.2 gigawatts by 2030. The Baker administration has already procured 1.6 gigawatts and is in the midst of reviewing proposals that would double that amount.

Read the full story at CommonWealth Magazine

 

New Bedford Fishermen Among Those Suing Over Vineyard Wind

September 15, 2021 — Local fishermen are among those in a coalition of commercial fisheries suing the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management over its approval of the Vineyard Wind project.

More than 50 fishing vessels based in New Bedford and Fairhaven are listed as members of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, along with 13 Massachusetts-based businesses and associations.

The group filed a petition in federal court on Monday to review the agency’s approval of Vineyard Wind, a project slated to become the country’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm off the coast of Nantucket.

According to a statement from the coalition, fisheries professionals had been participating in the planning process for the 62-turbine project — but, the group said, their input was “summarily ignored by decision-makers.”

Read the full story at WBSM

 

Fishing Industry Group Files Legal Challenge to Wind Farm

September 14, 2021 — A coalition of commercial fishing groups on Monday sued the federal agency that approved construction of a 62-turbine wind energy farm off the coast of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, saying it did not adequately take into account the project’s potential impact on the industry.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance’s petition for review of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the Vineyard Wind 1 project was filed with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s hasty approval of this project, which could be the nation’s first commercial scale offshore wind installation, adds unacceptable risk to this sustainable industry without any effort to minimize unreasonable interference with traditional and well-managed seafood production and navigation,” the organization said in a statement.

The federal agency, in an emailed statement, said it had no comment.

A spokesperson for Vineyard Wind, a joint project of a Danish company and a U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola, said the company dies not comment on pending litigation.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at US News and World Report

 

U.S. fishing group sues Biden administration over offshore wind project

September 13, 2021 — A U.S. fishing group on Monday sued the Biden administration over its approval of the huge Vineyard Wind offshore wind project off the East Coast, saying the government had failed to address industry concerns about its potential safety and environmental impacts.

The development is the latest in a string of clashes between the fishing industry and public and private efforts to create a new domestic renewable energy industry to help wean the economy off fossil fuels and combat climate change.

Fishing interests view offshore wind as a threat to catches of crucial stocks, including squid, scallops and clams, charging that towering wind turbines would interfere with navigation and alter habitats. If built, Vineyard Wind would be the nation’s first major offshore wind farm.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, which advocates for fishing industry interests in offshore wind development, said it filed a brief petition in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. The petition asks the court to review the administration’s approval of the project.

Read the full story at Reuters

BOEM reaches out to RODA, acknowledges need to improve communication

August 16, 2021 — Four months after fishing industry leaders wrote a letter to the head of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management about the then-pending decision on the Vineyard Wind project, the federal agency finally responded and agreed to work on improving communications between the two sides.

In a release, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) said it received the five-page letter from BOEM Director Amanda Lefton on Tuesday, 10 August. In that letter, Lefton acknowledged the industry’s “serious concerns” regarding the decision-making process on Vineyard Wind and whether fishing interests were being considered in the agency’s decisions on the permitting of other wind-turbine arrays along the U.S. East Coast.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

BOEM chief: We’ll work with fishermen on offshore wind plans

August 13, 2021 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is working to expand and improve how it uses information from fishing communities in planning offshore wind energy development, BOEM Director Amanda Lefton says in a new letter to the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance.

The Aug. 10 letter came a few days after a public meeting with fishermen in New Bedford, Mass., the latest in the agency’s contentious relationship with the industry.

In the letter Lefton set a conciliatory tone with RODA, a coalition of fishing communities and advocates – while defending the agency’s efforts and promising to continue improvements.

“Since RODA’s founding, BOEM has been committed to collaborating with you and the fishing communities that your organization represents throughout the offshore wind leasing and development process, as well as through our environmental studies program,” wrote Lefton. “I look forward to continuing and enhancing that spirit of collaboration.”

The letter is a direct response to an April 6 document RODA submitted to the agency as part of public comment on the approval process for the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project off southern New England. Lefton cited that project as an example where the agency heard RODA’s recommendations, but ultimately came to a different conclusion.

“We recognize that your membership has serious concerns about the process and whether your input is being taken into account. We value the fishing communities’ input, give it serious consideration, and have incorporated it into many offshore wind decisions,” wrote Lefton.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Fishermen Protest Upcoming Bid for Wind Farms in New York Bight

August 11, 2021 — With the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management preparing to open more lease areas on the Continental Shelf to wind farm developers by the end of the month, the fourth and last meeting between fishermen and BOEM officials took place Aug. 6 in New Bedford, Mass. with fishermen calling for a halt to leasing until more science on potential environmental impacts could be completed.

The comment period on the proposed sale of six lease areas in the New York Bight ends Aug. 13; then the BOEM will take some time to prepare the auction details before holding an auction late this year.

The New York Bight is a triangle in the ocean between Montauk Point at the end of Long Island and Cape May at the southern tip of New Jersey. A total of eight leases will be for sale there. The larger portion of the lease area is located 35 miles off New Jersey and can’t be seen from shore, but it does pose hazards for fishing ships transiting the area and impacts the quahog, surf clam, squid and scallop fisheries.

BOEM representatives included Director Amanda Lefton, New York Bight Project Coordinator Luke Feinberg and marine biologist Brian Hooker.

Patrick Field, managing director of Consensus Building Institute, was the moderator and led off with what BOEM has heard from the fishing community so far: offshore wind energy is happening at an accelerated pace; commercial fishermen are concerned for their livelihood and the ecosystem; there’s a need for corridors for fishing within wind farms, as well as a semi-annual report on progress plus a way for commercial fishermen to voice concerns during the development of the wind farms; and finally, there needs to be accountability of BOEM and the developers.

Blair Bailey, an attorney for the Port of New Bedford, Mass., said, “Engagement is an important feature, but it can’t be based on the premise that there is no opposition. We have continually said that it is difficult for the scallop industry to fish within wind farms, and we feel we’ve been completely ignored. … Look around the world – there is not one place where you see scallop fishing in wind farms. It’s different fishing gear. Developers should be prepared for real conflicts.”

Annie Hawkins, executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, said the federal government has done nothing to address the safety of fishermen transiting the proposed wind farms or to protect key habitats of clams, scallops and squid. “Collaboration between fishermen and government agencies has been futile. … The process must be driven by fishermen.”

Read the full story at The Sand Paper

BOEM, states discuss compensation for fishing lost to offshore wind

July 29, 2021 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is working with coastal states to come up with plans for potentially compensating fishermen for lost fishing grounds and other negative effects of developing offshore wind turbine arrays.

But details are murky, according to one fisheries advocacy group that says fishermen should already be involved in that planning.

Reuters reported July 27 that officials in the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management who are driving offshore wind planning are talking about compensatory payments for displaced fishermen.

That was news to Annie Hawkins, executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a coalition of fishing groups and coastal communities.

The only direct knowledge her group’s executive committee got was in an informal conference call with BOEM administrator Amanda Lefton and her staff, Hawkins said Wednesday. Lefton mentioned that her agency would be working with state government officials to explore “compensatory mitigation” for fishermen forced out of work by wind farm development, and would begin scheduling meetings for that effort.

Read the full story at National Fisherman