New Jersey just selected its first ever offshore wind project – now is the time for anglers to get engaged so this and future projects can work for us.

The Fourth of July holiday started off with a bang as the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) selected a bid to develop the state’s first ever offshore wind power project.  After a competitive bidding process, the BPU awarded an 1,100 megawatt project to Danish renewable energy company Ørsted to partner up with PSEG, American supply chain companies and New Jersey-based workers.  Once completed, this project will power more than 500,000 homes, delivering clean reliable renewable energy at a competitive price to New Jersey ratepayers. Depending on the technology available at the time of construction, we’d expect around 100 turbines in this wind farm and for it to be operational by 2024.

The board acknowledged that the bid was selected in large part due to the economic development provisions in the project, which included opening a headquarters in Atlantic City.

​Most critical to us anglers, though, is that at its closest point, this project will be about 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City, Great Egg Harbor and Corson Inlets making it easily accessible for fishing. Note that the lease area shown here represents the exploration area only, actual turbine siting has not been decided yet.  This 15 mile distance from shore reduces visual impact, and minimizes conflicts with known migration routes of wildlife as well as marine traffic.

Experience at the Block Island Wind Farm has shown that these turbines start to grow mussels and begin forming habitat and holding fish as soon as they’re installed – even before the turbines are erected.  That means, anglers could be catching fish on the newly formed reef habitat at the turbine foundations in just a couple of years from now.

The experience of other Anglers for Offshore Wind Power advocates tells us now is the time to get engaged in the permitting process.  In the coming months, we’ll start to see more site-specific plans as well as planned fisheries and environmental studies.  We’ll have numerous opportunities at the state, federal and even local level to provide comments on the projects so that they will best serve the interests of recreational anglers. As this is New Jersey’s first project, it’s even more important we get this one right. Be sure to follow Anglers for Offshore Wind Power online, attend meetings and share info with all of your friends.

As a reminder, our principles are:

1.Guaranteed fishing access to the turbine foundations

2.A commitment to scientific fisheries monitoring before, during and after turbine construction

3.Ample opportunity for public input

These aren’t just ideas on paper.  As states like Massachusetts and Rhode Island are farther along in the project development process, we’ve:

• Consistently asked developers, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Coast Guard about guaranteed fishing access – all of which have publicly stated they do not plan on restricting fishing access outside of construction.
  
  
• Asked Vineyard Wind in one-on-one conversations and during environmental impact hearings to monitor impacts to pelagic species in the wind farm area 17 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard – which they have agreed to do.
  
  
• Are currently commenting on the fisheries monitoring plan for the South Fork Wind Farm which will be developed near Cox’s Ledge off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
  
  
• Have attended and recruited attendance at public hearings and created forums where anglers can speak directly with developer representatives outside of the official permitting process.
  
  

There’s a lot of moving pieces to these projects, but if developed responsibly and with the concerns of recreational anglers in mind, there’s no doubt in my mind that these things will be fish factories and become fishing hotspots for individual anglers, charter captains and party boats in the very near future.
If you want to support responsible development of offshore wind power that works for recreational anglers, sign our principles today.

NOTICE: Anglers/mariners should be aware of survey operation vessels working in the area and give them a wide berth. They will be towing gear out to 1000 feet behind them. These vessels have restricted ability to Maneuver. (VRAM)

At the end of June, anglers from across the Northeast joined Anglers for Offshore Wind Power, state officials and offshore wind developer fisheries liaisons on a fishing trip to America’s first offshore wind farm near Block Island, Rhode Island.

This was a tremendous opportunity for recreational anglers to see firsthand how offshore wind turbines create structure and attract fish, but also to build relationships so that we continue to have a voice as more and bigger wind farms are developed.

Despite it being a cloudy, rainy morning with slow fishing, we still boated a few keeper summer flounder and black sea bass.  There have been rumblings about how flounder are affected by undersea electrical cables, but all accounts from local anglers are that the flounder fishing at the wind farm is as good if not better than before the turbines. We confirmed that by taking a few fish from spots very close to the turbines.

The developer of the Block Island Wind Farm, Deepwater Wind, also set the precedent for how to work with the angling community.  They built relationships with local charter captains, as well as the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association, and have monitored impacts to the fisheries after construction. Most importantly, they have followed through on their commitment to always allowing fishing access right to the base of the turbines.

The next project slated for development, known as Vineyard Wind, will be built 17 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and have 81 turbines. In addition, Deepwater Wind will be developing a 15 turbine project off of Rhode Island.  There are also plans for a 600 megawatt project that will split power between Rhode Island and Connecticut in the same area.  Likewise, New Jersey just announced its first ever offshore wind project – the 1100 megawatt Ocean Wind project off of Atlantic City.  Because turbine capacity and technology is advancing so rapidly, we won't know exactly how many turbines each project will be until closer to construction, but suffice to say it is likely we’ll see at least a couple hundred turbines in the water in the next few years.

That is why it is so important for anglers to have experiences like we did at the wind farm.  Offshore wind power is an important way to reduce the pollution that is driving climate change. as warming waters and higher sea levels are already changing distributions of fish and impacting our fisheries.  These hundreds of turbines will create underwater structure that will attract fish.  Anglers can and will support offshore wind, but only if it is done right by guaranteeing fishing access, committing to scientific monitoring and providing opportunities to provide input on every step of the development process.

The good news is we’re being heard, in part because of the relationships we create on trips like this.  For instance, Vineyard Wind committed to monitoring impacts to highly migratory fish species after hearing from recreational anglers that their site is a big game fishery for pelagic species.  We’ve also gotten developer representatives and the Coast Guard to say public over and over again that they have no intent to restrict fishing access to the turbines.  And finally, we’ve been showing up at environmental impact hearings, fisheries management council meetings and other events to ensure the recreational voice is being heard.
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After another successful fishing trip, we’re all looking forward to being able to fish at one of the new wind farms in the near future, and are committed to ensuring the lessons learned from Block Island Wind Farm are applied to any future development.