Vol. 14, No. 10 - October 2009 News & Comment for and by the Fishermen of Maine      SUBSCRIBE NOW!!
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Maine on Leading Edge of Offshore Wind Energy
by Laurie Schreiber

The state expects to select up to five test sites for offshore, deep-water wind turbines in December. The test sites will be located within state waters, just within the three-mile boundary line. The purpose of the sites will be to test the technology; the sites are expected to have a limited life of three years. The tests will serve the ultimate goal of developing a commercial wind energy industry in federal waters.

The State Planning Office and Department of Conservation held public meetings in September and October to get input on the eight potential sites selected by the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force. The agencies are seeking to identify between one and five demonstration sites.

The task force identified potential planning areas that meet basic requirements. They are within state waters, have an average annual wind speed of 17 miles per hour or more, are at least 200 feet deep; have minimal conflicts with marine obstructions, dredge dumps, officially recognized shipping channels, and unexploded ordinances, and are near existing undersea cables or areas that have historically been pre-permitted for an undersea cable by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

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Towing an offshore windmill to an at sea deep water site at Karmoy, Norway in June 2009. These Norwegian windmills are similar to those proposed for about 20 miles offshore in the Gulf of Maine. They would be installed after the collection of data from test sites in state waters. Photo: Oyvind Hagen/StatoilHywind
Rolling Stones, Wampanoags, and Stripers
Part II: A conversation with Buddy Vanderhoop
by Nicole Galland

The renowned fishing charter captain and member of the Wampanoag Tribe talks frankly about growing up fishing on the Island, his celebrity clients, shooting cormorants, and his tribal roots.

Last month Buddy talked about growing up on Martha’s Vineyard, Wampanoags, some of the celebrities he’s taken out bass fishing and the stories that unfolded on those trips. Among them were trips with Rolling Stone Keith Richards, actor Jim Belushi, Spike Lee, and others. Part I is on the Fishermen’s Voice website: fishermensvoice.com

William Diamond Vanderhoop Jr., universally known as Buddy, is the proprietor of Tomahawk Charters in Aquinnah and one of the more colorful members of the Wampanoag Tribe. We sat down last fall after the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby at his home on Old South Road in Aquinnah, which he built twenty-eight years ago and now shares with his wife of thirteen years, Lisa, and their dog, Amos. (Lisa, a photographer, is best known on the Island for her Vineyard Seadogs calendars.) Buddy, age fifty-eight, has three grown daughters: Heather Nicole, Amy, and Emily, who live out West.

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Buddy Vanderhhoop’s scrimshawed whale’s tooth.“Everybody wanted a Gay Head Wampanoag on their whaleboat because they were the best. My great uncle Amos Smalley killed Moby Dick, and as a matter of fact when I was ten years old, my uncle Amos gave me one of his teeth from Moby Dick.” – Buddy Vanderhoop. Photo by Lisa Vanderhoop