News

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About Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies — across the United States — committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. The alliance works to directly collaborate with relevant regulatory agencies, scientists, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to managing development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

Connect with RODA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Contact:

Haley Steinhauser

Haley@espadvisor.com

+1(562)991-3170

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date Published: Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Washington, D.C. — On Friday, January 7, 2022, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), along with many other commercial fishing associations and businesses across the country issued recommendations to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for reducing impacts from offshore wind energy development to fishing, coastal communities, and sustainable domestic seafood production.

Guidelines alone cannot achieve strong oversight

Strong mitigation requirements must be standardized to protect marine resources and existing uses of the Outer Continental Shelf. The most important step for BOEM to take immediately is to implement effective processes to mitigate fisheries impacts during offshore wind planning and project design. These must be supported by regulations and strong federal oversight, rather than deferring to developers’ voluntary measures to accommodate fishing safety and resiliency.

Mitigation must follow a step-wise approach

The “mitigation hierarchy” outlined by the National Environmental Policy Act requires an agency to evaluate whether a project has taken effective actions to, in sequential order, avoid, minimize, mitigate, and compensate for impacts. Fishing industry groups urged BOEM to prioritize immediate action on the first step, avoidance, including developing measurable criteria to site offshore wind infrastructure off of fishing grounds.

Constructive processes are needed for science and governance

The fishing industry repeated long-standing calls for BOEM to implement reasonable processes for fisheries mitigation that are equitable, transparent, inclusive, and intelligible. Best science and management outcomes are achieved with direct involvement of impacted communities and deliberate inclusion of their local knowledge, particularly on topics related to socioeconomics.

Regulations for fisheries are extensive, strict, and follow national standards that integrate regional needs and expertise through fishery management councils. BOEM’s approaches to mitigation must be national in scope, with appropriate regional variances similar to those that have maintained and rebuilt sustainable domestic fisheries. There is much concern that BOEM’s process to date incorporates fishing expertise only through “notice and comment” processes, which are inconsistent with best practices in natural resource management.

Mitigation must be designed to address cumulative impacts

Cumulative impacts of multiple offshore wind projects across a region will produce more severe impacts to biological resources, fishing, and supporting communities than merely the additive effects of single projects. BOEM’s absence of a programmatic approach to offshore wind planning has resulted in excessive demands for meetings and public comments, but little actual understanding of the environmental and socioeconomic effects of large scale offshore wind development. Improving understanding of cumulative effects is prerequisite to their mitigation.

Standardized compensation strategies must be equitable and based in science

Financial compensation is a key part of impact mitigation, but industry members continue to recommend that it should only be the final step of the process after all possible actions have been taken to avoid and minimize risk. Fishing organizations are concerned that BOEM’s process to develop guidelines for impact fees can only result in voluntary, developer-administered funding which will not produce fair results, nor be configurable to address cumulative effects.

In December 2021, RODA released a report assembling the expertise of a large national cross section of fishing industry members on effective guidelines, best practices, and principles regarding compensatory impact fees for the entire seafood industry, from crew members to vessels and shoreside businesses. Without a trusted, participatory process to determine when and how compensation will reduce impacts, the future of our fishing communities will be at serious risk.

It will take some time to develop impact fee determinations that are justified in science and equity. If existing offshore wind projects undergo final review before those are implemented, as an interim-only measure BOEM should require a reasonably-calculated set-aside for each year of operation while administrative mechanisms are developed. While payouts can offset some monetary impacts of offshore wind, achieving the goal of long term seafood sustainability would require those impacts to be avoided through collaborative planning and rigorous oversight.

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About Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies — across the United States — committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. The alliance works to directly collaborate with relevant regulatory agencies, scientists, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to managing development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

Connect with RODA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Contact:

Haley Steinhauser

Haley@espadvisor.com

+1(562)991-3170

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date Published: Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Washington, D.C. — Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies, has filed a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue the federal Government. RODA alleges that the federal Government has violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, as well as other relevant statutes in its approval of the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind energy project. Should the statutory and regulatory violations not be remedied within the next 60 days, RODA and its members state they will file suit under the citizens’ suit provisions of these statutes to require the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies to comply with their legal obligations.

RODA previously filed a Petition for Review in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Monday, September 13th. Today’s letter signals the advancement of legal proceedings in federal district court while the appellate court considers whether it will grant review under the Petition.

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About Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies — across the United States — committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. The alliance works to directly collaborate with relevant regulatory agencies, scientists, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to managing development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

Connect with RODA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Contact:

Haley Steinhauser

Haley@espadvisor.com

+1(562)991-3170

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date Published: Monday, September 13, 2021

Washington, D.C. — Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies, filed a Petition for Review today in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals regarding the Secretary of the Interior’s July 15, 2021 decision approving the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind energy project. This action is the culmination of many years of conscientious participation by fisheries professionals only to see their expertise and value summarily ignored by decision-makers during the leasing process.

The U.S. fishing industry harvests a renewable food source for the American people and provides vital services to coastal communities and the nation; in 2019, U.S. commercial fishermen landed 9.3 billion pounds of seafood valued at $5.5 billion. U.S. fisheries are held to a high standard of sustainability thanks to actions taken by regional fishery management councils, federal agencies, and the dedication of the fishing industry to persist while complying with ever-changing regulations designed to protect our oceans. However, they are under increasing pressure from unfair competition with foreign entities that are able to circumvent stringent environmental oversight. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s hasty approval of this project, which could be the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind installation, adds unacceptable risk to this sustainable industry without any effort to minimize unreasonable interference with traditional and well-managed seafood production and navigation.

“This is a precedent-setting decision by BOEM, and it is critical that they get it right so that future projects are following a trusted roadmap instead of a flawed and dangerous example,” says Anne Hawkins, Executive Director of RODA. “Unfortunately, this lawsuit is the only recourse fishermen have to ensure the fishing communities’ concerns are addressed.”

The fishing industry has consistently voiced serious concerns about the Vineyard Wind project. Their main request is to be able to continue safe operations, but their heritage, well-being, and community structures have been systematically marginalized in the permitting process. The project design approved by BOEM would endanger fishermen by placing turbines too close together for fishing vessels to safely navigate in inclement weather or heavy seas. Based on their understanding of the connectivity of marine systems, fishermen have also repeatedly requested a cumulative impact assessment of offshore wind development to fish and protected resources. Unfortunately, BOEM has not taken a holistic approach to address the cumulative impact of offshore wind on the ocean ecosystem and shoreside communities. It is impossible to effectively plan a new ocean industry without such an analysis, especially one with such a large environmental footprint.

Our nation’s fisheries are managed through a participatory process in which fishermen’s concerns are heard and marine expertise valued through transparent science-based processes, but this has not happened with offshore wind. Late last year, BOEM announced the termination of the federal environmental review process for Vineyard Wind. Just weeks later, immediately after the change in administration, the agency abruptly announced “completion” of that same review and a new, erroneous interpretation of existing law that would inform its decision without even accepting public comment.

The federal government must provide prudent and unbiased oversight in energy policy, carefully balancing multiple public interests. Instead, BOEM has failed to sincerely consider any mitigation measures beyond those voluntarily suggested by the investment banks and multinational energy giants to which it is leasing federal lands and waters. Climate change must be addressed, but in a way that deliberatively minimizes these emerging technologies’ direct impacts to marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and food security. 

Fishermen are committed to responsible ocean stewardship and have proven that by attending hundreds of meetings with offshore wind developers, leading cooperative research efforts, and co-designing effective solutions for sustainable fisheries management. RODA and its membership engage in offshore wind discussions in good faith and provide extensive comments to BOEM, which were roundly ignored in this decision. As such, this lawsuit is an effort to fix a flawed system so that offshore wind may only be developed in an appropriately regulated, environmentally safe manner that is consistent with protecting fishing communities and other ocean-based activities.

To learn more about the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance or to support their efforts to protect U.S. fishermen, visit www.rodafisheries.org.

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About Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies — across the United States — committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. The alliance works to directly collaborate with relevant regulatory agencies, scientists, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to managing development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

Connect with RODA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Contact:

Haley Steinhauser

Haley@espadvisor.com

+1(562)991-3170

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date Published: Thursday, August 12, 2021

Washington, D.C. — Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies, received a letter from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) director Amanda Lefton, on August 10, 2021, in response to correspondence dated April 6, 2021. The original letter was signed by 1665 fishing community members, spanning every U.S. coastal state and representing over 50,000 employees and association members, regarding the then-pending Record of Decision for the Vineyard Wind project. On behalf of those community members, we thank Director Lefton for her reply and are encouraged by the acknowledgment of the concerns expressed and the responses to their requests.

RODA greatly appreciates Director Lefton’s reply and applauds her efforts to open a door to direct communications with fishing communities that will be impacted by offshore wind energy development. We look forward to more frequent, transparent, communication in the future. We are especially grateful for BOEM’s responsiveness and its stated interest in “continuing and enhancing that spirit of collaboration” with fishing communities. We eagerly welcome a future of transparent, collaborative work with BOEM under the Memorandum of Understanding between our two organizations and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

As noted in BOEM’s reply, hearing from current users of areas being considered for offshore wind energy development; and learning from their traditional knowledge is of paramount importance to the fishing community and should be to potential developers. Our ability to feed Americans depends upon thoughtful approaches to such developments; and only through meaningful engagement can fishing communities have trust in the process(es) and outcomes. Once again, we value BOEM’s commitment to ensuring such.

BOEM’s responses to the topics raised in the letter indicate the agency acknowledges the existence of fishing concerns raised previously, though it provides little evidence BOEM has afforded fair consideration to alternatives that would minimize and mitigate impacts to fisheries and better coordinate fisheries and offshore wind science in the past. Perhaps most telling is BOEM’s deferral to certain project design parameters as “the basic responsibility of a prudent operator.” Recent events in which offshore wind projects in US and European waters have experienced operational failures, and the substantially higher oversight standards for large infrastructure projects in other industries, provide little assurance that these matters will simply work themselves out. Despite disagreeing with much of the content of BOEM’s letter, there is no obvious need to relitigate numerous highly complex scientific and socioeconomic questions in this response.

In the spirit of the above, RODA continues to hear and learn from our members about items that are important to them. This growing list of action items, which are ripe for collaborative approaches under the MOU and meet the goals that BOEM’s letter suggests we share:

• Remove Barriers to Participation in Planning and Permitting Processes
• Ensure Navigational Safety Support Seafood Business and Community Longevity
• Improve Communications with Fishermen
• Understand and Minimize Environmental Impacts
• Develop Solutions for Responsible Transmission
• Enhance Research

RODA will follow up with BOEM by providing a clearly identified list of priorities to achieve each of these goals in the coming days. This list, in the form of a living document, will be publicly available on our website where we can track progress on our joint efforts to address those priorities.

Currently, RODA is undertaking two initiatives to (1) identify fishing industry research priorities; and (2) develop equitable, inclusive approaches to determining fees for impacts to seafood production from offshore wind. We look forward to sharing the results of these efforts with BOEM and further incorporating actions based on their results under the MOU.

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About Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies — across the United States — committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. The alliance works to directly collaborate with relevant regulatory agencies, scientists, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to managing development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

Connect with RODA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Contact:

Haley Steinhauser

Haley@espadvisor.com

+1(562)991-3170

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date Published: Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Washington, D.C. — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies, has received an additional $155,000 grant from NOAA Fisheries to conduct a second “Synthesis Of the Science” symposium on floating offshore wind interactions with fisheries. This funding builds upon the $150,000 grant the agency awarded to RODA in 2020 to conduct the first-of-its-kind symposium on the current science regarding fisheries and offshore wind interactions. The symposium was a great success, and this next iteration will continue to advance the agency, fishing industry, offshore wind energy developer, and public understanding of existing research and needs by specifically focusing on new floating offshore wind energy technology.

“We are delighted to continue our collaborative work identifying what we know, and don’t know, about this newer form of technology being proposed for deployment in highly productive fishing regions,” said Fiona Hogan, RODA’s Research Director. “Our first workshop held in October 2020 was well received and we’re excited to continue the conversation this year.”

This project will follow the structure of the first Synthesis of Science. RODA will work through the partnership to co-develop a much-needed summary of scientific knowledge, current research, and monitoring efforts associated with floating turbine technology. This will result in a new resource for understanding the knowledge gaps and most important questions for further research. The effort will also highlight effective ways to harness the expertise of scientists and U.S. fishing communities towards the co-production of needed scientific knowledge.

To advance this knowledge and research summary, RODA will convene a workshop addressing a “synthesis of the science” of floating turbine technology jointly with NOAA Fisheries and other state, federal, academic, and private and public sector science experts. Topics covered by the workshop will likely include physical oceanographic factors, ecosystem effects, fisheries socioeconomics, and methods and approaches. This project is a key step toward jointly building regional fisheries and offshore science agendas in areas where floating wind technology is proposed.

“We are pleased to be a strong partner with RODA and to support its effort to identify the research we will need to build a unified fisheries and offshore wind science plan,” said Dr. Cisco Werner, Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science Advisor for NOAA Fisheries.

Participants in the project are expected to include commercial and recreational fishermen, Tribal Nations, fishing industry representatives, NOAA Fisheries and BOEM experts, wind energy developers, federal fishery management councils, states, and other expert scientists from the U.S. and Europe.

RODA, NOAA Fisheries, and BOEM entered into an MOU in 2019 with the goal of collaborating on the science, research, monitoring, and process of offshore wind energy development in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. This project on floating wind development technology supports this broader agreement to work collaboratively. More broadly, the project will help local and regional fishing interests become better involved in the offshore wind development process, and ensure that the interests and concerns of fishermen are communicated effectively.

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About Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies — across the United States — committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. The alliance works to directly collaborate with relevant regulatory agencies, scientists, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to managing development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

Connect with RODA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Contact:

Haley Steinhauser

Haley@espadvisor.com

+1(562)991-3170

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date Published: Wednesday, May 25, 2021

Washington, D.C. — Today’s announcement advancing new Wind Energy Areas off the coast of California once again displays the administration’s dismissal of the importance of U.S. seafood production and fishing communities’ concerns with rushed, large-scale offshore wind energy development. These conflicts can only be addressed through direct partnership with fishing operators and experts, but it appears BOEM and the Newsom Administration are determined to repeat mistakes that have led to missed opportunities and enormous conflict for the planned Atlantic coast projects.

It is disappointing that Governor Newsom’s announcement of $20 million for offshore wind capacity included nothing for fisheries research or impacts mitigation. This mirrors the recent announcement from the Biden Administration that provided billions of dollars in incentives and investments for offshore wind but merely one million dollars for fisheries research. BOEM has once again scheduled a state Task Force meeting during an important, previously scheduled Fishery Management Council meeting, just weeks after doing so for a Task Force meeting for the New York Bight that led in part to a fishing industry boycott of that meeting.

The California and broader Pacific fishing communities have raised multiple direct requests and concerns to BOEM, the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and others that merit prompt attention. These include:

• Expanded fisheries representation on BOEM Intergovernmental Task Forces;
• Greater opportunities for public input;
• Additional resources for fisheries-related research and environmental review;
• Performance of full environmental analyses at the onset of project siting;
• Enhanced interstate coordination;
• Implementation of an inclusive marine spatial planning process prior to lease decisions;
• Advancement of science processes and products that include fishermen’s traditional knowledge; and
• Decisions based on appropriate time series and data sets with sufficient timelines to gather such data, which is largely unavailable at present.

Hundreds of members of the California and Pacific fishing communities signed a letter dated April 6th of this year requesting a transparent and balanced national planning process for offshore wind development. The letter requested “far more transparency and inclusion” in offshore wind decision-making, noting that it “directly conflicts with fishing and imposes significant impacts to marine habitats, biodiversity, and physical oceanography.”

To date, fishermen have been invited to offshore wind processes in California and across the country only through “stakeholder engagement” processes, for which the metrics of success are how many meetings occur and the quantity of input gathered, regardless of outcomes. They must be recognized for their contribution to coastal economies and heritage as respected professionals with vast traditional knowledge. Promises of job creation from offshore wind are meaningless if they occur at the expense of existing, good-paying fishing jobs. We urge BOEM, the State, and offshore wind proponents to work quickly and effectively with fishing community leaders to avoid repeating past mistakes and ensure a bright future for California seafood.

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About Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) is a broad membership-based coalition of fishing industry associations and fishing companies — across the United States — committed to improving the compatibility of new offshore development with their businesses. The alliance works to directly collaborate with relevant regulatory agencies, scientists, and others to coordinate science and policy approaches to managing development of the Outer Continental Shelf in a way that minimizes conflicts with existing traditional and historical fishing.

Connect with RODA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Contact:

Haley Steinhauser

Haley@espadvisor.com

+1(562)991-3170