site.btaDevelopment of Offshore Wind Parks Should Not Be At Expense of Fisheries

The development of offshore wind parks should not be at the expense of fisheries, the Bulgaria Chamber of Shipping said in a position on Monday released to the media in Varna. The Chamber calls for carefully revising provisions, passed on first reading, to a Renewable Energy in Maritime Space bill. 
 
According to the Chamber’s chairman Alexander Kalchev, the sponsors of the bill should take into consideration the opinion of the fisheries and aquaculture sector, as it employs thousands. 
 
The chamber argues that there is a need for regulation of the development of the offshore sector but this could not happen at the expense of other sectors of the blue economy, including maritime tourism. 
 
The chamber calls for a comprehensive analysis of the state if the maritime economy, biodiversity and fisheries and for identifying potentially negative effects of the implementation of renewable energy projects in the Black Sea. 

The Bulgarian Chamber of Shipping is the largest association in the maritime sector, bringing together representatives of all sectors of the blue economy. 
 
The bill on renewable energy in the maritime spaces was submitted by GERB-UDF, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and was adopted on first reading in Parliament on Thursday with 112 votes in favour, 53 against and three abstentions last Thursday. 
 
It aims to introduce the European Wind Power Action Plan, which should significantly accelerate investment in new wind power capacity both onshore and offshore by 2030.