New England fishing captains held a floating protest against offshore wind Sunday in the waters surrounding Vineyard Wind.
They say the fiberglass debris strewn in the water in July from a broken wind turbine blade has only made them more concerned about living with turbines.
“We're really concerned about wind farms in the ocean-based environment, and we’re not happy with what's going on with the current one,” Nantucket charter fishing captain Carl Bois said.
About two dozen boats participated in the protest, he said.
Three offshore wind blades of the type used at Vineyard Wind have suffered failures since May, the most recent on Thursday in the United Kingdom.
Problems with blades on the Haliade-X turbines have energized local offshore wind opponents. As fishing boats protested at Vineyard Wind Sunday, a small group of Nantucket residents protested on the island at Cisco Beach, the Nantucket Current reported.
Nantucket fisherman and charter captain Pete Kaizer, who participated in the protest by boat, told CAI he worries offshore development will contribute to species decline.
“People say, ‘Oh, it'll come back. It'll all come back.’ Well, look at all the fisheries that haven't come back,” he said, citing cod, herring, and mackerel. “They're at rock bottom.”
In response to the incidents, the conservation group Oceana said responsible development of offshore wind remains a necessity to further the transition away from fossil fuels.
“We need to do this in a thoughtful way that's guided by science,” said Gib Brogan, campaign director at Oceana.
He said the organization supports creating a conservation buffer south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket to separate wind development from whale habitat.
The cause of the Dogger Bank blade failure last week is unclear, as is whether it bears any relationship to the manufacturing defect blamed for the broken blade at Vineyard Wind.
The blade manufacturer, GE Vernova, is investigating what it calls “an isolated blade event that occurred during commissioning,” according to an emailed statement from the company. Commissioning is a process of inspection and testing that follows installation.
“GE Vernova’s Wind Fleet Performance Management team has initiated investigation protocols into the event in coordination with our customer,” the company statement said.
In May, when the first Haliade-X turbine sustained damage — also at Dogger Bank — GE Vernova attributed it to an installation error.
