What Jersey Shore fishermen can learn from offshore wind farm spinning off Long Island

Only the silent hum of the ferry as it curved around the side of one of a dozen towering wind turbines could be heard Wednesday morning off Long Island.

Nearby, fishing vessels were dwarfed by the 460-foot tall towers.

A few boats flecked the horizon, traveling between the vast miles that stretched from Block Island to the South Fork wind farm. One of them was helmed by a local fisherman who’s been on these waters for over half a century.

“I was out there today,” James “Ace” Auteri, of the “Miste Rose,” told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday night. “Yeah, I can go wherever I wanna go. The only time we had to stay clear of the area was during construction.”

The 71-year-old pot fisherman targets lobster and black sea bass off the coast of Montauk, New York, and also lands some of his catch in New Jersey.

Auteri — who sets up his pots 1 1/2 to 3 miles from the turbines, which are about 35 miles off the coast — says sea bass have been steady, but his lobster haul tells a different story.

“My catch last year by the windmills was off 60%,” Auteri said on the phone, speaking of the projects that began operating in August after two years of construction.

“I’m not a scientist, and only time will tell but ... they tore up some of the best fishing bottom that there was to put these things up,” he added.

The company in response noted it has responsibly, and with a bevy of community and fishermen feedback, built and overseen its two East coast offshore wind farms — the only it has currently operating in the nation.

Nonetheless, Auteri and fishermen up and down the East Coast, including the Jersey Shore, have shared concerns over whether species they rely on will continue to frequent the areas where sweeping wind farms (taller than the Statue of Liberty) are sited or will be. And, they say, if it is proven wind farms drive fish away they should get money to make up for their economic loss.

So far, no evidence has shown specific fish species being adversely affected by offshore wind blades and substations. However, last year a federal study found prolonged “pile driving” during construction may have severe or mortal ramifications.

“We have several fisheries monitoring studies ongoing. These studies were developed and started several years prior to construction of South Fork and will continue for several years post-construction,” Karl-Erik Stromsta, a spokesperson for Ørsted, told NJ Advance Media on Thursday, adding that commercial and recreational reps were included in sketching out plans.

The Ørsted official said besides compensation programs, the company has “many other initiatives to support coexistence with fishing communities.”

Still, many stakeholders say they will monitor how the newly built South Fork Wind affects fishermen in the months and years to come. It could be instructive for the rest of the Atlantic Coast.

While wind farms are espoused by clean energy advocates who highlight their importance in fighting climate change, wind construction of the scope happening now — where hundreds of turbines are planned for the North Atlantic — remains unchartered territory in the region.

Similar wind projects in Europe offer little guidance, according to experts, due to the marine species there, the size of those wind turbines and because they are closer to the shoreline overseas.

Also, South Fork Wind — the first U.S. commercial-scale offshore wind farm capable of powering about 70,000 homes annually — includes 12 wind turbines.

The first New Jersey wind farm from a different developer, Atlantic Shores, calls for nearly 200 turbines between roughly 8.7 miles to 12 miles offshore of Atlantic City. That development is scheduled to be built starting next year and will be up and running by 2028. Those wind turbines will be able to exceed 500 feet in height — that’s half as tall as the Eiffel Tower and even taller than South Fork Wind — and towers would be similarly spaced out (although project plans are still pending).

Two other offshore wind projects planned for the coast of New Jersey in the years to come would be 40 miles or more beyond the shore.

Critics of offshore wind say more studies are not only needed to determine impacts on ocean species, and by extension the fishing industry, but more should have happened prior to the building of existing wind farms in the Atlantic. Construction of another wind project, the larger Revolution Wind, could be seen near South Fork on Wednesday.

Supporters of offshore energy point to strict wind farm regulations, a comprehensive permitting process and extensive multi-year analysis taking place before turbines are built and after.

Discussions have also already been happening about rightfully compensating fishermen. Stromsta, of Ørsted, said the Denmark-based company has committed $54 million to do just that.

“If you look at a map, you know there’s going to be a lot of projects in the area, so (it’s about) trying to provide them some efficiencies and creating a regional program for (fishermen),” said Kris Ohleth, the director of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind and former stakeholder engagement manager at Ørsted.

“It’s just an evolution of a conversation that’s been going on for a long time,” she continued, “where fishermen have been wondering, ‘how are we going to be made whole (if) we have these types of financial impacts to our livelihoods?’”

‘Don’t try and nickel and dime me’

Progress was recently made on rolling out a fund to compensate fishermen affected by wind development up north in Massachusetts.

But even those in favor of wind power emphasize the need for a wider regional program instead of one that’s piecemeal.

“We’ve done a lot of work with members of the fishing community in New Jersey and they have been part of what we’re calling our fisheries advisors team, who have been kind of giving us really discreet and specific feedback. In general, the fishing community is supportive of being compensated, as you may imagine,” said Ohleth, of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind.

Existing compensation programs have provided lessons. For one, streamline the process and avoid red tape, Ohleth said. More talks may also happen over what fishermen have to “waive” as part of agreeing to be compensated. Controversy has bubbled up about applicants waiving their right to sue for additional damages linked to loss of fishing income.

Some fishermen are onboard.

“Pay me and I will not fish there,” Auteri, who sets up traps near Montauk, said. “As simple as that. Don’t try and nickel and dime me and squeeze me out of there which is what they’ve been doing.”

Auteri, who has already filed in some cases for financial losses, said all in all he has not been compensated fairly.

Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and an advocate for the industry, says plenty of fishermen are still dubious of what it means to get paid by wind companies developing on the Eastern Seaboard.

Brady listed off concerns she has and she’s heard others echo: Have fishermen off Long Island already been compensated fairly? She doubts that. How will fishermen who traverse areas offshore elsewhere in New York and New Jersey be compensated in the future? What fish species are still being affected today?

She enumerated the species caught near South Fork Wind and around the coast that people are concerned about.

“Cod, scallops, lobsters, we’ve also got squid in the area,” said Brady, whose husband is a fisherman. “There are some fishermen I know that fish in the area of Coxes Ledge and from what I’ve been told the scallops are gone.”

Greg Cudnik, a Barnegat Light fisherman for nearly 40 years, named summer flounder, black sea bass, striped bass and sand eels as other species he’s worried about.

Cudnik also says he’s not a commercial fisherman but a for-hire charter captain who runs a fishing store in Ship Bottom. But therein lies another issue, he claimed, regarding who is set to be paid as a nascent wind industry moves in.

“They have no mitigation plan in effect that will help out the New Jersey recreational fishing community and the businesses that support and depend on that recreational community,” Cudnik said. “So, bait and tackle shops, charter boats for hire ... you can extrapolate down into the tourism side of things with fisheries.”

Both Brady and Cudnik are a part of Protect Our Coast, which has been linked in the past to another organization with connections to fossil fuel interests and climate crisis denialism — however the Jersey group has distanced itself from that.

As far as species concerns, an Ørsted spokesman said the developer is communicative and “directly responsive to requests from the fishing community.”

In an email, Ørsted said its taken various steps to be transparent including:

• creating a Fisheries Research and Monitoring Plan for South Fork Wind
• spacing out its turbines across lease areas to be 1x1 nautical mile (”the widest spacing of any offshore wind farm in the world”)
• sending out bi-weekly “Mariners Briefings”

Ørsted, which last year shockingly canceled two wind farms planned for New Jersey, did not have updates on the fate of the lease areas it still owns off New Jersey’s coast. Selling those areas to another wind developer is a possibility.