On April 6th, 1,665 members of fishing communities in every U.S. coastal state submitted a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) requesting a transparent and balanced national planning process for offshore wind development.
Offshore wind development poses direct conflicts with fishing and the current permitting process provides no meaningful opportunity to include the needs of sustainable seafood harvesting and production in strategies to mitigate climate change. Recent interagency announcements to fast-track offshore wind energy production have provided no commitments to address this transgression of the federal government’s public trust duties.
On the eve of the expected Record of Decision for the Vineyard Wind I project, which would be the first commercial-scale offshore wind energy project in U.S. federal waters, the signers request that BOEM adopt reasonable and consistently requested fisheries mitigation measures for the project if it is approved.
The letter’s signers hail from every U.S. coastal state and depend on some of the most prominent fishing companies and associations in the country or are directly connected to the seafood supply chain. Collectively they are affiliated with businesses and organizations of nearly 60,000 employees and members from vertically integrated seafood companies, individual commercial vessels, hotels, restaurants, mayors, churches, wholesalers, processors, the recreational and sportfishing sector, vessel services, shoreside services, scientists, next-generation fishermen, cooperatives, community-supported markets, buoy makers and boat welders.
About Responsible Offshore Development Alliance
Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies — across the United States — committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. The alliance works to directly collaborate with relevant regulatory agencies, scientists, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to managing the development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.
2017 Ocean City NJ News and Events