“The Deepwater Wind farm site doubled in size (to 200 turbines) and changed locations without input from fishermen. It will restrict fishing and could eliminate over $20,000,000 million in fish taken from the area.”, said Rick Bellavance, president of the Rhode Island Party and Charter Boat Association. “The wind turbines are located all around Cox’s Ledge and its fertile fishing edges, ledges and drop offs. The massive 270 square mile area taken will restricts commercial lobstering and fishing, tuna fishing and recreational fishing in the area… (the proposed wind farm) will also act as a blockage forcing vessels to add thousands of dollars in fuel to their fishing season as they try to get to fishing grounds on the east and south sides of Cox’s Ledge.”, Bellavance said. The Cox’s Ledge area is one of the most fertile fishing areas in the Northeast.
Eighteen months ago, commercial and recreational fishing thought leaders in Rhode Island expressed concern over the consequences of spatial planning (zoning our ocean waters). The State of Rhode Island under the leadership of the Coastal Resources Management Authority (CRMA) has been a pioneer in this county’s effort to zone our ocean waters under their nationally acclaimed Special Area Management Plan (SAMP). Just as cities and towns zone land for use i.e. commercial, industrial, residential the oceans would be zoned for various uses as well as to insure sustainable and equitable use for commercial and recreational uses of all types. The biggest concern of fisherman was simply that the SAMP could translate into the elimination of many popular fishing areas.
The proposed expanded Deepwater Wind farm that developed without sighting input from the fishing community is a violation of the trust that had developed between fishermen, CRMA and Deepwater Wind said Bellavance. “We were blindsided, this has a big impact on fishing. Rhode Islanders may have to decide if they want windmills or fishing unless the wind turbines can be moved to areas that do not impact fishing this much.”, Bellavance said.
John Rainone, past president of the Rhode Island Party & Charter Boat Association said in an article that appear in this column last year, ”(spatial planning) is a way to stop recreational and commercial fishing in any areas that the government and special interest groups deem necessary.” Through new federal policy that aims to facilitate the development of ocean wind mills and our SAMP program in Rhode Island, fishing may be restricted from an area equal to about 22% the land mass of Rhode Island and if the Neptune wind farm project (our second proposed project) moves forward as planned the area taken which fishing will be restricted in will be about 33%of Rhode Island’s land mass according to a statement issued by Ted Platz, president of the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island (www.cfci.com).
Bellavance said, that what is particularly alarming is that these are just the first two wind projects proposed for Rhode Island… what about the third, fourth and fifth. What impact will they have?
What has allowed these projects to accelerate is a national policy that aims to reduce the amount of time it normally takes to site and develop an ocean wind farm from seven years to two years, cutting out a great deal of public comment and vetting time projects like this need and normally get. In December of 2010, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced plans to boost offshore wind power on the Atlantic Coast by identifying promising areas for development and then expediting the permitting process. Secretary Salazar said, “(the Atlantic wind farm initiative) will allow us to identify priority wind energy areas, improve cooperation with local, state and federal partners and accelerate the leasing process”. In Rhode Island, Deepwater Wind has done just this. They ceased the opportunity to build a wind farm twice the size that was originally planned under the SAMP and changed its location without input from the fishing community. This new Federal policy allows private developers to utilize our ocean, a public resource, with a drastically shortened time for public comment and input. Input from the people (fishermen) that have been utilizing the resource for hundreds of years to provide fresh and wholesome seafood to Rhode Islanders.
I believe wind power is good, not bad. Just as the idea behind spatial planning is good as well as all the good work CRMA has done with the SAMP initiative However, I do believe we need to rebuild the trust between fisherman, CRMA and Deepwater Wind and move forward with a wind farm plan that presents the best use of the oceans for the common good… that allows fishermen, wind farms and others to use our ocean.
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