Scientists and Fishermen Agree About Uncertainty of Offshore Wind’s Impact

August 16, 2024 Mid Atlantic, National, New England

Newport’s Energy and Environment Commission hosted a panel discussion on Aug. 8, “The Effect of Climate Change and Offshore Wind on Fisheries and Ocean Ecosystems,” where representatives from NOAA, the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, The Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, and the Kingston -based Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation responded to a series of prompts posed by commission Vice Chair Emily Conklin. A Q&A session followed, with about 60 people gathered at City Hall to participate. Many in attendance brought strong opinions both for and against the large- scale offshore wind development projects being built off the coast of Newport and Little Compton. Fred Mattera, a retired commercial fisherman who now serves as the president of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation and the executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, gave voice to some of the skepticism felt by local commercial fishermen about the nature and scale of offshore wind development in New England. “I’m tired of the deceitfulness and this driven agenda of ‘it has to be done yesterday,’” he said. “We don’t want to look at hydrogen, we don’t want to even consider nuclear, the cleanest and best way to do it, but it’s all going to be offshore wind.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:31

Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation., commercial fishing industry, David Bethoney, Emily Conklin, Fred Mattera, Newport’s Energy and Environment Commission, NOAA, Offshore Wind Ecology Branch at NOAA, offshore wind farms, Rhode Island, URI

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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

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