NEW BEDFORD – Gordon Carr, executive director of the New Bedford Port Authority, has “serious concerns” about the scallop fishery given a potential new landing area that will be offshored, according to a letter he wrote to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management rented. wind projects.
The 13,476,805-acre area near New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina – sometimes called the “Central Atlantic 2” call area – includes much of the prime shell lands, Carr wrote.
In his Oct. 21 letter, sent on the final day of BOEM’s comment period, Carr wrote that during New Bedford’s process of developing “the first large-scale offshore wind industrial marshalling port,” the port has “been diligent in providing comments for several offshore wind industries. wind projects underway and proposed for the future.”
“Throughout this process, we recognize and support the need for offshore wind energy development. However, we have become increasingly concerned that development can only be achieved responsibly by protecting established industries that share our waters,” Carr wrote.
“Our serious concern about this CA2 area is that it unnecessarily includes some of the most critical scallop fishing areas on the East Coast,” Carr continued, pointing to the Elephant Trunk, Hudson Canyon and Delmarva areas.
The consequences for fishing over a period of sixteen years are estimated at billions
The 16-year catch value for “the most affected commercial fisheries” is estimated by the National Marine Fisheries Service at “just under $2 billion,” including about $1.5 billion worth of sea scallops, Carr noted.
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A spiraling conflict could have been avoided, Carr writes
In his letter, addressed to Seth Theuerkauf, specialist in BOEM’s Renewable Energy Program, Carr wrote that he and others found it “stunning … that all of that data is and was available to BOEM before the boundaries of the proposed call area were established.”
“What is further confusing is that avoiding the inclusion of these areas in the northernmost parts of CA2 would have left the vast majority of the more than 13 million hectares and would have virtually no effect on the total area potentially available for future leases,” Carr continued. . “A simple look at the CA2 map suggests the border could have been about 150 miles south, avoiding these critical scallops.”
Carr is optimistic that BOEM will hear the concerns about the scallop fishery
Carr said The standard times that while he believes that BOEM issuing the CA2 call in its current form was “a missed opportunity for BOEM to demonstrate very early in the call area process that they understood the implications for fisheries,” he remains hopeful that fishing concerns will be taken into account.
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“I look forward to working with them in the future. I am confident that these areas will ultimately be removed from the final call area,” Carr said, noting that BOEM responded to fishing concerns in the approach area of the Gulf of Maine, resulting in a decrease. According to information from the US Department of the Interior, the leases for that calling area will go on sale on October 29.
After challenging years, the New Bedford Scallopers were concerned about the future
Scalloper Keith Uzzell, who has been fishing out of New Bedford and Fairhaven for 16 years, says he and others that frequent fishing grounds around the Northeast started noticing “more research boats, more offshore wind vessel activity” around the same time they saw an uptick in business noticed. such as sightings of dead whales and empty scallops.
“I would say it’s been happening more in the last two years. These years have been the worst I’ve seen,” Uzzell said.
Whether or not ocean changes and declining catches are proven to be linked to offshore wind energy, as many fishermen and activists suspect, Uzzell says the prospect of the CA2 call area continues to evolve as scallopers’ concerns grow.
“As scallop fishermen, these are our southernmost areas,” Uzzell said, explaining that fishing boats are generally given a certain number of trips per year to specific fishing grounds, with the exception of a few open days. “It’s also the safest fishing ground we have because they’re not far from the coastline. It’s half of the fishable ground we have. We only have in the east and in the south.”
“Your gear is dragging behind you for a quarter of a mile – how are you going to navigate a wind farm?” said Russell Isabel, captain of three ships from New Bedford, also noting that undersea cabling poses a danger to scallopers because of their fishing methods. “When all is said and done, where do we go from here?”
A list of northeastern offshore wind projects from Maine to Virginia compiled by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council shows nine projects currently under construction, three operational and 22 in planning. Of the 34 total projects listed, 10 directly relate to Massachusetts.
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Isabel said, echoing Uzzell, that his observations at sea in recent years have noted an increase in the number of dead marine mammals in areas where fishermen have noticed offshore wind activity, empty scallops and declining catches.
“If you look back at 2021, we had an astronomical year,” Isabel said. “Then they started doing surveys and putting these things in, and last year I think we made half of that.”
Scallop landings at BASE Seafood Auction show a decline after 2021
BASE Seafood Auction scallop landing data provided by Isabel shows that 2021 landings totaled 21,952,730 pounds, compared to 16,532,227 pounds in 2022 and 16,173,540 pounds in 2023. The total for 2024 was £11,066,725 on Saturday 19 October.
When asked what he expects for BASE Seafood Auction’s annual total at the end of 2024: “I would say a little over 12 million,” Isabel estimates, estimating that about 80% of the scallops coming into New Bedford are landed at BASE .
Cassie Canastra, CEO of BASE Seafood Auction, did not respond The standard times‘ request more information and comment in time for this publication.
A media representative for BOEM said the agency would not be able to respond to questions within the deadline.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford port official: Wind energy zone hurts scallop fishermen
