KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 10, 2019 \u2013 Commercial fishermen have very different perceptions of the impact of the Block Island Wind Farm than do recreational fishermen, according to a survey of both groups by a 溏心vlog免费B站 doctoral student.<\/p>\n
Of the 25 fishermen interviewed, all of whom said they regularly fish in the area of the wind farm, the recreational fishermen generally perceive the turbines positively while the commercial fishermen see them as mostly negative.<\/p>\n
The results of the study, funded by Rhode Island Sea Grant, were reported at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C., in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle is known about the impacts of offshore wind farms on marine users in the United States, and it\u2019s critical to understand these impacts in context,\u201d said\u00a0Talya ten Brink, the 溏心vlog免费B站 student who conducted the survey with Professor Tracey Dalton. \u201cGenerally, our findings show there are uneven impacts on the different fishing sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to ten Brink, almost all of the fishermen agreed that there is more recreational fishing taking place in the vicinity of the wind turbines than before the turbines were installed. That\u2019s because the turbine support structures serve as artificial reefs that attract a wide variety of fish and marine invertebrates to the area. Cod and other species not found in the area before are now observed, for instance.<\/p>\n
As a result, charter boats and recreational fishermen are drawn to the area that they seldom visited prior to the wind farm installation. The wind farm has also become a prime destination for recreational spearfishing.<\/p>\n
The commercial fishermen surveyed said that the increase in recreational fishermen \u2013 as well as what they called \u201cwind farm tourists\u201d \u2013 were an inconvenience because they increased activity on their fishing ground.<\/p>\n
The commercial fishermen also noted fears that their gill nets and other gear would become entangled in the recreational fishermen\u2019s gear, forcing them to be more cautious about where they fish. They also worry about running into the turbines with their vessels. The end result, they said, is fewer places for them to conduct their business.<\/p>\n
The survey results could have implications for future planning for wind farm development.<\/p>\n
\u201cClimate change is a huge problem worldwide, and renewable energy resources could reduce CO2 emissions by half, so if we\u2019re planning on using offshore wind, it\u2019s important to understand the concerns and the pros and cons of the structures being out there,\u201d said ten Brink. \u201cOnce we understand, it will be much easier to have a productive discussion about how to go forward with offshore wind development.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs with any large-scale project, offshore wind development can be done right or wrong,\u201d she added. \u201cThese results inform how it can be done right, with minimal negative impact and maximum positive impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
ten Brink suggested that the survey results might inspire wind farm developers to build relationships with charter boats and recreational fishing organizations that would benefit from offshore wind farm installations. Developers might also ease the concerns expressed by commercial fishermen about running into the structures by supporting the acquisition of new navigation equipment for the fishermen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe survey results open up a lot of ways to create win-win situations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
ten Brink cautioned, however, that her results only reflect the impacts of one small wind farm in operation for only one year. Once the novelty wears off for the recreational fishermen and the commercial fishermen learn to live with the turbines, their perceptions may change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were fishermen who were really worried about the impacts and were pleased when the impacts weren\u2019t too bad, but they\u2019re still worried about the impacts of more and more turbines in the future,\u201d ten Brink concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 10, 2019 \u2013 Commercial fishermen have very different perceptions of the impact of the Block Island Wind Farm than do recreational fishermen, according to a survey of both groups by a 溏心vlog免费B站 doctoral student. Of the 25 fishermen interviewed, all of whom said they regularly fish in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-74511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}