Vineyard Wind will implement recommendations from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) to guide its project’s fisheries monitoring studies during construction, as well as to initiate longer-term studies as part of a regional approach to fisheries studies.
SMAST’s recommendations were based on its expertise as a fisheries research center, as well as input from active fishermen, government agencies and academia.
SMAST’s studies will begin later this spring. In 2017, Vineyard Wind entered into an agreement with SMAST through which the wind developer asked SMAST to design a broad-based approach to research capable of supporting long-term, regional studies in addition to monitoring construction impacts.
During the planning phase, SMAST conducted a trial for a “video trawl” system in the wind energy area of the project. Funded by Vineyard Wind, the pilot program facilitated sampling of fish without harvesting, allowing for more efficient selection. SMAST also held four workshops with the region’s fishing industry in November and December to identify priorities for assessments of impacts on fisheries and ecological conditions that are associated with offshore wind development.
Based on input from more than 75 commercial and recreational fishermen who participated in the workshops and input from academics and government resource agencies, SMAST recommended a series of methodologies for fisheries monitoring and research on behalf of Vineyard Wind:
- Research procedures that encompass an array of species, ranging from fish caught with fixed gear to those caught with trawls to samplings of juvenile life stages;
- Integrated methodologies that will support additional and/or ongoing fisheries research;
- Use of a “nested and modular” study design that can be used for both the relatively small area studied during construction monitoring but also used effectively for longer-term studies across the wider region;
- Creation of a standing committee/working group of commercial fishermen to review findings and, if needed, make recommendations based on initial findings while studies are underway; and
- Use of local fishermen to provide vessels in support of the studies.
Vineyard Wind was selected in May 2018 to negotiate long-term contracts with Massachusetts’ electric distribution companies for the construction of an 800 MW wind farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. These contracts have now been signed and are pending before the Department of Public Utilities for approval. Vineyard Wind remains on schedule to begin onshore construction in 2019 and become operational by 2021, the developer says.
The Vineyard Wind project also continues to move ahead with public and regulatory review through more than 25 federal, state and local approval processes.
