Can fishermen fish inside offshore wind farms?

Fishermen will be allowed to fish amid U.S. wind turbines. That doesn’t mean they will. Why is there concern about wind farm tracts in the ocean and why does the fishing industry see this as a conflict? Is it possible to allow both to use the same area once a farm is built? Can turbines produce energy and be fished around? I know they say oil rigs act as natural reefs and attract fish, so why is this a conflict of interests? — William Thorn

In Europe, where offshore wind turbines have operated for a decade or more, some governments ban fishermen from entering wind farms. Others limit the activity to only “passive” fishing (crab pots, for example). But in the U.S., fishermen will be allowed to fish in the wind farms once they’re up and operating. That doesn’t mean they will.

Fishermen’s decisions will depend on several factors: their type of gear (are they towing a net or deploying fixed gear, like lobster traps?); weather conditions; and where the fish are. In addition to safety risks, some fishermen are concerned that wind farms will impact the distribution and behavior of fish stocks at the turbine or regional scale.

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“From the fishing industry perspective, the vast majority of the gear types we work with are not feeling that they would be able to safely operate within a wind farm,” said Lane Johnston, manager at the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA). The organization advocates on behalf of fishermen, and is engaged in a lawsuit against an offshore wind project. 

Turbines are spaced about one nautical mile apart. Though that seems far away on a small vessel, Johnston said fishing nets can extend far from the boats and shift in currents. Additionally, the vessel will want to follow where the fish are: “You’re not always fishing in a straight line between turbine A and B.”

The safety concern of navigating within the wind arrays is also compounded by potential turbine impacts on vessel radar. 

Scallop, fisheries survey impacts

Scallops, which have secured New Bedford’s position as the highest value port in the country for more than two decades, are likely to be impacted by wind development. 

“It is unlikely that the scallop fleet will be able to harvest within the confines of a windfarm, and this would result in the loss of access to a substantial portion of fishing area and harvestable scallop biomass,” reads a 2023 study from fisheries scientist and dean of UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology, Kevin Stokesbury. 

Vineyard Wind, now under construction south of Martha’s Vineyard, doesn’t overlap significantly with scallop fisheries. But other planned wind farms off the mid-Atlantic coast do. The New Bedford Port Authority has repeatedly cited concerns, including this fall in a letter to federal regulators, raising “grave concerns” over 13.4 million acres that may be opened to wind farm developers in the Central Atlantic, which could put up to $2 billion in commercial fishing revenue at risk, The Light previously reported.

Researchers are investigating how the bivalve responds to pile driving — a noisy activity that involves pounding steel turbine foundations into the ocean bottom. Research is ongoing, but early results suggest that the noise causes the scallops to spend more energy. 

Limited experience with many unknowns 

For many years, the U.S. only had Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island as a place to study these complicated questions about co-existence and wind farms’ impacts on fishing. Some recreational fishermen report that the farm improved fishing, with the turbines acting as artificial reefs that attract the fish. But an “artificial reef effect” in tracts of ocean that had previously been mud, sand, and shell debris may not be beneficial to all species. 

Scientists are trying to fill these knowledge gaps. How will changes to fish habitat, with the introduction of rock piles around each turbine base, for example, affect different species? Some marine life, including predators, might be drawn to it; others might be displaced. 

The five-turbine Block Island project is also a much smaller scale than the farms being installed today, and further, existed in isolation. Researchers are contemplating how to measure impacts at a regional scale, when multiple farms are operating at once and next to each other.

Federal regulators have stated projects will have impacts on fisheries ranging from minor to major adverse. So wind developers have established compensation funds to repay fishermen for damaged or lost gear during construction and operation of the wind farm, loss of access to fishing grounds, and other possible impacts. They’re also conducting their own studies and fisheries monitoring programs. 

Vineyard Wind remains under construction, which means fishing is precluded there for now. South Fork Wind, a 12-turbine farm off the Rhode Island coast, has been fully operational since earlier this year, and a company spokesperson said they “regularly see both commercial and recreational fishing vessels in the area.”

Further study needed

“An enormous amount of research is still needed in order to understand the impact of offshore wind on the environment and fisheries,” stated a 2023 report by the federal government and fishing industry representatives. 

Since offshore wind development is in its early stages in the U.S., scientists don’t have all the answers on fisheries impacts. The Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) has identified 170 current research projects on fisheries funded by wind developers, universities and government agencies.

ROSA itself is helping to investigate how floating offshore wind turbines might restrict commercial fishing in the Gulf of Maine. The researchers are collaborating with both commercial and recreational fishermen to design turbine arrays that would enable coexistence. 

In Southern New England, other studies are looking at movement patterns of fish, and how offshore wind noise impacts the behavior of sea bass and scallop larva.

Under the Biden administration’s goals, the country would need to install thousands of wind turbines along the outer continental shelf (on both coasts) by 2050. As those turbines go into the water, developers and scientists will collect and review data during the different stages of development. 

Scientists would like to see at least three years of data pre-construction, one year during, and at least three years post-construction in order to properly assess impacts to marine resources. 

In a few years, they’ll likely have some answers, but not all.