Undersecretary Ismay to Fishing Community – “Something Has to Give”

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance released the newest video of David Ismay, the controversial Undersecretary for Climate Change under Governor Baker, telling a group of climate activists that in order to obtain enough wind power, “something has to give” in regard to the fishing industry.

Ismay’s quote is, “We need offshore wind, and yes there is fishing out in the ocean too, but you know, there’s, we can’t have no offshore wind, no transmission, no solar, and have clean energy. Right. Something has to give…” He goes on to discuss transmission lines that will be placed in the ocean. The remarks were made during the same January 25, 2021 meeting of the Vermont Climate Council that landed him in hot last week. 

A clip of this comment is available on MassFiscal’s YouTube channel by clicking here.

The recent economic development bill originally included the creation of an office of renewable energy fishery impacts that would study “impacts of offshore wind energy infrastructure on marine fisheries including effects of such installations and connections on the health and behavior of marine mammals”, but that section was removed by the conference committee. Ismay’s comments cement the notion that large scale wind farms will have unknown, negative impacts upon the region’s struggling fishing industry. 

“Ismay’s more recent comments toward the fishing industry are “fishy” at best. The legislature recently removed from legislation, language that would help us learn what a large-scale wind farm would do to the region’s fishing industry and Ismay’s comment verify what we all feared,” stated Paul Diego Craney, spokesperson for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

“Ismay’s comments that ‘something has to give’ should be seen as a warning for the fishing community that their livelihood may be jeopardized by these megaprojects. It’s unfortunate that Governor Baker embraces such far reaching climate policies that are bound to have significant economic costs to our state’s fishing industry,” concluded Craney.