Vineyard Wind is committed to ensuring the protection of marine habitats and minimizing any impacts to the fishing industry. Federal and state agencies have extensively studied the Vineyard Wind area examining the presence of endangered whale, turtle and bird species, as well as fisheries and important seafloor habitats, since 2011. These studies helped guide the appropriate design of the Vineyard Wind project.
Vineyard Wind is committed to having an ongoing positive relationship with Massachusetts’s largest offshore industry: fishing. They have a strong voice in this project and we listen. At the start of the development process in 2010, we reached out to fishermen to ensure that fishing concerns could be incorporated early into the project plans. Are you a fisherman? Click here to be connected with a fisheries liaison.
HISTORIC RIGHT WHALE AGREEMENT
In January 2019, Vineyard Wind and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, and Conservation Law Foundation today entered into an unprecedented agreement to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. Barely 400 right whales remain on the planet. For decades, the North Atlantic right whale has been harmed by many existing marine uses, including entanglement with fishing gear and vessel collisions.
In this historic agreement, Vineyard Wind committed to institute a variety of protective measures to keep right whales safe while installing and operating Vineyard Wind 1, the 62-turbine project off the coast of Massachusetts. This agreement laid the foundation for important mitigation measures that regulators have since incorporated into project permit requirements.
AGREEMENT HIGHLIGHTS
- Turbine construction will be curtailed in the winter and early spring when the North Atlantic right whales may be in the area
- There will be comprehensive monitoring to ensure that construction doesn’t take place when the whales are near the site.
- Vineyard Wind will dampen construction noise that disturbs the whales’ ability to communicate, find food and stay on their migratory path.
- The agreement also includes strict vessel speed limits.
- Vineyard Wind will further invest $3 million to develop and deploy innovative technologies and undertake scientific research to further safeguard the marine mammals.