As concerns mount over the July collapse of one Vineyard Wind turbine blade, a “flotilla” of about two dozen commercial and recreational fishing vessels steamed to the wind farm on Sunday to protest offshore wind development and its impact on the marine ecosystem.
The vessels, hoisting anti-offshore wind flags and blasting air horns, departed early Sunday morning from ports in New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Rhode Island and along the Cape, converging at about noon on the site of the crippled Vineyard Wind turbine.
“The blade collapse was an eye-opener to a lot of people who before didn’t know that offshore wind is a disaster for the ocean,” said Shawn Machie, 54, who is captain of the New Bedford scalloper F/V Capt. John.
On July 13, one of the three blades on turbine AW38 sustained damage while undergoing testing. Five days later, a 300-foot section of the blade collapsed into the water leaving fiberglass debris floating in fishing grounds and scattered across beaches, mostly on Nantucket. It marked an inflection point as the first industrial energy incident in this era of offshore wind development in waters off the Northeast coast.
Then, last week, a blade manufactured by GE Vernova failed on an offshore wind turbine off the northeast coast of England. GE Vernova is also the manufacturer for the Vineyard Wind blade that failed in July, casting further concern on the safety of the project and the potential of another failure. GE Vernova has since said the Vineyard Wind blade collapse was likely caused by “insufficient bonding.”
The Vineyard Wind incident received cautious criticism from politicians who otherwise support the offshore wind industry. “The offshore wind industry is a critical component of Massachusetts’ economy and the country’s transition to clean, affordable energy,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a July statement to The Light. “It is essential that we gain a full understanding of what happened here and how it can be prevented in the future.”
Congressman Bill Keating released a similar statement demanding answers and better protocols from the federal government.
But that wasn’t enough for fishermen, coastal residents and others who witnessed the large pieces of fiberglass scattered across their beaches and waters on which they make their living. On Sunday, Machie led the brigade of about two dozen boats in tight loops around the damaged Vineyard Wind turbine. Some flew banners that read: “Save Our Ocean” and “Support Your Local Fishermen.” The turbine was guarded by another New Bedford scallop boat, owned by Quinn Fisheries, which was contracted to protect the wind farm from transient vessel traffic.
The “flotilla” protest was organized by the New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA). Plans kicked into gear when Dan Pronk, captain of lobster boat F/V Black Earl, was collecting turbine debris that had washed up on the shores of Nantucket. He called Machie and other New England fishermen who said they felt they had to “do something before it’s too late,” Machie said.
“We feel like our jobs are just accepted as collateral damage,” Machie said. “We are regulated for sustainability. And that makes sense. We need regulation. But offshore wind is allowed to kill fish and wreck nurseries without any manageable stopping point.”
Their concerns are corroborated by fisheries regulators and federal scientists, who since 2018 have warned the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which oversees offshore wind permitting, about the impact offshore wind can have on fishing grounds. In letters, they have outlined how repeated blasts from pile driving turbines into the ocean floor can cause “fish kills,” and how the sound-wave impact can cause a “cumulative stress response” that disrupts the ability of fish to feed or spawn, resulting in a “permanent loss” of habitat for bottom-dwellers, such as cod and other groundfish.
After gyring around the broken turbine, the fleet of protesters carved through sky-scraper sized turbines, in various stages of construction, spread in a grid across 260 square miles of ocean. They passed by the massive installation vessels rigged with cranes, pile-drivers and equipment for digging trenches to lay cables along the ocean floor. The wind vessels hail from Europe, and fishermen in the protest took issue with the foreign vessels operating in U.S. waters, which is only allowed due to loopholes in the Jones Act, a maritime law that prohibits foreign vessels and crews from transporting goods between two U.S. points.
“It looks like a foreign occupation,” said Tim Barrett, a commercial fisherman out of Plymouth and NEFSA board member who on Sunday joined the protest on the F/V Capt. John. “They are moving in and claiming this bottom for their own. It’s a battle. And the U.S. government is on their side.”
Some New Bedford fishermen, who asked not to be named, said they were not attending the protest. Though they said they oppose offshore wind, and worry about the impact it could pose to their livelihoods, some said it felt like it was too late to stop the projects from moving forward. Before a federal suspension order, Vineyard Wind had at least 10 of 62 planned turbines operating and feeding energy into the grid.
But Machie pushed back on that sentiment. Over the next decade, dozens of planned offshore wind farms include raising 3,411 turbines and laying 9,874 miles of cable across nearly 2.4 million acres of ocean; which is an area roughly the size of Delaware.
“It’s not over. Vineyard Wind is just the beginning,” Machie said. “We want people to know about the industrialization of our oceans going on here … And we want the government to put a stop to it before we are wiped out.”
Article courtesy of Will Sennott and The New Bedford Light. Read more here.
