How would Cape Wind impact commercial and recreational fisheries in Nantucket Sound?
Nantucket Sound supports diverse commercial and recreational fisheries, and the Cape Wind project area contains habitat that has been designated Essential Fish Habitat for 17 federally managed fish and three federally managed invertebrates. The Army Corps of Engineers Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) found that fish could suffer habitat loss (from displacement of sediment on the sea floor) over small fractions of the total project area from building wind turbine towers and installing cables. However, the Corps observed that ocean-bottom habitat is similar throughout the Sound, so fish should be able to find suitable habitat nearby and are likely to return rapidly to the area after construction is completed and again after the project is decommissioned. The Corps did not expect project construction and decommissioning to kill measurable numbers of finfish. It projected that underwater noise during construction could cause fish to move away temporarily, but would not cause per
Nantucket Sound supports diverse commercial and recreational fisheries, and the Cape Wind project area contains habitat that has been designated Essential Fish Habitat for 17 federally managed fish and three federally managed invertebrates. The Army Corps of Engineers Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) found that fish could suffer habitat loss (from displacement of sediment on the sea floor) over small fractions of the total project area from building wind turbine towers and installing cables. However, the Corps observed that ocean-bottom habitat is similar throughout the Sound, so fish should be able to find suitable habitat nearby and are likely to return rapidly to the area after construction is completed and again after the project is decommissioned. The Corps did not expect project construction and decommissioning to kill measurable numbers of finfish. It projected that underwater noise during construction could cause fish to move away temporarily, but would not cause per
