Plenty of people in Ocean City, a popular beach community south of Atlantic City, are dead-set against a project proposed by Orsted and PSEG that still needs state approval to bring a power line onshore. “We don’t want this here in any way, shape or form,” said resident Suzanne Hornick, a leader of local opposition to the plan. The U.S. has 27 wind farm projects in development, with an additional five locations up for auction in California next month, according to the Business Network for Offshore Wind, a nonprofit dedicated to helping develop the offshore wind industry. If even a small portion of them were to face protracted legal or regulatory challenges, it could pose a serious obstacle to the industry. >click to read< 11:02
Tag Archives: Maryland
U.S. offshore wind plans are utterly collapsing
Offshore wind developer Ørsted has delayed its New Jersey Ocean Wind 1 project to 2026. Previously, the company had announced construction of the project would begin in October 2023. The delay was attributed to supply chain issues, higher interest rates, and a failure so far to garner enough tax credits from the federal government. For now, they are not walking away from all their U.S. projects but will reconsider long-term plans by the end of this year. Ørsted’s stock price has fallen 30% in 5 days. This is just the latest bad news for offshore win. >>click to read<<10:57
Skipjacks, oysters: The fight for survival of two Chesapeake Bay icons
Starting Sunday, oyster enthusiasts will once again be free to pick up their rakes and tongs and harvest Maryland’s signature shellfish delicacy from the floor of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.A month after the season begins, commercial oyster fisherman will take to the water to get their own haul. But one boat will stand out among from the rest: the skipjack, a nimble oyster-dredging sailboat that represents the state’s long maritime tradition. “The oysters are looking better. I’m optimistic,” said Shawn Ridgley, a veteran oysterman and skipjack captain who currently gathers data for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. A typical skipjack carries a crew of five and can legally harvest 100 bushels of oysters a day. Lately, “boats are catching their limit by 10:00, 10:30 in the morning,” Ridgley said. >>click to read<< 14:05
Offshore wind projects may be cancelled in NJ, according to report
Already facing a series of lawsuits and opposition from state and local officials, Danish wind power developer Orsted is reporting huge financial losses. Those losses, company officials warned, could reach $2.3 billion in the U.S and may force the cancellation of projects of the New Jersey coast. In a conference call with investors, Orsted CEO Mads Nipper told them, “If the walk-away scenario is the economical, rational decision for us, then this remains a real scenario for us.” Orsted is considering “walking away” from or cancelling projects in New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maryland. >>click to read<< 08:48
Offshore wind farms pose wildlife threat
What with all the hype and grand economic plans for wind farming off Maryland’s coast, not one word from the project-movers on consequent harm to the sea’s wildlife, most notably the whales and fish. We are with Ocean City’s mayor and city council in linking the dead whales washed up on the coast with offshore wind harvesting. OC also doesn’t like the prospects for the “viewshed” — turbines visible in the distance. And has anyone considered the possible shift in the path of sharks? Do Maryland vacationers really want the ocean along our shores featuring lots of shark fins? Listen to the audio, or >click to read< By Bruce and Leslea Knauff 15:48
Is the answer to Maryland’s blue crab shortage in Italy?
In Italy, where the blue crab is an invasive species, population numbers are growing quickly and threatening the country’s clam industry, according to a report from Reuters. A local marine biologist told the wire service that invasive “blue crabs” (yes, they really put our beloved crustacean in scare quotes) have eaten up to 90% of young clams in some areas, devastating future production. The leading theory is the crabs were not introduced to Italy’s waters intentionally but arrived in bilge water aboard cargo ships. The region of hit hardest has lots of clam farms, giving the crabs large, dense populations of clams to feast on. Couple that with warmer water, which makes it easier for the crabs to survive the winter, and it “sounds like blue crab paradise,” Colden said. “It’s a perfect Italian vacation spot for the blue crabs in terms of lounging and getting fat and happy,” she said. >click to read< 15:31
Letter: Informative wind energy resources out there, by Carol Frazier
I just watched a video on YouTube entitled “Bonnie Brady’s Crash Course in Offshore Wind and the Anti-Fishing Lobby”. I don’t recall any of our local news media (other than Mike Bradley of WGMD 92.7 fm) reporting on any of the information and facts contained therein. That said, I have also been made aware of a new fact regarding offshore wind of which people need to be aware. The wind turbines must be regularly “cooled” which is done by drawing ocean water into electrical substations using “once through” cooling systems – these systems are now prohibited in newer power plants because of the devastating effects on aquatic life. The first planned project off our coast calls for 121 turbines and up to four transfer stations. I would suggest everyone read the article “Offshore Wind Electrical Substations: The Secret, Silent Killers” by Jim Lovgren at Fisherynation.com. >click to read the letter< 08:38
A Call for a More Long-Term Solution to the Shoaling Problem in Ocean City’s Inlet
For commercial fishermen like Mike Coppa, getting through the inlet is not as easy of a task. “In any waterway you’re supposed to be able to come in between them buoys and have water, but right now no, no, no,” said Coppa. “You have to be on top of that red one and almost run it over to find water.” Coppa’s 75-foot fishing vessel, F/V Instigator, ran aground back in March. Since then, he said he and his crew have avoided Maryland all together. “We had to basically change our plans and fish in other states that we had quota, and then we ended up going to New England scalloping all summer,” said Coppa. Video, >click to read< 07:56
Reins Loosened Slightly On Chesapeake Bay Crab Harvest
“We’re being cautious, but I think we’re being responsible,” said Ed Tankard, a board member with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which voted June 27 to ease certain bushel limits. In Maryland, the state Department of Natural Resources announced on the same day a raft of industry-friendly changes to its crab controls, including modestly increasing the allowable harvest of female crabs and lifting limits on the harvest of males over Labor Day weekend. Those moves came a few weeks after the panel that regulates the Potomac River’s fishing industry agreed to roll back bushel limits on female crabs to 2021 levels. >click to read< 12:21
‘99.7% efficient after over 400 hours of use’
Maryland is already famous for its crab, but researchers at the University of Maryland are looking to give that distinction an entirely different meaning. A team of scientists at the school’s Center for Materials Innovation found that crustaceans like crabs and lobsters contain a chemical in their shells called chitin, which can be used to power batteries when combined with zinc. Crustacean shells packed with this chemical are typically thrown out en masse by restaurants that have no other use for them. But researchers believe this waste could serve as a powerful resource in the search for more sustainable batteries. >click to read< 08:11
NC joins pact to cover offshore wind farm related fisheries losses
North Carolina has joined nearly a dozen other East Coast states to create a financial compensation program that would cover economic losses within the fisheries industry caused by Atlantic offshore wind development. The Fisheries Mitigation Project aims to establish a regional administrator to oversee the process of reviewing claims and making payouts collected through a fund paid for by wind developers to commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries industries to mitigate financial loss associated with offshore wind farms. The goal first and foremost of the states is to ensure wind energy areas and the cable systems that will run from wind farms to land are developed in way that would result in minimal impacts to the fisheries industry. >click to read< 10:22
Proposed Pilot Program For Female Blue Crabs
A new pilot program introduced by the Department of Natural Resources has watermen frustrated. It’s with the possible implementation of plastic, rectangular containers called lugs. Currently, caught male blue crabs are able to be placed in lugs, but females are not. So watermen feel the program comes with a lot of hoops to jump through and they ask why the need for the program at all. Lugs are bigger than your typical bushel basket of crabs. Bushels hold about 40 pounds and lugs hold 60. DNR has introduced the idea of using lugs for female crabs. But with that comes rules that participating watermen (in the pilot program) must follow. >click to read< 12:30
North Carolina Joins Effort to Establish Regional Fisheries Mitigation for Offshore Wind Development
Governor Roy Cooper announced that North Carolina has joined other Atlantic Coast states involved with the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind on a coordinated project to support fisheries mitigation in the development of offshore wind along the East Coast. “It is important that we work to meet our state’s offshore wind energy goals while still protecting our marine fishery industry,” said Governor Cooper. “We are committed to collaborating with other states in this effort to make sure we achieve both goals.” Currently, the Initiative is focused on establishing a framework to compensate commercial and for-hire fishermen in the event of economic impact related to offshore wind development. The goal is to develop a regional approach for administration of any financial compensation paid by developers. Economic impacts from coastal fishing in North Carolina top $4.5 billion annually. >click to read< 08:26
Chesapeake Bay blue crab population improves after all-time low in 2022
This year, the number of spawning age female crabs and adult male crabs both increased substantially, but the number of juvenile crabs only increased by about 15%, according to the winter dredge survey, which is completed from December to March by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “We are encouraged by the increases in adult crab abundance, but we need to be vigilant given the ongoing low recruitment numbers,” said Lynn Fegley, acting director for Maryland Department of Natural Resources’s Fishing and Boating Services, in a statement. “We haven’t seen a strong year class since 2019 despite maintaining the spawning stock at a level capable of producing one.” Video, >click to read< 12:56
Lowcountry is the last ‘wild west’ for blue crabs. Crabbers call for change.
In February, David Richardson drove to Columbia from his home in Charleston to speak to a room of state senators about his life as a South Carolina crabber, which, at the moment, “is kind of miserable.” But it wasn’t always miserable. Which is why he drove two hours to the Statehouse, a place he had never been nor expected to visit. The crabber thought about wearing a Hawaiian shirt, then thought twice: “I wore a suit, thank God.” As crab numbers fell over the past decade across the Eastern Seaboard, South Carolina did nothing, but North Carolina increased its management actions. It designated some areas as “no-fishing” spawning sanctuaries. And Georgia decided to limit the number of commercial crabbing licenses to under 100. Photos, >click to read< 08:39
Luke McFadden Will Chart His Own Course
I’m a commercial crabber, or a waterman as they call us, here on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. People ask me, “What would you do if you weren’t a waterman? What would you do if you weren’t crabbing?” And I say, “I don’t even know. I’ve never considered it.” I’m an outlier in my industry. I’m Asian American. I’m also young; I’m 26. I started my business when I was 18. I’m also a first generation fisherman, meaning I didn’t come from a family of fishermen, which is very uncommon among watermen here, but really everywhere. I had a lot of resistance from a lot of other watermen, and they were not bashful about letting me know. >click to read< 09:30
Md. Gov. Signs Offshore Wind Legislation Into Law
Last Friday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed the Promoting Offshore Wind Energy Resources (POWER) Act into law. Joined by representatives of offshore wind energy companies at the Tradepoint Atlantic facility in Sparrows Point, Moore highlighted several bills that will allow Maryland to reach its clean energy goals.” Today I’ve signed legislation to quadruple Maryland’s offshore wind energy goals, reduce greenhouse gas emission in our state, and to provide rebates to businesses that purchase electric vehicles,” he said. “Together we will build on the great work of our partners at Tradepoint Atlantic, Ørsted, and U.S. Wind to build the clean energy future we want to see in Maryland.” >click to read< 14:43
US Navy Sounds Alarm Over Biden’s Offshore Wind Plans
The US Navy and Pentagon are sounding alarms over Biden administration plans to advance offshore wind projects along the central Atlantic US coast, warning that almost all of the new terrain eyed for development conflicts with military operations. Maps shared with industry stakeholders and seen by Bloomberg News show vast red areas that the Navy and Air Force have deemed “highly problematic,” covering prime real estate the Interior Department last year earmarked for leasing off the coasts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. The Defense Department’s concerns, which come on top of other conflicts identified by the US Coast Guard, have spooked renewable power developers and US East Coast states counting on mid-Atlantic wind farms to meet clean energy and climate goals. >click to read< 11:18
Locals Upset Over Dredging Issues at the Inlet in West Ocean City
On Wednesday morning, a 75-foot commercial vessel ran aground on its approach to the commercial dock in West Ocean City. The captain and crew say if the channel was dredged properly, this would not have happened. They also voiced their frustrations with the Army Corp of Engineers, and there is agreement locally that a more permanent solution is needed. “Maryland keeps wanting to put a band-aid on this, how many band-aids are you going to put on it before you fix the problem?” questioned Mike Coppa. Coppa is the owner of the Fishing Vessel Instigator, the boat stuck in the channel. Video, photos, >click to read< 07:55
Maryland, Virginia race to save dwindling commercial fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay
Alarmed by plummeting stocks of commercial fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay, officials in Maryland and Virginia are scrambling to control invasive fish species that are causing at least part of the problem. On Thursday, Gov. Wes Moore asked the federal government to carry out an evaluation to determine if the situation amounts to a declaration of a “commercial fishery disaster,” which would qualify the state for federal assistance. In a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Moore said the state is increasingly concerned about the explosive growth of invasive fish species in the Chesapeake Bay, including blue catfish, flathead catfish and snakehead. >click to read< 09:11
‘Hurricane Hazel’ shares record-breaking crab-picking skills with next generation
Tucked into the town of Crisfield, you’ll find The Crab Place on Maryland Avenue, and there’s a sort of storm brewing in Somerset County. This is where you’ll meet an extraordinary woman, Hazel Cropper, also known as “Hurricane Hazel.” “I enjoy it, and I know that you can tell that I enjoy picking crabs the most. Out of all my work ethics, it’s always been the crab,” Cropper said. “The first time I saw her pick a crab, I was absolutely amazed,” said Carman Pilkerton, of The Crab Place. It doesn’t get more Maryland than picking crabs. But for those who have picked crabs, they know it isn’t easy. It takes time and precision. video, >click to read< 14:00
Maryland seafood locale claps back at PETA in billboard feud before crab season: ‘Brought religion into it’
Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, a seafood restaurant in Maryland, hit back after the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched a billboard near the restaurant in February that encouraged people to “go vegan.” PETA’s Lent-themed billboard read, “I never lent you my flesh, go vegan,” according to a video posted to Jimmy’s Famous Seafood’s Twitter page. The billboard included a picture of a cross and a fish. The seafood restaurant, located in Dundalk, Maryland, posted a photo of two billboards on Thursday advertising their restaurant in response. One said, “they died to be enjoyed” and the other read, “it’d be a sin to waste them.” Photos, >click to read< 08:07
Extended Va. Oyster Season Poised for Largest Harvest In 35 Years
With Virginia watermen enjoying their most bountiful wild harvest in 35 years, state fisheries managers have agreed to extend the season by two weeks. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) voted unanimously to allow wild oyster harvests for an extra 10 working days in areas where commission staff judged the bivalve populations abundant enough to withstand additional fishing pressure. “We’ve had a great oyster season, and it’s still going strong,” said J.C. Hudgins, head of the Virginia Waterman’s Association. “It’s been good everywhere we go.” Looking back, it’s quite a turnaround. >click to read< 07:36
Fisherman finds huge megalodon tooth in oysters pulled from Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay
Another ancient shark tooth has been found along Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, only this time it’s even bigger. The 5.5-inch megalodon tooth came out of the bay Feb. 10 hidden in a load of oysters, according to Stephen Rollins, captain of the fishing boat Undertaker. That makes the tooth about a half-inch longer than the one found Christmas Day by a 9-year-old girl at Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs State Park. >click to read< 21: 52
Ocean City calls for a halt on wind farm development after latest whale death
Ocean City officials are demanding answers tonight and calling for a halt on wind farm development. This comes after yet another dead whale washed ashore along the East Coast. The dead North Atlantic right whale washed ashore on Virginia Beach over the weekend, the fourth such case across the region this year, and while the cause of death hasn’t yet been released, the Town of Ocean City is urging both State and Federal officials to get involved. Mayor Meehan said other areas along the East Coast are also taking steps in an effort to halt the projects, citing conversations he’s had with other mayors who share the same concerns. >click to read< 09:56
Watermen form Shore-wide caucus
With the appointment of a well-known environmental leader to the top natural resources position in Annapolis, Eastern Shore watermen decided it’s time to gear up to defend their livelihoods. About 50 commercial fishermen, along with a handful of local lawmakers, formed the nucleus of the new Eastern Shore Watermen’s Caucus to fund lobbying efforts in Annapolis and educate the public. Queen Anne’s County waterman and farmer Robert Newberry, chairman of Delmarva Fisheries Association Inc., organized the meeting, along with members of the DFA board of directors. Concerns about the new administration’s potential policies as well as the appointment of Josh Kurtz, Maryland Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, as Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, prompted Newberry to invite watermen to form the caucus. photos >click to read< 09:40
Whale deaths in NC and along the East Coast have officials searching for answers
On Jan. 7, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale calf was found dead, wedged under a pier in Morehead City. In the previous month, three humpback whales washed up on beaches between Beaufort and the northern Outer Banks. The four North Carolina deaths are part of at least 14 whales that have washed up on East Coast beaches since Dec. 1. Federal officials, scientists and conservation groups have said there could be multiple factors contributing to the rise in whale strandings, including an increase in the population of the Western North Atlantic humpback whales. But one idea that’s gained traction online and among some coastal residents and politicians is that huge offshore wind farms planned off many East Coast states, including North Carolina, could be harming the marine mammals. >click to read< 08:46
Here’s why workers are digging Chesapeake Bay blue crabs out of the mud this month
On a recent gray January morning, they were working a section of the upper Chesapeake Bay off Rock Hall on the Eastern Shore. Capt. Roger Morris, a Dorchester County waterman who works under contract with the state’s department of natural resources, dropped a Virginia dredge off the stern of F/V Mydra Ann, his 45-foot Bay workboat, and let the attached chain pay out until the dredge hit bottom 20-some feet below, jolting the boat. A Virginia dredge refers to an eight foot wide piece of equipment with an attached net that gets dropped into the water to dredge for crabs. Morris eased the throttle forward and dragged the dredge through the mud for one minute at three knots, then hauled it back up, pausing to rinse the mud out before bringing it on board. photos, >click to read< 19:08
N.J., N.E., to Consider Fund to Compensate Fishermen for Revenue Lost to Offshore Wind Development
New Jersey is one of nine states that will consider a plan to establish a fund that would compensate commercial fishermen for losses that could be sustained due to impending offshore wind development. The states – Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia – on Monday released a Request for Information (RFI) aimed at receiving input from impacted members of the fishing industry, offshore wind developers, corporate and financial management entities, as well as interested members of the public, to inform efforts to establish a regional fisheries compensatory mitigation fund administrator. “Mark off the area and then compensate us,” commercial fisherman Jim Lovgren, of Point Pleasant, said at a meeting on the topic five years ago,,, Photos, >click to read< 07:38
‘The seafood industry is significant to Maryland’s economy and identity’
Maryland’s seafood industry has long been the envy of markets around the country, providing more than $600 million each year to the state economy. Stone Slade, seafood marketing director for Maryland’s Department of Agriculture, said it isn’t hard to locate a “fresh catch” and the industry plays a key role in shaping the state’s identity. “The seafood industry contributes $600 million to the state’s economy, employs thousands of workers, has annual commercial landings averaging over 56 million pounds, and an annual dockside value of $95 million.” >click to read< 11:20
