Offshore windmills: could they harm Gulf of Maine lobster fishery

Plans by American and Norwegian companeis to build deepwater windmills off the coast of Maine could partially divert lobster larvae-bearing water currents either to Massachusetts of federal waters offshore. Canadian lobster larvae travel down the Gulf's coastal currents, replenishing the lobster fisheries of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts

But if Norwegian company Stateoil & the American DeepCwind Consortium build ocean windparks within this current, critics say many of these young lobsters could be diverted offshore. They are calling on the two planned initiatives to be relocated away from this current..

According to an energy industry official, it is now likely that windfarms built off Maine will supply electricity directly to Boston by undersea cable.

Maine could loose its lobster fishery and receive no benefits in return.

Ccritics say that the continual extraction of wind energy from fixed locations offshore creates persistent low energy, lower air pressure "footprint" or "shadow", adjacent to each turbine. According to government and academic researchers around the Atlantic,

cite a 2008 report by Norwegian government scientist Goran Brostrom, showing that offshore wind energy extraction creates low pressure zones around the turbines, resulting in a phenomenon called "upwelling", where seafloor water is pulled to the surface.

Critics say when the Maine Coastal Current meets these kilometers-wide columns of upwelling cold water, it will be partly diverted around them, taking the lobster larvae with it

They are calling on State Oil & DeepCwind to site their proposed windparks away from the Maine coastal current.

For updates go to www.penbay.org

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Maine
• Gulf of Maine
• offshore wind
• deepwter
• deepcwind
• Statoil