Daily Archives: December 15, 2022
Doomed to Fail: In the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, a quiet reckoning over offshore wind
Crippling European electricity prices, soaring Northeastern heating bills, looming diesel-fuel shortages, and OPEC+ drama have captured headlines for months. More quietly, offshore-wind energy developers are discovering their projects’ economic infeasibility, undermining states’ offshore-wind goal of generating 40,000 MW by 2040. The Biden Administration must recognize this is a pipe dream, or it will cost Americans billions trying to salvage an industry doomed to fail. October brought the first sign of troubles,,, Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Wind, Mayflower Wind project, New Jersey Ocean Wind. All three project developers originally negotiated prices far above wholesale market prices. All three qualified for a production tax credit and additional offshore-wind state tax credits. All three will qualify for a new 30 percent offshore wind investment tax credit which was not available when they made their initial bids. Yet this federal and state largesse has still failed to keep the projects afloat. >click to read this< 18:17
Photo Update: Coast Guard responds to fishing vessel aground on Santa Cruz Island
The Coast Guard, state, and local agencies are responding to a fishing vessel that ran aground on Santa Cruz Island Thursday morning. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach watchstanders received a report from Vessel Assist Ventura that the fishing vessel Speranza Marie, a 60-foot fishing vessel with six people aboard and carrying roughly 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, ran aground in Chinese Harbor on Santa Cruz Island at approximately 2 a.m. A good Samaritan fishing vessel responded to the incident and safely transferred the six crewmembers to their boat without injury and transported them to Ventura. Photos, >click to read the rest< 13:46
Lummi Nation member sold illegally taken Columbia River salmon
A member of the Lummi Nation and former owner of a wholesale fish processor was sentenced Wednesday, Dec. 14, in U.S. District Court to three years of probation for violating the Lacey Act by selling illegally caught Columbia River salmon. Scott Kinley knew the spring Chinook Columbia fishery was only open to Yakama Nation enrollees who were limited to fishing for subsistence and ceremonial purposes, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. From 2013 to 2019 Kinley operated Native American Fisheries, Inc., a seafood processing plant registered with the American Indian Food Program that was administered by the Intertribal Agricultural Council and funded through the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. >click to read< 12:31
UK reaches agreement on key fish stocks for 2023
The UK has reached agreements with the EU and Norway, and wider coastal states, to secure valuable fishing opportunities for the UK fishing industry. Negotiating as an independent coastal State, the UK agreed catch levels for 2023 for six important fish stocks in the North Sea including North Sea cod, haddock and herring. This comes as the UK also concluded negotiations on catch limits with coastal States in the North East Atlantic on three more key stocks to the UK fishing fleet – blue whiting, mackerel and atlanto-Scandian herring. In total, UK quota in these stocks will be worth around £256m to the UK fishing industry next year. >click to read< 11:15
Washburn & Doughty boat with East Boothbay chief mate rescue 2 drifting fishermen
At the 11:30 watch change, Goodwin had just come to the pilothouse to relieve the captain, when the captain noticed something in the distance. “Is that a flare?” he asked. Goodwin checked using binoculars and answered, “It’s a life raft.” The small life raft with two fishermen from Destin, Florida was 1.25 nautical miles away. One of the men was standing up in the raft waving a flare. As the Linda Moran’s crew would later learn, that flare was the last of six the fishermen had. The rest were already used to try to signal ships during the two and a half days they drifted in the Gulf of Mexico. 11 photos, >click to read< 08:08
‘Wicked Tuna’ captain pays $13K in tuna sale plea deal
The captain of the fishing vessel Hot Tuna, featured in the hit reality television show “Wicked Tuna,” found himself in some wicked hot water in October 2021 and recently paid for it. The case on nine counts of violation of a commercial fishing license against Capt. Timothy J. “TJ” Ott of Great Neck, New York, was disposed of on Oct. 28, 2022, according to Essex District Attorney spokesperson Carrie Kimball and court documents. Kimball said Ott was ordered to pay $13,500 in restitution. According to a district court clerk, the money goes to the state’s environmental trust fund. >click to read< 07:12
