October 20, 2024
Massachusetts

Scalloper who was asked to take down anti-wind flag: ‘It’s wrong in so many ways’

by Will Sennott | October 18, 2024 | newbedfordlight.org

State and federal politicians lined up along the New Bedford waterfront last week to unveil a new terminal slated for offshore wind. From the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional director to Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, each took turns touting the port’s growing role in the nation’s green energy transition.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell at the North Terminal completion ceremony. Credit: Eleonora Bianchi / The New Bedford Light.

But the speeches were punctuated by a plume of smoke rising from out in the harbor. It was coming from a New Bedford scallop vessel experiencing engine troubles. The captain, who says he was unaware of the ceremony, docked at the terminal to fix the engine. The vessel, the F/V Prowess, was flying a white flag with a red circle and slash cutting through a turbine; a symbol many fishing boats hoist to demonstrate resistance to offshore wind development and its impact on the fishing industry.

The boat was quickly approached by a New Bedford police officer, who asked the captain to take down the flag so as to not interrupt the ceremony. The captain, Russel Isabel, resisted at first, but eventually ceded. A crew member furled the flag around its pole as the politicians continued with their speeches. The dispute has since sparked debate along the waterfront. For fishermen – already critical of offshore wind conflicting with fishing grounds – it is another example of what they perceive as the government silencing their opposition to offshore wind and steamrolling their industry.

“It’s wrong in so many ways. I have to take my flag down because it offends them?” said Isabel, who was reached by The Light this week some 100 miles offshore near Georges Bank via Starlink. “The government works for us. We don’t work for them. Somewhere along the line this whole thing got flipped over. Where is the law that I have to remove my flag?”

The New Bedford Police Department confirmed on Friday that an officer asked Isabel to take down his flag.

“The vessel in question entered into a restricted area, alleging that it was having engine trouble,” wrote Scott Carola, assistant deputy chief of the New Bedford Police Department, which also oversees port security. “An officer made his way over to assist and, during the conversation with crew members, politely asked a crew member to voluntarily roll up a protest flag to avoid conflict.”

Isabel said he was passing through the Fairhaven-New Bedford bridge when the engine started spewing smoke. He called in a “maritime emergency” to the Port and said he was cleared to dock. He said he docked at the North Terminal because it was the nearest open slip.

“It’s a dock in New Bedford. We pay the docking fees. We’re allowed to be there, especially in an emergency,” he said. “They told me either I have to take the flag down or the boat can’t be here. It has to leave.”

The ceremony, which took place Oct. 8, celebrated the completion of a six-year, $42 million extension of the North Terminal off Herman Melville Boulevard, paid for with a mix of federal, state and city funds. The project was a complex feat, described by Mayor Jon Mitchell as a “triple bank shot.” It required significant dredging, burying some contaminated sediment in the harbor and using clean sediment from that process for a base to build out 961 linear feet of bulkhead on 10.5 acres of terminal space. As a Superfund site, the EPA and other agencies were able to fast-track the permitting process. Though a proposal has not yet been selected, New Bedford Port Authority Executive Director Gordon Carr said at the ceremony it would likely be used for a combination of commercial fishing, marine construction and offshore wind operations.

“You are seeing all of this investment throughout the port,” Carr said. “Maritime industrial property is in high demand.” Mayor Mitchell has pitched the offshore wind industry as a necessary way to diversify the industries of the port.

On a blustery fall day, the city, state and federal politicians were huddled inside a tent on the newly developed terminal. Bacon wrapped scallops were served. But outside the gates, a group of about 30 people – one of whom was dressed in full-body whale costume – held signs protesting offshore wind development. Isabel said he did not know about the protest, or the ceremony, but said the affair reflects the government’s indifferent attitude towards offshore wind’s impact on the fishing industry and marine ecosystem.

“Offshore wind is killing our fishing grounds, and they don’t want to hear it or do anything about it,” he said. “It’s all taking place behind closed doors … They don’t want any opposition to their narrative.”

Isabel said he took down his flag because he was in a rush to fix his boat ahead of his fishing trip and didn’t want to cause any unnecessary problems or get arrested, though he said the officer did not threaten to arrest him. He added that he is “pro-law enforcement,” and said he sympathized with the officer who asked him to take down the flag, because he said it appeared the officer was just following orders. “The officer did not speak to the crew at the direction of any city or port officials,” Deputy Chief Carola wrote. Isabel said the officer met him the following day and apologized for the incident.

Isabel said he has been a commercial fisherman for more than four decades. In the last few years, he said, he has already witnessed offshore wind having an impact on the ocean. He cited the significant increase in dead whales washing up along the coasts, which federal scientists have described as an “unusual mortality event” but say there is “no known links” between increased offshore wind development and an increasing number of dead whales. He said scallop beds that were chock-full of healthy scallops just a few years ago are now withering. “They’re coming up just the shells. Clappers. They’re dead,” he said.

“Who gave the government the right to take the fishing grounds away from us?” Isabel said. “They just threw our whole industry to the dogs. That’s not right. But they don’t want to hear it. We can’t even fly a flag.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2024/10/20/scalloper-who-was-asked-to-take-down-anti-wind-flag-its-wrong-in-so-many-ways/