Environmentalists want to crack down on the Maine lobster industry in the name of protecting endangered whales, but they turn a blind eye to the greater threat to whales from proposed offshore wind farms. The irony is almost as delicious as the lobster dinners at stake.
Green groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife routinely target commercial fishing by claiming that it causes ancillary harm to marine species protected under the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws. This includes the North Atlantic right whale, whose population of only 350 or so migrates up and down the Atlantic Coast and can cross prime lobster territory off New England.
These activists have supported costly additional federal measures that purportedly reduce the risk of whale injuries and deaths from becoming tangled in the ropes attached to lobster traps or getting hit by the boats. And they have thus far prevailed in federal court, though the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, which believes these new requirements are unnecessary and could spell the end for their small operator-dominated industry, is appealing.
The threat is almost entirely speculative. The Maine lobster industry has co-existed with migrating whales for a long time, and actual confirmed instances of harm are exceedingly rare. “The last known entanglement in Maine lobster gear happened more than 17 years ago, and that whale survived. In fact, there has never been a right whale death in Maine lobster gear,” notes Maine Lobstermen’s Association Vice President Dustin Delano
Maine law and agreed-upon practices undertaken by lobstermen have a remarkable track record for avoiding problems – be it overfishing or damage to other species – and these practices continue to evolve to address emerging challenges.
While the Maine lobster industry has a solid track record that should dispel any concerns, the same cannot be said of proposals to introduce hundreds and eventually thousands of massive offshore wind turbines. Ten large wind farms have been proposed along the right whale’s migratory path, part of the Biden Administration’s goal of building 30 Gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. It’s a key component of President’s climate change agenda.
Rather than a few pilot projects from which to gain experience, we are rushing into a massive buildout of offshore wind throughout right whale habitat, the consequences of which we will discover the hard way. And the same environmental groups willing to jeopardize the jobs of thousands of lobstermen for the sake of the whales appear to be far less concerned about this large-scale experiment.
The risks to the whales are real. Bloomberg News recently obtained an internal document in which a senior federal scientist raised concerns that “[a]dditional noise, vessel traffic and habitat modifications due to offshore wind development will likely cause added stress that could result in additional population consequences to a species that is already experiencing rapid decline.” But don’t expect the Center for Biological Diversity or any of the other anti-lobster litigators to file suit this time, as they do not want to stand in the way of President Biden’s climate crusade.
Given the current low numbers, the North Atlantic right whale may or may not survive into the next century. If it doesn’t, America’s risky experiment in offshore wind, and not lobster fishing, will be the far more likely cause.
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Biden's 30,000 MW of Offshore Wind Will Cause the Extinction of the North Atlantic Right Whales.
New NOAA map shows North Atlantic Right Whales in very same areas targeted for offshore wind development
By Robert Bryce
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I love maps. The walls of my old office were covered with them – pipeline maps, railroad maps, state maps, and one of my favorites: Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion map.
Electronic maps are handy, but I don’t trust them. Whenever I go on a road trip, I always take a paper map. The info they provide is often richer and more detailed than what you can get on a smartphone app.
I mention that personal history because of two maps I found yesterday. They provide proof that the Biden administration’s ambitious offshore wind plans (30,000 megawatts is the target) are in direct conflict with the need to preserve the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.
I’ve posted the maps twice. I posted them above in a side-by-side view and again below in a larger format, so you can see them in better detail.
The map on the left was published on December 30 by the fisheries division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.
It was included in a notice titled “New Right Whale Slow Zone South of Nantucket, MA – Effective Throug....”
The notice warns boaters to reduce their speed in the marked areas to 10 knots or less. The yellow areas are where North Atlantic Right Whales have been sighted. The red areas are the Seasonal Management Areas (SMA).
The map on the right is readily available on the website of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). It’s dated June 30, 2022, and shows the proposed offshore wind projects.
Together, the maps clearly show, offshore wind projects being approved by the Biden Administration could be built right on top of the habitat of the North Atlantic Right Whale, a species that is seeing huge population losses.
Over the past decade or so, the whale’s population has plunged by about 26% and there are only about 70 breeding femal....
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