Understanding Potential Economic Impacts to Commercial Fishing from Offshore Wind Energy Development

The potential effects of growing offshore wind energy development on marine fisheries resources are important to try to understand and anticipate. This study used a modeling tool (SEFES) that integrates spatial dynamics in surfclam stock biology, fishery captain and fleet behavior, federal management decisions, and fishery economics, to evaluate the impact of excluding Atlantic surfclam fishing and survey efforts from wind energy areas. Model simulations allow ‘virtual’ experiments to be conducted that alters fishery access to wind energy lease areas (displacement). The simulated cumulative economic revenue losses due to displacement range from 3% to 15% depending on the scenario simulated; however, when fishery restrictions are imposed for areas off the coast of New Jersey, revenue losses up to 26% are seen for the Atlantic City fleet alone. Further, our simulations indicate that exclusion of the stock assessment survey from wind energy areas will make approximately 3% to 17% of the Atlantic surfclam spawning stock biomass inaccessible to the survey, leading to a perceived fishing mortality to increase by 0.7 to 7.3%. This evaluation of the possible scale of impacts of offshore wind development on the Atlantic surfclam fishery and its management can help inform strategies to allow coexistence of multiple sectors of ocean users

2019-09-16 → 2022-09-06