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NCFC Members Urge BOEM to Include Commercial Fishermen in Windmill Siting Decisions in the New York Bight

WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / August 17, 2018 / Late last month, members of Saving Seafood's National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC) submitted two letters asking Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to consider the economic importance of the commercial fishing industry before deciding where to site windmills in the New York Bight.

367 individuals signed a national letter calling on Secretary Zinke not to rush offshore energy development and to ensure projects are ''sited, constructed, and operated using the best scientific information available.''

''The Interior Department should provide for intelligent and deliberate offshore renewable energy development, rather than fall prey to the gold rush mentality promoted by BOEM and financially-interested wind developers, most of which are foreign-owned,'' the NCFC members wrote.

The signers also invoked President Donald Trump's campaign promise to support working class Americans.

''When President Trump campaigned and was elected, he promised to look after America's working middle class, of which we are all a part,'' the letter stated. ''You will not be honoring the President's commitment if you allow BOEM to lease ocean areas first, and ask and answer the necessary questions later.''

Another 103 individuals and 32 vessels and businesses from Massachusetts signed a separate letter asking BOEM to reconsider its plan to develop four offshore wind farms in the New York Bight. They specifically cited the damage such development would cause to important Northeast fisheries such as the scallop fishery.

''This is an ill-conceived idea that will cause irreparable economic harm within the fishing communities along the entire East Coast,'' the signers wrote. ''The harm to Massachusetts will be especially significant, given that it is the center of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery and contains major surf clam and ocean quahog operations.''

The letter pointed out that, on average, nearly $54 million is generated by scallop landings annually from the areas under consideration in the New York Bight, according to data from the National Marine Fisheries Service. An additional $8 million is generated by surf clam and ocean quahog.

About Saving Seafood

Saving Seafood is a a non-profit corporation funded by the fishing industry. Saving Seafood conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the seafood industry, operates the National Coalition for Fishing Communities, and undertakes communications efforts to keep industry members and the public aware of issues of concern. Saving Seafood works with vessel owners, fishermen, seafood processors and fishing organizations across the United States who are committed to the preservation of the resource that has provided their livelihood, and that of their American forebears, for generations.

PRESS CONTACT

Bob Vanasse
Executive Director, National Coalition for Fishing Communities
(202) 333-2628
bob@savingseafood.org

SOURCE: National Coalition for Fishing Communities

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