Empire Wind 1- A Fish Factory in the Making

 

Local boat-based fishermen from Northern New Jersey (Think Raritan Bay) and Western New York (Think Jamaica Bay) will soon have 54 new fishing hotspots to explore. Empire Wind 1 and Empire Wind 2 is a “pizza slice” shaped offshore wind lease area,   located 13 miles south of Jones Beach, New York, and 19 miles east of Long Branch New Jersey. It is wedged between the shipping channels, with the tip near the infamous offshore hotspot known as the “Cholera Bank”.

This project has been in the works for a while, since 2017, when the lease was awarded, and continues to move forward.   Empire Wind 1 (EW1) was one of the first wind energy areas to enter the multi-year process in the Bight. It will be supported locally at the first New York-based “wind port” in South Brooklyn, transforming the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) into an offshore wind hub. The most recent news about Empire Wind 2 (EW2)  is the cancellation of the Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC), which does not mean that the EW2 project has been canceled, just a reset of the project and planning continues. 

Empire Wind1, the first project, continues to move forward. The original plan for both project areas was to have about 140-170 turbines total, but after geophysical and geotechnical surveys, and consultations with commercial fishing and maritime stakeholders, the number of turbines for Empire Wind 1 has been reduced to 54, plus a single substation. 

What does this mean for NJ/NY Bight boat-based anglers? The latest turbine layout shows 54 turbines and one substation, all of which will be open for fishing. Each turbine will create a new artificial reef, about 150 feet in diameter. Rocks, 8 to 12 inches each, are usually placed in a 90-foot diameter ring around the base of the 40-foot diameter monopile to prevent erosion. The rock placement is contracted for 2025, so we can expect construction to start soon. The wind farm will generate enough energy to power thousands of homes in New York and will connect to the grid at the Gowanus Substation in Brooklyn. In plain English, this stuff on the bottom and the monopile itself will create new habitat and current breaks that will turn each of these hotspots into a fish magnet!

Recreational fishermen can look forward to fishing at Empire Wind in late 2025/2026. Depending on the season, anglers will have the opportunity to catch many species that are native to this area, as well as some warmer water southern species that have been showing up more frequently in the past decade.

Here are some of the species (not all of which can be legally targeted*) that have been identified in this area in preliminary studies related to the Empire wind lease area: 

Spring and winter (colder water):

• Black sea bass
• Striped bass*
• Scup (porgy)
• Atlantic cod
• Tautog (blackfish)
• Red hake

Summer and fall (warmer water):

• Summer flounder (fluke)
• Bluefish
• Weakfish
• False albacore (Albie)
• Atlantic bonito
• Sea robin
• Gray triggerfish
• Mahi mahi (common dolphinfish)

This area is also known for attracting highly migratory species that will swarm around the newly formed reef and monopiles themselves. Some of these species are:

• Bluefin
• Skipjack
• Yellowfin tuna
• Blue shark
• Common thresher
• Dusky*
• Sandbar*
• Sand tiger*
• Shortfin mako
• Tiger shark
• White shark*

Some of the bottom and forage species that are likely to occur in this area are:

• Winter skate
• Clear nose skate
• Little skate
• Longfin squid
• Several species of shad and river herring (alewife and blueback herring)
• Atlantic herring
• Atlantic butterfish
• Atlantic mackerel
• American eel
• Smooth and spiny dogfish
• Atlantic menhaden
• Jonah crab

The benefits of offshore wind turbines for marine life have been clearly demonstrated by the first seven prototype turbines (five at Block Island and two in Virginia) that have been installed in the United States. Mussels and other bottom-dwelling fauna quickly colonized the rocky bases, turning them into artificial reefs in just a few months. Forage and game fish and marine life of all kinds were attracted to the area almost immediately after construction. Even with the turbines spinning and the triple wound heavily insulated submarine cables buried 6 feet deep below the seabed, marine life is thriving!

The fishing around these new “energy reefs” has been fantastic and improving daily as the reefs mature. Our fishy crystal ball sees a bright future for fisherman at the Empire Wind farm and we can’t wait.  

Capt. Paul Eidman is an NJ-based small business owner of Reel Therapy fishing charters and an advocate for fisheries conservation and habitat. He represents Anglers for Offshore Wind Power, a group that is speaking up for responsibly developed offshore wind power. AFOWP's key principles are Angler access, angler input, and science before, during, and after construction.

 

Greedy fish grinders take 13 million fish (Pounds) right out of the mouths of our local whales and dolphins

 Just a couple of years ago, Omega Protein Inc, based out of Reedville, Virginia, made a handshake agreement with the folks around the Chesapeake Bay stating that they would avoid fishing Atlantic Menhaden (Bunker) inside the bay as much as possible and fish out in the ocean.

In 2019, they reneged on their word and not only fished the bay but fished over their allocation, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted Virginia out of compliance. This season, they continued to fish the bunker out of the bay until there weren’t any left to catch, so they headed out to sea.

With its own fleet of planes, Omega searches the waters looking for the massive schools of bunker that gather on the surface and then call in the bunker boats to catch them up with ease. These very skilled pilots can even determine if the schools contain the right size fish and that the school won’t overload the nets. 

Last week, one of our volunteers alerted me that 4 Omega planes landed in Monmouth County, New Jersey, and another in Long Island NY.  Then we watched online as 7 massive Omega ships headed northward at full speed and then stay for 2 days.

We have been through this before back in 2018, so we knew exactly what was going down. They were going to slam the New York Bight again, a fertile area between New York and New Jersey that is loaded up with bunkers much of the year.

Think about this, by July 4th of the 2023 season that started in May, the planes couldn’t find a single school of bunker worth catching between Virginia and New Jersey. Now, if that’s not a sign of fishery management failure, what is? Note that in 2018, they didn’t arrive up here until September. Interesting, that back then they were able to fish the entire summer in the bay and offshore – but clearly, things have changed for the worse. 

Omega vessels in exact fishing positions on Ambrose shipping Channels,
On top of the feeding grounds of the Humpback whales and where the Bunker overwintered.
If this isn't an ecologically sensitive area, what is??? 

The Fleeton 175 feet long x 39 feet wide can carry 2 million Adult Atlantic Menhaden (Bunker)
 just one of the seven vessels to attack the waters off of NY and NJ

So, Omega captains decide to fuel up 7 ships, and 6 planes, and go on a journey. This bunker reduction business of grinding them up for fish meal and oil must be very profitable! Why else would the Omega fleet take on the expense of steaming 305 miles away and back again from their home base inside the Chesapeake Bay to NY & NJ?

Bunker are known as “the most important fish in the sea,” same as the title of Bruce Franklin’s great book on the tortured history of this amazing little forage fish. Reduction fishing has historically taken place from Maine to Florida, but as our knowledge of its harmful impacts on the marine environment has increased – and as the coastwide population decreased – every East Coast state outlawed reduction fishing for menhaden... 

                                                   Except Virginia

Unfortunately, due to decades of fishing pressure being reduced to Virginia waters and the mid-Atlantic, notably inside the Chesapeake Bay, the localized menhaden population is crashing and the bay is dying. 

Canadian-based Cooke Seafood bought Omega Protein back in 2017 for $500 million to vertically integrate, and be able to feed the salmon and other fish that they raise in pens all over the world. A big slice of the fish caught are also ground up for the companion pet industry, a protein source, and a flavor enhancer for our beloved dogs and cats. That’s only two divisions of many; Cooke is a $3 billion dollar-a-year global company and is gobbling up additional companies rapidly. Yes, Cooke is literally vacuuming up America’s key baitfish for export and profit while our coastal ecosystems scramble to find other fish to eat, and small businesses that depend upon the abundance of these fish for commercial and recreational fishing, whale watching, and more take a major hit.

Just one of the many Salmon pens on the West and East coast of Canada, fed by American Bunker

Yes, as per Omega’s public relations rhetoric we hear that the governing management body, the ASMFC has declared that the fishery is “not overfished and overfishing is not occurring”, and everything Omega does is legal and within very constrained regulations. Yet Omega has literally taken all the desired adult fish out of the local waters around Virginia and run out of fish for its own nets.

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary on the East Coast. When you hear the word estuary, think nursery. The bay used to be an idyllic vacation spot, with amazing waters, provide bountiful seafood, a world-class blue claw crab and oyster fishery, and produced over 75% of the fish for one of the largest economic engines of the East Coast, the recreational striped bass fishery. Maryland and Virginia-based small coastal businesses are witnessing a death of a thousand cuts as the Chesapeake Bay as water quality and bounty fade into the past and have the potential to take the entire coastal ecosystem down with it. 

The newly implemented ecosystem-based management system for the Menhaden fishery is designed to take every creature in the ecosystem into consideration, in addition to providing sustainable harvest levels for companies like Omega Protein. 

It took the 7 Omega ships less than 20 hours of fishing to vacuum up, kill and remove 13 MILLION pounds of bait fish out of the NY Bight, within sight of a dozen Humpback whales and Bottlenose dolphins that were actively feeding on them. 

Clearly, we cannot rely upon Omega Protein Inc, or Cooke Seafood to be “good stewards” or for that matter, the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission (ASMFC) to manage our coastal waters. Substantial and accurately directed changes are needed to STOP industrialized extraction in environmentally sensitive areas before a coastal ecosystem collapse occurs.

Capt. Paul Eidman

Founder of Menhaden Defenders.org

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Organizations Object to Certification of the “Most Important Fish in the Sea”

Credibility of the Marine Stewardship Council at Stake with Atlantic Menhaden Reduction Fishery
East Coast conservation groups and recreational fishing organizations recently objected to a recommendation by the consulting firm SAI Global to certify the industrial fishery for Atlantic menhaden as sustainable.  The recommendation came as part of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification scheme which considers whether or not Omega Protein Inc, a purse seining operation that “reduces” billions of fish meal and oil for use in pet food and aquaculture feed, fishes sustainably. 

Menhaden are often called “the most important fish in the sea” for the critical role they play in the marine ecosystem as forage food for dozens of predators, including bald eagles, ospreys, humpback whales, bluefin tuna, tarpon, and striped bass. 

“It would be a travesty if the Marine Stewardship Council agrees to certify this fishery,” said Paul Eidman of Menhaden Defenders.  “Until menhaden are managed to account for the needs of predators, the MSC should hold off.”
"Omega Protein has literally been taking food right out of the mouths of the whales and dolphins feeding in the waters off of New York and New Jersey,” added Paul Sieswerda of Gotham Whale.  “How can that possibly be considered sustainable?”

Cooke Inc, the Canadian company that recently acquired Omega Protein, now owns the only remaining reduction fishery on the East Coast.  Each year, the Virginia based subsidiary, catches hundreds of millions of these “forage” fish and grinds them up for sale on a global commodities market. 

Recent scientific studies have quantified the adverse impacts of the menhaden reduction fishery on other species, including a recent one from the University of Maryland which found that the reduction fishery reduced the striped bass biomass by 28%. 



“As a striped bass fisherman, I find it repulsive that the reduction industry is allowed to deplete the striped bass fishery by almost 30%,” said John Bello of the Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association. “Instead of certifying the fishery as sustainable, elected officials should ban this antiquated practice altogether.  Virginia should join every other East coast state in the 21​st​ Century.” 


The Marine Stewardship Council certification scheme is funded largely by the industrial fishing applicants who also choose which consultants will do the review. 
“This is a pay-to-play system through and through,” said Eidman.  “otherwise, why would the industry be certified BEFORE meeting the MSC standard for forage fish management.” 

 “Certifying this fishery would be premature,” said George Jackman, of Riverkeeper.  “It’s like awarding a diploma to a student who hasn’t even enrolled in school.”
“Omega Protein has fought every conservation provision ever imposed on the fishery,” said Bello.  “Why would anyone think that will change now?” Many organizations recently submitted public comments prior to the January 14​th​ deadline calling for the MSC to reject the Atlantic menhaden reduction fishery certification.  The decision will be announced as soon as mid-February. 

May 5th 2015- Menhaden Meeting Coming your way

Atlantic Menhaden (Bunker)

2015 Quota and Ecosystem Management

On May 5, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASFMC) will make pivotal votes about the 2015 Atlantic menhaden quota and could begin work to change future management, including conservation and allocation decisions.  The ASMFC could increase the quota for this year with no understanding of the impact on predators like striped bass, or managers could adopt ecosystem goals and advance responsible management of this most important fish in the sea.  Managers should not increase the 2015 quota for menhaden unless they leave enough in the ocean as food for predators.  Current quota shortages should be addressed by reallocation or trading, not by sacrificing coastwide conservation.

Despite some positive trends, Atlantic menhaden is still in need of conservation. 

·              A new stock assessment shows that coastwide Atlantic menhaden biomass (the combined weight of all fish) has increased in recent years after a steep decline in the 1990s.

·              The stock assessment also finds that the actual abundance (number of fish) remains well below historic levels. This is what matters most to predators like striped bass.

·              Recruitment (the number of fish surviving past 1 year) remains low.

·              The menhaden population has not recovered throughout its historic range from Maine to Florida.

·              Fishing effort is highly concentrated in the Chesapeake Bay and mid-Atlantic which risks localized depletion.

·              See below for charts from the assessment showing biomass and abundance trends (Figure 1), then recruitment (Figure 2). 

 The ASFMC should not increase the menhaden catch limit without providing for predators. 

·              On May 5, the Commission should adopt interim Ecological Reference Points (accounting for predator needs) when making decisions about the 2015 quota and initiate an amendment to transition to long term ecological management.   

·              Increasing the coastwide menhaden catch without consideration of the cost to predators would be irresponsible.  Most menhaden predator populations are at best stable, and in many cases are declining. 

·              The Commission just made a difficult decision to reduce the striped bass catch to address a decline.  Other Atlantic menhaden predators that are important for recreational and commercial fishing include highly-depleted weakfish, cod, and bluefin tuna.  The Commission must provide enough food for these predator populations to rebuild and thrive, and avoid future quota cuts. 

·              Menhaden are also food for seabirds like osprey and eagles, and cetaceans like humpback whales which support ecotourism businesses.  These wildlife species are economically important to Atlantic states. 

·              Consider the potential value that a growth in menhaden abundance would provide for the local seafood supply and associated jobs along the Atlantic coast.  Why risk undermining broader conservation efforts?

The ASMFC should adopt ecosystem-based management of menhaden.

·         The time has come for managers to transition to ecosystem-based fishery management for Atlantic menhaden.  In 2001, the ASFMC’s first amendment for menhaden included this objective: “Protect and maintain the important ecological role Atlantic menhaden play along the coast.”  

·         The new stock assessment’s peer review:  “strongly encourages the [technical committee] and the Management Board to initiate a formal dialog, ideally inclusive of key stakeholder groups, to inform the development of Ecological Reference Points…to develop a common perspective among scientists, managers, and stakeholders about the strategy for defining reference points that reflect a broader ecological perspective on the Atlantic menhaden fishery…The [technical committee] has done a thorough job of investigating and summarizing the options. Now it is time for managers and stakeholders to guide the way forward.” (Review Workshop Report, page 27).  

·         The Commission should heed this call and act now to advance ecosystem management for this important forage fish.  

Contact info for NY, NJ, DE commissioners:

New York:
Jim Gilmore (NY DEC)
James.Gilmore@dec.ny.gov
632-444-0433
Proxy:  steve.heins@dec.ny.gov

Emerson Hasbrouck
Cornell Cooperative Extension
ech12@cornell.edu

Sen. Philip Boyle
518-455-3411
pboyle@nysenate.gov

New Jersey
David Chanda (NJ DEP)
609-292-9410
dave.chanda@dep.state.nj.us

Tom Fote
732-270-9102
tfote@jcaa.org

Assemblyman Sgt. Robert Andrzejczak
609-465-0700
mailto:AsmAndrzejczak@njleg.org

Proxy:  Adam Nowalsky
captadam@karenannii.com

DE:
David Savekis (DNR)
302-739-9910
david.saveikis@state.de.us

Roy miller
302-645-7103
fishmaster70@comcast.net

Represenative William Carson
302-744-4113
william.carson@state.de.us

 

The ASFMC should not increase the catch without reallocation.

·         All states stand to benefit from effective conservation, and only one would benefit significantly from increasing the quota in 2015 (Virginia).  A proportional increase to the 2015 quota (for example, even the maximum proposed 20 percent increase over the 2014 quota for each state), without reallocation, will not solve any state’s quota shortages or bait industry challenges.  See below for a chart that shows the quota by state if the proposed 10 or 20 percent increases occurred without reallocation.  (Figure 3)

·         The ASMFC should not risk the health of the coastal ecosystem to give nearly all of the increase to Virginia, which does not need an immediate quota increase. 

·         The reduction fishery (Omega Protein) has 80 percent of the coastwide quota and continued to be successful in 2014, the second year under the current catch limit. 

·         From their 2014 performance press release: “Revenues in the twelve months ended December 31, 2014 increased 26% to $308.6 million compared to revenues of $244.3 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2013.” http://ir.omegaprotein.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=901156  
 

·         Under the current (Amendment 2) management system, quota can be traded between states.  Virginia could transfer a relatively small amount of quota and solve all other states’ current shortages without increasing the coastwide catch.

Another Omega Public Relations smokescreen

 Scooping up pogies  faster and easier than ever before, send the old ships to the gulf and add a couple of really nice BIG ones to the Mid Atlantic fleet... here's one of two of Omega's latest fleet additions docked in Reedville, VA

 

In a recent article in The National Fisherman*, (a commercial fishing magazine) Omega Protein Corporation public relations officer bemoans recently implemented regulations aimed at restoring and rebuilding stocks of the most important fish in the sea.

One would think that a company that claims to be such a caring, responsible steward of the waters would embrace conservation measures with open arms. The measures not only provide an assurance of an abundant catch in the future as well as added job security for their employees, but also a bonus of being able to fish closer to home, cutting fuel costs and adding even more profit to the bottom line. Business is booming for Omega right now, so it’s hard to believe they would bother focusing on the negative instead of the bounty before them. By making some very clever company acquisitions, market diversification and cost cutting measures, Omegas stock (OME) has gone from $4 per share to over $14 per share over the past 5 years!

Instead, once again, Ben Landry, Omega's suited up PR director climbs down from his perch above the commoners of Reedville to poke at a blog post** by Peter Baker of Pew Charitable trust which heralds the successful implementation of the first ever catch limits in 2013. 

Mr. Landry tactfully draws the readers focus to a couple of states (NY & MD) that did not reduce their landings in 2013, one through a “bycatch” loophole for pound nets and the other through a “quota swap.”   While I agree that all states MUST comply with the new measures and provide accurate data to the ASMFC, I find it peculiar that Mr. Landry is even concerned about an amount of bunker that would be a mere fish stain on the deck of a 190 foot long Omega factory ship.

It’s more important now than ever before to remember that on that fateful December day back in 2012, Omega was in fact, granted the lion share of all the bunker on the east coast, a full 85+% of the total harvest went to Virginia, leaving other states bait harvesters along the coast to fight over the scrappy percentage left behind. For the life of me, I can't believe that the Reedville watermen themselves, would screw over fellow baymen , especially in these hard times. These fishermen literally share the same waters, yet the corporation acts in complete disregard of baymen gathering fresh bait out of pound nets right across the bay. Would it have been so hard to give up just a few more tons to help out the little guys in MD or NY?

This is just the tip of the iceberg for selfish Omega, as they will do just about anything to build profits and keep stock prices soaring and in turn, shareholders happy. What gets very little notice in the media is that when these giant ships move into an area and proceed to fill up the hull, they leave a void behind. With all the bait fish removed, the gamefish move off, and the local fisherman that depend upon a healthy stock of gamefish to provide a day’s catch are screwed.  All of us on the water know "localized depletion" well, and Omega could care less. 

Whether operating in the mid Atlantic or in the Gulf of Mexico (where there are still no catch limits) anglers and the eco system are always left with the short end of the stick. The industrial scale and rate of removal of these talented ship captains and spotter plane pilots is second to none. Make no mistake about it, this is the largest commercial fishery, in numbers of fish, in the USA and this type of fishing, day after day, leaves nothing but slimy smelly foam in its wake.

Mr. Landry continues to distract  from the facts of doing business as usual. Distracting investors away from the fact that in 2012, execs got $900,000 worth of bonuses while the average Reedville boatman was paid $35,000 for the whole season. Omega execs are lining their pockets with this overflow due in part to more than 50% of the American baitfish that they scoop up are ground up and shipped to China's booming aquaculture industry. This end of the business, while less profitable than the human nutrition end of things, is projected grow at the rate of more that 8-10% a year right on thru until cheap Chinese labor runs out.

The bottom line is that Omega Protein Execs continue to reap  profits from a free American resource, while exploiting the bottom rung of the food chain, and, in turn, fellow Americans that depend on healthy waters to make a living. The time has come to put an end to the antiquated practice of harvesting vast quantities of forage fish, reducing them to oil and meal, and taking meals away from the very fish that we rely upon for food and sport.  (Virginia is the only East Coast State which still allows reduction fishing).  

Leaving an imbalanced ecosystem and too little  food for predator fish or marine life in the water is about as selfish a corporate act as I can imagine. It’s clearly time for Omega to diversify and re invest in sustainable, organic protein/Omega-3 sources, from algae, flax seed, soy, camelina etc. and to finally become the good corporate citizen that they say they are.

* http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2014/07/22/12038470/Ben%20Landry%20-%20Pew%20imprecise%20on%20pogies%20-NF_Aug14_OnDeck.pdf
** http://www.talkingfish.org/opinion/atlantic-menhaden-catch-cap-a-success-millions-more-of-the-most-important-fish-in-the-sea

http://www.prweb.com/releases/omegaproteinbenlandry/nationalfisherman/prweb12038470.htm