84 Fishery Impacts from Offshore Wind Development
Last updated July 23, 2026
Description: The data presented here are annual fishery landings and ex-vessel revenues of species managed by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils by vessels issued a NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office permit when fishing in offshore wind projects that are operational or currently under construction (Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Sunrise Wind, Revolution Wind, Vineyard Wind 1, South Fork Wind, and Empire Wind).
Contributor(s): Douglas Christel, Benjamin Galuardi
Affiliations: GARFO
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84.1 Introduction to Indicator
Historic fishery landings and revenue from trips that occurred within operational offshore wind projects and those under construction may be displaced and future fishing effort, landings, and revenue may change (increase or decrease) due to the presence of structures, construction and maintenance operations, and changes to species composition and distribution affected by project infrastructure and operations. These data highlight the scale and potential fisheries, gear types, and ports that may be affected by changes to historic fishing patterns as a result of offshore wind projects.
84.2 Key Results and Visualizations
Figures illustrate annual fishery landings and revenue trends from trips operating within operational wind projects and those currently under construction along with the proportion of annual regional fishery landings and revenue that has historically been harvested from within these projects.
landing, Mid-Atlantic, facets
value, Mid-Atlantic, facets
landing, New England, facets
value, New England, facets
landing, Mid-Atlantic, nofacets
value, Mid-Atlantic, nofacets
landing, New England, nofacets
value, New England, nofacets
84.3 Implications
The figures generally depict periodic fluctuations in fishery landings and revenue from withing active offshore wind projects with both parameters generally decreasing over time for most species. Fishery landings and revenue within active offshore wind projects represent a very low proportion of regional fishery landings and revenue for managed species, suggesting that fishery impacts may not be substantial and that effort displacement outside of active offshore wind project areas may not substantially affect fishing operations or resources in other areas.
84.4 Indicator statistics
Spatial scale: Offshore wind lease areas throughout the Exclusive Economic Zone from Maine through North Carolina
Temporal scale: Annual from 2008-2024
Variable definitions
84.5 Get the data
Point of contact: Douglas Christel (douglas.christel@noaa.gov)
ecodata dataset: ecodata::wind_revenue
Tech Doc link: https://noaa-edab.github.io/tech-doc/wind_revenue.html
84.5.2 Accessibility Constraints
Please email douglas.christel@noaa.gov for further information or request supporting data from nmfs.gar.data.requests@noaa.gov.