From STOP THESE THINGS

It pays not to get between a fisherman and their livelihood, as the offshore wind industry is learning fast.

Along America’s Atlantic coast, fishermen of all shapes and sizes have turned on the offshore wind industry with an industrial scale fury.

Right alongside them are those with a passionate concern for whales, porpoises and dolphins. Another group of critters that the wind industry treats as ‘roadkill’, and why wouldn’t, they? – having helpfully obtained government licenses to kill as many as they please.

Then there’s the effect on the creatures that provide fishermen with income and their customers with dining pleasure.

Serious studies have shown that offshore wind farms are doing irreparable harm to crabs and lobsters.

One scientific study found that the electromagnetic fields generated by created by the cables that connect offshore wind turbines attract crabs that then remain in place, fixated on the magnetic field, effectively immobilising them.

Another study relating to their cousins, the lobster has shown that the same electromagnetic fields deform their young to the point where they are incapable of ordinary movement ie, they become crustacean cripples.

With all that in mind, it comes as no surprise that South Australia’s hard-working lobster fishermen are reacting in just the same way as their Atlantic cousins to the threat posed by a plan to spear 77 of these giants right into the heart of their peaceful and productive fishing community.

Fishing industry threatened by proposed offshore wind farm in South East SA
ABC News
Elise Adamo and Sam Bradbrook
14 February 2023

Residents in a small South Australian coastal town are pushing back against the threat posed by a proposed offshore wind farm to the local fishing industry, whales and wildlife.

Port Macdonnell, the southernmost town on the state’s Limestone Coast, is home to about 800 people.

Off its coast, the Southern Ocean has some of the most productive southern rock lobster waters in the country.

Offshore wind developer Blue Float Energy has announced plans to build a 77-turbine wind farm between 8 kilometres and 20km out to sea, which the company says would generate 1.1 gigawatts of intermittent power.

Named Southern Winds, the planning stage of the proposed wind farm is expected to take up to eight years with a three-year construction period if all licensing approvals are granted.

Community reacts 
Blue Float Energy held a drop-in information session in the town on Tuesday night where locals reacted against the visual impact of the turbines and the threat posed by the proposal to the town’s fishing industry.

Fisher and farmer Brodi Milstead said he was not only worried about his industry.

“No matter what their studies say, we know it’s going to affect our businesses, our environment, our whales, everything that lives there,” he said.

“They’re saying it’ll create jobs for the South East, but that’s for six to 11 years. My business is going to support my family for generations.”

Further studies to come
Local resident and southern rock lobster fisherman Jeremy Levins said there were still many questions that were yet to be answered.

“There’s a lot of questions people want to know, but there’s not a lot of answers actually given at this stage,” he said.

“I wouldn’t like to see it go ahead here. I think there are more efficient ways of getting power and energy than sticking 70-odd wind turbines out at sea.

“There will be restrictions that will happen, there will be impacts on the environment where they’re putting them in, and with the fish side; do the vibrations through the water affect their ecosystem?”
ABC News

Offshore wind ‘industry’ all set to wipe out Australian whales, too.