To prepare for future development of wind energy facilities off the coast of Virginia, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Virginia Department of Energy, and Virginia Coastal Zone Management (Virginia CZM) Program are working with the recreational and commercial fishing communities to share information through a collaborative process.

Our objectives include:

1. developing fine-scale maps of commercial and recreational fishing areas;
2. identifying recommendations to mitigate use conflicts between fishermen and wind energy development;
3. developing a plan for communicating with fishermen about wind development activities. 

In 2016, the Virginia CZM Program completed a report funded by BOEM and the Virginia Department of Energy, Collaborative Fisheries Planning for Virginia’s Offshore Wind Energy Area Report (PDF)

(Map above) Virginia’s designated offshore commercial wind energy area is 27 nautical miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Research Lease Area (purple grid on map) includes two 6 MW wind turbines (graphic below) and a buried transmission cable (CVOW was formerly known as the Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advancement Project or VOWTAP). Commercial and recreational fisheries data in and around the proposed research and commercial lease area (yellow grid on map) are being sought, collected, and analyzed to minimize use conflicts with offshore wind energy development.

Recreational uses of Virginia’s entire Atlantic Coast were mapped at a 2012 participatory GIS workshop. The six maps below show recreational fishing uses mapped at that workshop that occur in and around Virginia’s commercial wind energy lease area: charter fishing large vessel, charter fishing small vessel, recreational dive fishing, recreational fishing from motorized vehicle, recreational fishing from non-motorized vehicle, recreational shore fishing.