THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT issued a new “biological opinion” on the offshore wind power project being constructed off Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, finding that pile-driving noise associated with Vineyard Wind 1 is likely to adversely affect, but not likely to jeopardize, the continued existence of whales, fish, or sea turtles listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
“It will have no effect on any designated critical habitat,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries said in a statement. “NOAA Fisheries does not anticipate serious injuries to or mortalities of any ESA listed whale including the North Atlantic right whale.” The agency said that, with mitigation measures, “all effects to North Atlantic right whales will be limited to temporary behavioral disturbance.”
The statement indicated NOAA Fisheries believes some sea turtles would be injured and killed as a result of the pile-driving.
The opinion itself was not available. NOAA said the opinion will be available upon publication in its library in about 10 days.
NOAA Fisheries said it was issuing its new opinion to the “federal action agencies,” including Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which approved the Vineyard Wind 1 Project in 2021 and oversees offshore wind power development in federal lease areas.
The opinion, which stems from work that began in the spring, replaces a 2021 NOAA opinion. A NOAA official said that Section 7 of the ESA requires all federal agencies to “ensure any action that they authorize, fund, or carry out is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any listed species or destroy or adversely modify any designated critical habitat.”
Following the 2021 opinion, the official said, a consultation was reinitiated to consider effects of the proposed issuance of a new Marine Mammal Protection Act Incidental Harassment Authorization, “which would authorize the incidental take of a small number of marine mammals due to exposure to noise during impact pile driving for the 15 remaining monopile foundations.”
“This Opinion includes an Incidental Take Statement, which provides an exemption from the ESA’s prohibition on take of ESA-listed species,” NOAA Fisheries communications specialist Andrea Gomez wrote in an email. “It identifies the number of whales and sea turtles that we expect to be harmed … and temporarily harassed by pile driving noise, the number of sea turtles we expect to be hit by project vessels and injured or killed, and the number of sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon we expect to be captured and released alive and without injury during trawl surveys that will be carried out to assess impacts to fisheries resources in the area. It also includes mandatory measures for minimizing, monitoring, and reporting those effects.”
The Gomez email did not specify how many sea turtles would be injured or killed.
On Saturday, a New England Aquarium aerial survey team detected the presence of right whales southeast of New York and redetected the presence of right whales southwest of Martha’s Vineyard. Right whale slow zones are in effect for mariners through September 8.
“Endangered North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction,” NOAA Fisheries said. “There are approximately 360 individuals remaining, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females.