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FEATUREThursday 28 December 2017

Winds of worry: U.S. fishermen fear forests of power turbines

By PHILIP MARCELO In this Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, file photo three wind turbines from the Deepwater Wind project shores of 10 different coun-
Associated Press stand in the Atlantic Ocean off Block Island, R.I. tries. U.S. officials and de-
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) velopers stress similar bans
— East Coast fishermen are Associated Press aren’t being considered
turning a wary eye toward stateside, except during
an emerging upstart: the offshore wind farm, off thes-Washburn, executive construction. construction.
offshore wind industry. Rhode Island, as evidence director of New Bedford’s The company says it has Studies in the North Sea
In New Bedford, Massachu- the actual impact to U.S. port, citing the potential for compensated over a doz- suggest the turbines act
setts, the onetime whaling fishermen will be less than wind farms to provide fish- en fishermen who tempo- as reefs, supporting mus-
capital made famous in feared. ermen with extra work and rarily lost access to their sels that draw fish and
Herman Melville’s “Moby- “We want to do this the to contribute to port invest- fishing grounds during con- other sea life. But where
Dick,” fishermen dread right way, and I believe we ments, like a new shipyard. struction. advocates see biodiver-
the possibility of navigat- have a path to do that,” For fishermen, the broader But while there haven’t sity, commercial fishermen
ing a forest of turbines as said Matthew Morrissey, a concern is that offshore been reports of fishing point to other studies not-
they make their way to the vice president at Deepwa- wind farms will only lead to boats striking the turbines, ing modest effects on na-
fishing grounds that have ter Wind, the Rhode Island more stifling restrictions. about a dozen boats have tive species in Europe.
made it the nation’s most company that opened “Fishermen are losing reported trawls getting In the U.K., navigation
lucrative fishing port for 17 that five-turbine operation ground one a nibble at a damaged by concrete through wind farms re-
years running. off Block Island last Decem- time,” said Joseph Gilbert, structures covering under- mains challenging during
The state envisions hun- ber and is proposing larger a Stonington, Connecticut sea power cables, costing bad weather, said Merlin
dreds of wind turbines spin- farms elsewhere along the fisherman who owns boats Jackson, treasurer of the
ning off the city’s shores in Thanet Fishermen’s Asso-
about a decade, enough ciation.
to power more than 1 mil- There have been at least
lion homes. two minor cases of fishing
“You ever see a radar pic- boats hitting turbines, he
ture of a wind farm? It’s just said. Fishermen largely rely
one big blob, basically,” on turbine platform lights
said Eric Hansen, 56, a New as guides, but they’re not
Bedford scallop boat own- always well maintained.
er whose family has been The most persistent prob-
in the business for genera- lem has been sea currents
tions. “Transit through it will exposing buried power ca-
be next to impossible, es- bles, prompting restrictions
pecially in heavy wind and while they’re repaired, he
fog.” said.
Off New York’s Long Is- America’s slower, more
land, an organization complex licensing process
representing East Coast has “forced more ques-
scallopers has sued the tions to be asked,” and

Bureau of Ocean Energy East Coast. that range from Virginia to

Maine. “Eventually, it adds

up to a very large piece of

the pie.”

The Bureau of Ocean En-

ergy Management, which

oversees wind farm de-

velopments in federal wa-

ters, has taken steps to ad-

dress fishermen’s concerns,

among them excluding

specific habitats off Massa-

chusetts, Rhode Island and

New York from wind farm

In this Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 photo fishing vessels are docked development, said spokes- In this Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 photo Edward Anthes-Washburn,
man Stephen Boutwell. director of the Port of New Bedford, speaks with members of the
in New Bedford Harbor, in New Bedford, Mass. It has also invested in stud- media as he pilots a a vessel in the Acushnet River, off the coast
ies looking specifically at of New Bedford, Mass.
Associated Press questions raised by fisher-
men, from the effects of Associated Press
Management to try to halt In New Bedford, where pile-driving during wind
farm construction to the
a proposal for a nearly the state has already built effect of electromagnetic
fields on fish behavior, he
200-turbine wind farm. a $113 million heavy-duty said. tens of thousands of dollars East Coast fishermen seem
Deepwater Wind, mean- in equipment and lost fish- more unified than many of
Commercial fishermen in terminal to take on turbine while, said preliminary find- ing time, said Richard Fuka, those in Europe when wind
ings from environmental president of the Rhode Is- farms were being devel-
Maryland’s Ocean City construction and ship- studies of its Block Island land Fishermen’s Alliance. oped, Jackson said.
wind farm suggest fish and U.S. fishermen also cast a “If fishermen can be orga-
and North Carolina’s Outer ment, city officials envision lobster populations are worried glance at to Eu- nized and be allowed to
“just as strong” as before rope, where a range of have input into the earliest
Banks have also sounded commercial fishing and off- restrictions have been im- parts of the planning pro-
posed on fishing around cess, then there should be
the alarm about losing ac- shore wind working hand the more than 3,500 tur- a way forward,” Jackson
bines spinning off the said.q
cess to fishing grounds. in hand to revive a region

Supporters of offshore wind that has long lagged be-

say they have learned hind nearby Boston.

from Europe’s long expe- “There’s a lot more in com-

rience with it. They also mon between these in-

point to the more recent dustries than pulling them

opening of America’s lone apart,” said Edward An-