New York regulators say they will spend more than $2 million to find ways to reduce the impact of the construction and operation of offshore wind projects on marine life and the fishing industry.
The state approved the first two large offshore wind projects last month despite months of protests from the fishing industry and Audubon groups.
Now, the state will commission five studies to research and develop safe access to fishing grounds, and protect marine life and birds from wind turbine construction and operation.
The studies were awarded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, known as NYSERDA.
Greg Lampman is program manager for environmental research at NYSERDA.
“So the idea is to do as much work as we can prior to development and then work through the development process to understand what mitigations work best to minimize impacts and make sure the industries the industries of fishing and offshore wind can coexist going forward.”
Lampman says the studies are a continuation of NYSERDA’s long-established outreach to better reduce the impact of the state’s trailblazing pursuit of renewable energy on fishing and the environmen
