Test Subjects

It’s the latest but probably not the last: Word came down last week that yet another wind farm proposal, this one by the company Equinor targeting a stretch of water near Nantucket, will potentially impact fishing waters off Montauk with the installation of an electrical supply cable nearby. It was a new but familiar challenge for a commercial fishing industry already dealing with the proposed wind farm closer to home, off Montauk.

The honest truth is that this is just the beginning of a green energy push that’s gaining momentum, with the White House staunchly in support, and the waters of the East Coast are the prime focus. Any suggestion that the burgeoning wind industry might be “stopped” here is doomed to fail. A new phase has begun, where the goal must be identifying and mitigating the negatives.

It’s a new technology, at least in the United States, and the East End is going to be pressed into service to serve as the guinea pig. It will reap the first benefits, and provide the first successes — but if there are negative impacts, they will be felt here first.

Most worrisome, of course, is the impact on marine life, and on the commercial fishing industry that relies on that ecosystem for its economic health. Will wind farms affect migration patterns? Will construction wreak havoc on both fishing grounds and fish populations?

Those are open questions at this point. There are examples on both sides, in Europe and closer to home, but there’s no real way to predict the toll of this industrialization of the ocean. Perhaps fishermen will learn to adapt. Or perhaps entire species will be affected, and the Northeast waters will be forever changed.

So far, fishermen and environmentalists have made sure some accommodations were added to the process. If they agree to accept that wind farms are coming, it’s incumbent on the development companies — and the elected officials overseeing the process — to put a much greater emphasis on protecting these interests from such a massive reworking of the offshore world.

Studies can answer some of the questions in advance, but the most important strategy is to build into the process generous protections, for the environment and the fishing industry, so that as problems arise — which they inevitably will — there are already solutions in place to address them. It’s an uncertain future, and that’s why it’s important to plan now to protect what’s important.