NOAA Fisheries: Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the SouthCoast Wind Project

North Atlantic Right Whale

One of our most significant concerns involves the potential impacts of the construction and operation of this project on  endangered North Atlantic right whales. As described in previous correspondence, Nantucket Shoals and adjacent waters are a biologically important area for right whales and a primary winter foraging aggregation area for right whales (see for example, Quintana-Rizzo et al. 2021, Davis et al. 2017). Use of this area has increased significantly since 2010 as right whale habitat use has shifted (Quintana-Rizzo et al. 2021, NMFS 2022). Without the implementation of robust and effective mitigation measures, it is our view that significant impacts on North Atlantic right whales may occur from project construction and operation due to direct impacts on North Atlantic right whales during construction, long-term impacts to foraging as a result of project operations, and potential mortality or serious injury from vessel strikes over the life of the project. The DEIS preliminarily concludes that the proposed mitigation measures are not sufficient to avoid vessel strike on North Atlantic right whales. BOEM concludes in the DEIS that vessel strike of a North Atlantic right whale cannot be ruled out even with SouthCoast Wind’s proposed avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures (AMMs). The death of a single North Atlantic right whale would have population level consequences; therefore, impacts of vessel traffic are considered major in the DEIS. As such, BOEM should require additional mitigation measures that would minimize risk of vessel strike such that it would not be expected to occur; any such measures should be clearly described and their impact and effectiveness analyzed in the FEIS.

We have previously expressed concern about the operational impacts of the project on North Atlantic right whales. Those concerns remain. We continue to encourage BOEM to more fully evaluate the available literature to assess the impacts of the presence of structures and operation of WTGs on ecological conditions that support right whale foraging in Southern New England and to develop measures to avoid and minimize these effects from the SouthCoast Wind project. While we agree that there is some uncertainty and more research is needed, the DEIS does not fully evaluate the extent of all potential impacts in the Presence of Structures section for the proposed action (Alternative B, section 3.5.6.5). The DEIS does not recognize the importance of Nantucket Shoals and surrounding waters as a primary foraging habitat for North Atlantic right whales and does not fully address the potential effects of the action, including the approximately 30-year operational period, on North Atlantic right whale prey, foraging behavior, and health and fitness of individual right whales. As currently written, the impact determination for Presence of Structures focuses on reef effects and accumulation of ghost gear. It does not provide any conclusion related to oceanographic or wind wake effects on the abundance or distribution of prey, or the effects on North Atlantic right whale foraging within the SouthCoast Wind project area or the surrounding waters of Nantucket Shoals. We consider these issues and effects to be significant, requiring focused attention and evaluation in the FEIS.