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: offshore wind farms
BOEM and NOAA announce joint strategy for fisheries surveys
BOEM and NOAA Fisheries are announcing a joint strategy to address potential impacts of offshore wind energy development on NOAA Fisheries’ scientific surveys. The Federal Survey Mitigation Strategy underscores the agencies’ shared commitment to the Biden-Harris Administration’s clean energy goals of responsibly advancing offshore wind energy production while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use. “This joint strategy will help ensure the quality of NOAA’s fisheries surveys and data are maintained while the nation develops offshore wind energy,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries,,, >click to read< 08:57
Wind Projects Off New England Put Endangered Right Whales at Risk, Warns NOAA Scientist
Planned wind projects off the New England coast threaten to harm the region’s dwindling population of endangered right whales, according to a US government marine scientist. The warning from a top National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official, obtained by Bloomberg under a Freedom of Information Act request, underscores the potential legal and environmental perils of offshore wind development along the coast. President Joe Biden has a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind within the decade. Both initial construction of wind projects and decades of expected operation threaten to imperil right whales in southern New England waters, Sean Hayes, chief of the protected species branch at NOAA’s National Northeast Fisheries Science Center, said in a May 13 letter to Interior Department officials. >click to read< 11:26
The most abhorrent occupation in the world?
Magnus Johnson, a marine scientist at the University of Hull, published this observation on his blog almost a decade ago, as many readers with good memories may recall, but it remains just as pertinent today. It is reprinted here with a new introduction, in which he reflects on how little has changed in the intervening decade. “Almost 10 years ago, I published this article on my blog. (We posted it on May 18, 2013) It was at a time when it felt like fishing was being vilified through a co-ordinated effort by the NGO industry. In recent times I’ve thought ‘here we go again’ as I read complete untruths about North Sea cod being fished to extinction, the theft of the commons by the industrialization of the sea as wind farms march across it, and clamour for generic exclusion of fishers from traditional grounds in Scottish waters by NGOs. >click to read< 08:06
Are we really going to let them kill our ocean and our fishing way of life?
Generations of fishermen are no longer fishing because of the restrictions and unfair quota from faulty science. Like I said in earlier posts, we went from 400 active boats down to 17 barely active boats. Meanwhile conservation groups will tell you that we are wiping the ocean out from overfishing. That is so wrong on so many levels, it isn’t even funny. Hard to believe New England was considered to be sustainable for haddock and lobsters. Then fishing efforts went down and now we are no longer sustainable. The only thing that’s changed is windmills are on their way to the Gulf of Maine and the management at NOAA and NMFS are allowing it to happen. Why would they not talk to the people who have committed their lives to the job of harvesting our ocean?! Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but I have a few hypotheses. By Jerry Leeman. >click to read< 16:38
Jerry Leeman – Why it is wrong to assume anything
I’ll use this photo to prove a point. NOAA uses a computer to pick where their assessments on fish stocks will take place. Here lies the problem. It’s in random spots, and they never make the same tow again at the same time of the year because they use a computer model that knows nothing of fishing. NOAA is taking the assumption that fish live everywhere. That’s pretty funny because if you knew anything about fishing at all, fish species don’t hang on every piece of bottom all day and night. They just don’t. Not only do fish have tails, but they also swim up into the water columns and travel with the feed and breeding cycles and changes of the seasons. >click to read the rest< by Jerry Leeman.16:16
A Great Wall – In the Sea
Fishermen are being excluded from the debate relating to windfarm development in the North Sea, according to Job Schot of Eurocutter Job Senior Z-201, who has been prominent in questioning the rapid changes taking place. ‘I’m opposed to windfarms,‘ he said. ‘I’m a fisherman and this has a huge effect on how we make our living. But we have to accept that this isn’t going away.’ Since the first wind turbines appeared in the North Sea a couple of decades back, the rate of change has increased, and today fishing grounds are disappearing at breakneck speed, with little attention paid to those who question this. Photos, >click to read< 18:20
Jerry Leeman: Fishing is my life. Somewhere, people forgot to listen to the generations before us.
I’ve spent all my life on the ocean. My family and friends are fishermen and lobstermen. I grew up on an island in Maine and almost everyone was in some form of fishery, whether it be groundfishing, gill netting, seining and lobstering. We even had shrimping till that was mis managed away. I grew up watching these men and women harvesting the ocean. Rules were put into place to harvest the ocean responsibly and sustainably for future generations. Most people in this nation know little to as of why our fish stocks became depleted. Other nations like Russia and other European super trawlers were allowed to pillage our waters along the New England coast. They were eventually banned, but the destruction had been done. We’ve spent years restricting ourselves fishing, going out of our way bending backwards to rebuild our fish stocks. >click to read< By Jerry Leeman 11:19
Jerry Leeman: 350 years of experience
15 captains showed up today in Gloucester, Mass., and their total experience together was over 350 years of knowledge. We discussed the white hake issue. They say the biomass isn’t the problem they’re just not seeing small hake. Well, fishermen don’t see small white hake very often due to us using 6.5″ diamond cod ends. The fish are small and slimy they slide right out the meshes. Hell, a medium pollock can swim out the mesh’s and they are twice to three times the size of small hake. Besides the point is a regulatory community that has never asked anyone in the room anything about fishing, have never asked what we were seeing, nor our thoughts about any species. Please >click to read the rest here< 10:27
Scuttled Offshore Wind Plans Are Good News For Ratepayers, North Atlantic Right Whales
The hype about offshore wind energy keeps getting scuttled by reality. That’s the clear conclusion from last month’s announcement that Spanish utility company, Avangrid, was halting work on the proposed 1,200-megawatt Commonwealth Wind project because it was “no longer viable.” The company also announced it was delaying the start of another offshore project, the 800-megawatt Park City Wind project. While Avangrid has since said it would still move forward on the Commonwealth project, here’s the undeniable truth: the fewer offshore wind turbines get built, the better it will be for ratepayers, the commercial fishing industry, and the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. >click to read< 07:48
What’s wrong with the management?!! By Jerry Leeman
So, I’m using this piece of artwork, because I’m not driving 3 states away to pull up all my tracks. This is only a piece of artwork depicting a small percentage of the ground I’ve covered in the Gulf of Maine and George’s Bank. We all talk about the best science, while the best science is done when you have the best observations. That is the whole basis of science is study thru observations. How come a man like me who has over 14 years documented at sea in 21 years not have a voice in the management of our nation’s fishery? No one has ever asked me what I am seeing. They just hand me a piece of paper every time there’s a rule change. Then I figure out how I’m going to manage what little abundance they allot me. Please click to read the rest. >click to read< 15:07
Public comment period opens on draft offshore wind areas
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Wednesday announced that a 30-day public comment period has begun on eight draft offshore wind energy areas, including off the North Carolina coast. BOEM said it will hold virtual public meetings to engage the fishing community and environmental organizations to gather more information on the proposed areas and discuss next steps. The proposed areas cover about 1.7 million acres off North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. The distances to their closest points range from about 19 to 77 nautical miles offshore. >click to read< 08:10
Draft North Atlantic Right Whale and Offshore Wind Strategy Announced
As the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has ramped up offshore wind development to meet the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of generating 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, the question of how the expansion of offshore wind energy could affect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW) has come under close review. To help address this question and support the recovery of endangered NARW and the responsible development of offshore wind energy, BOEM and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) developed a joint Draft North Atlantic Right Whale and Offshore Wind Strategy (the Draft Strategy). >click to read< 11:29
The great US offshore wind-power boom has begun to falter
Plans for massive offshore wind farms that President Joe Biden hopes will power as many as 10 million American homes by 2030 are starting to wobble. On Monday, New Jersey utility Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. said it’s deciding whether to pull out of Ocean Wind 1, a proposed project in the Atlantic Ocean that would generate 1.1 gigawatts – enough for 500,000 homes. Less than two weeks earlier, New England utility Avangrid Inc. said its similarly sized Commonwealth Wind project was no longer viable because of higher costs and supply chain woes. Offshore wind projects are “facing a number of headwinds,” Soaring inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain snarls around the world are threatening to hobble the offshore wind boom that both federal and local policy makers have been planning for years off the US East Coast. >click to read< 13:28
Great Yarmouth fisherman swaps shrimp for offshore wind
From inshore shrimper to head skipper on offshore wind crew transfer vessels, Wally Saunders turned generations of his family’s love and living from the sea to a future in the industry harvesting wind to power the UK’s future. For generations, the Saunders family looked to the sea off Great Yarmouth and Gorleston for their living. In all weathers, great grandfather, grandfather, father and sons hauled shrimp, herring, cod and Dover sole onto boats owned by the family through the decades, and on to the deep-sea trawlers, fishing smacks and herring drifters where the older generations worked as deckhands and mates. >click to read< 10:16
No Fluke: Locals Fight Offshore Wind Power Project That Threatens Mass Whale Wipeout
If the wind industry gets its way, it’s curtains for the already endangered Atlantic Right Whale. Taking giant industrial wind turbines offshore threatens whales of all shapes and sizes, including the Atlantic Right Whale. Whales already have plenty of offshore industrial activity to contend with. However, where oil and gas extraction, international shipping, and commercial fishing have obvious embodied economic benefits, the only economic benefit derived from wind power is the subsidies it attracts. No subsidies. No wind power. It’s that simple. >click to read< 12:55
Irish Fishing Industry calls for Urgent Consultation on Offshore Wind Farms
Representatives from the Irish fishing industry in Donegal and around Ireland say they fear being “displaced losers” in the development of offshore wind farms. The Irish fishing industry say they have a right to be consulted about offshore wind farms because it affects their livelihoods. Aodh, who is chief executive of the Killybegs-based Irish Fish Producers Organisation (IFPO), said needs to co-operate to reduce fossil fuels but “co-operation works both ways and we are not being consulted.” >click to read< 11:36
Brigantine residents express concerns about offshore wind projects
Having clean energy as a renewable resource may sound nice, but residents still have questions and concerns about the offshore wind projects planned just off the island’s coast, which is why the mayor held an informational meeting last weekend. Ørsted’s offshore wind farms, which are expected to have 98 wind turbines roughly 15 miles off the coast, are scheduled to be completed by 2024. Meanwhile, 111 Atlantic Shores offshore wind turbines are expected to be operational 10 miles off Brigantine by 2027. Many residents said the cons outweigh the pros. “I’m just trying to figure out the positives in this,” said resident Mary Anne Ford. “The pro column is a big blank slate.” >click to read< 07:21
Save Right Whales from Radical Environmentalists Who Exploit Them
Americans agree with protecting the endangered Northern Atlantic right whale. But true conservation efforts don’t necessitate displacing lobstermen and recreational anglers in the process. With fewer than 350 whales left, ambulance-chasing opportunists masquerading as conservationists conveniently swoop in on the whale’s behalf only to leave economic —and environmental—destruction in their paths. This endangered whale requires protection from radical environmentalists who exploit them. Preservationists purporting to care about its well-being, however, distort the threats posed to the whales. >click to read< 08:06
Island’s fate tied to fishing, residents say: “I think we’re being pushed out”
Make way for windmills. That was one of the worries aired by Deer Isle-Stonington fishermen and small business owners who attended a breakfast economic development meeting at the Stonington town office Friday. A few residents and small business owners said they think the fishing industry is being pushed out to make room for windmills, thus further advancing green energy agendas that Governor Janet Mills and the federal government have adopted. Mike Shepard said he started fishing at age 10 in a “little outboard.” “I’m almost 70 now,” the lobsterman said. “I fished all my life out here. All that time I’ve been fishing. I’ve never seen a whale. It has nothing to do with the whale, it has to do with what they want to do with our waters out here. They want to go green and it’s killing the lobster industry, which is our way of life.” >click to read< 19:36
Video – Outside Lobbyists Vs. Hard Data on the Right Whale Issue in Maine
For those who cannot commit to a 20+ minute presentation on the war on our fishermen: Can you spare just 5 minutes? Here is a scene from the new short film “2023” which includes some details that have been missing from your local newscasts. Click the image to watch, 12:18
Shetland fishing industry ‘flung by the wayside’ for offshore wind farms
Addressing a session during the parliamentary Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum policy conference, Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) executive officer Daniel Lawson said his industry had “big concerns” over the UK’s plans for renewables off the islands. “All of the things we saw with the onset of oil, protection, partnership, working consideration, consultation, compensation, they’ve all been largely abandoned so far in this rush towards offshore wind development,” he told delegates. Mr Lawson said the organisation, which represents 115 member vessels, was dismayed by news of the latest round of offshore wind licensing as part of the Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind clearing process. >click to read< 09:55
Offshore wind could blow us out of the water say Cornish fishermen
As the fishing boat motors gently out of Newlyn’s harbour, the sky is clear and the sea is millpond-flat. Below the surface, the clear waters are teeming with life; Newlyn, in south-west Cornwall, is home to one of Britain’s largest trawler fleets, with more than 100 boats regularly landing catches. However, miles out to sea, a storm is brewing. The boats’ fishing ground could end up being squeezed by floating windfarms planned for the Celtic Sea, an area of the Atlantic bordered by Cornwall, south-west Wales, southern Ireland and the north-western edge of France. >click to read< 15:32
Website shines a light on offshore wind farms
Fishermen, an informal coalition of more than two dozen organizations concerned about the environmental and economic impacts of proposed offshore wind farms in the Pacific Ocean, launched a new website on Monday. Visitors to protectUSfishermen.org will find details not only on the current push to place wind turbine farms off the coast of Oregon, but also learn about the sustainable seafood industry and its positive impacts on the economy and food security. For those wishing to gain a broad understanding of the debate surrounding offshore wind, the site provides a comprehensive overview. Those wishing to take a “deep dive” into the issue can click on a variety of links to well-documented studies and positions from credible sources around the world. >click to read< 16:00
Gulf shrimpers brace for offshore wind
Trae Cooper risks punctures to the fiberglass hull of his grandfather’s boat every time he pulls out into the gray waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Trawling for shrimp that swim along Louisiana’s muddy coast means coexisting with the forgotten pipelines, corroded steel, gnawed plastic and bits of iron that the oil industry left behind as it marched gradually through these marshes and out to sea. And that’s why Cooper, 39, and many shrimpers in the region say they know enough to worry as a new industry crops up in the Gulf of Mexico: offshore wind. >click to read< 07:40
US Advances Plans for Offshore Wind in Maine
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced next steps to bring offshore wind energy to the Gulf of Maine. “President Biden has set ambitious goals to address the climate crisis, and in response the Interior Department is taking historic steps to develop a robust and sustainable clean energy future,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “Today’s announcement for the Gulf of Maine represents one of the many milestones that this Administration has achieved to advance offshore wind development, create good-paying jobs, lower consumer energy costs, while collaborating with our government partners, Tribes and key stakeholders to protect biodiversity, advance environmental justice and safeguard other ocean uses.” >click to read< 15:33
Jimmy Buchan: energy costs will drive fish processors out of business
Mr Buchan has sent a letter to the two candidates vying to become Prime Minister, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, ahead of their campaigning visits to Scotland tomorrow. In the letter Mr Buchan, the chief executive of the Scottish Seafood Association, warned that on top of Brexit and Covid, escalating fuel costs were having a “devastating impact on our ability to remain viable”. Meanwhile, the body representing the fishing industry has also issued an open letter to the prospective PMs. Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, highlighted the need for “fairer decision making” over use of the seas in order to prevent fishing becoming “collateral damage” ahead of the spansion of wind farms. >click to read< 15:21
Candidates for governor, AG, tackle fishing industry concerns
Representatives of the Gloucester fishing industry caught the ears of Democratic candidate for governor Attorney General Maura Healey, and a Democratic candidate for attorney general, Andrea Campbell, during a meeting at the Gloucester House Restaurant on Rogers Street around noon before a campaign canvass kickoff. The pair heard concerns about the high cost of fuel and offshore wind, among others. “The price of fuel is killing us right now,” said fisherman Joe Orlando, president of Northeast Fishery Sector II. “I can’t even imagine. How much does it cost?” Healey asked. Orlando said the cost went from $2,000 to $6,000. Healey said it is important for the state to support the fishing industry economically, culturally and historically. >click to read< 10:38
Oregon Senators, Governor responds to offshore wind farms concerns during clean energy tour
During a clean energy tour of Oregon, KATU questioned the US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley and Governor Kate Brown on issues surrounding wind farms slated for the Southern Oregon Coast. “It’s too early honestly we don’t know it’s a lot like the wave energy technology it’s still being built it’s still being created,” said Oregon Gov. Kate Brown when asked if she would advocate funding for preliminary wind farm testing ahead of federal leases planed for Southern Oregon offshore areas. “We really need to understand all of the impacts upfront before we rush into this,” said Heather Mann Executive Director of the Midwater Trawlers’ cooperative. >click to read< 09:56
Australia: Commercial fishers eyeing compensation as six offshore wind farm zones get green light
Trawl fishers have ramped up calls for compensation following the federal government’s announcement that it will establish six offshore wind energy zones. Waters off Gippsland, Portland, the Hunter Valley, Illawarra, northern Tasmania, Perth and Bunbury have been earmarked for development. But fishers are concerned they will be excluded from the sections of the ocean where the turbines are built. The most progressed wind farm proposal is the Star of the South project in Gippsland. “The problem we have is that the federal government has already given out rights … to go commercial fishing. >click to read< 07:59
Australian offshore wind farms get green light in landmark announcement – >click to read<
