Competing for space on the increasingly crowded ocean

Oceans cover nearly three-quarters of the Earth, and it's getting crowded out on the water.

Energy, shipping, fishing and conservation groups all need space to operate on the world's oceans, and are bumping up against each other more frequently. All agree the competition is going to increase in coming years.

A conference Tuesday at New Jersey's Monmouth University brought together industry and environmental groups, who agreed that communication and coordination are essential to sharing the ocean.

This Oct. 18, 2019 photo shows boats headed out to sea in Atlantic City, N.J. On Oct. 22, 2019, a conference at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. examined growing competition for space out on the ocean by users including the fishing, shipping, wind energy industries and conservationists. (AP PhotoWayne Parry)

"Ocean activity is on the rise, and it's exponential," said Timothy Gallaudet, deputy administration of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a retired rear admiral with the Navy. "There has been 400% growth in ocean activity over the last 25 years."

Bethann Rooney, a deputy director with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, predicted that the combined port of New York and Newark, New Jersey, second in size only to Los Angeles, will see its cargo volume double or triple over the next 30 years.

"I cannot overstate the importance of collaboration to ensure an ocean for all," she said. "How do we coordinate and ensure everyone can operate in a confined space? Our ships are getting larger and larger every day."

This Oct. 18, 2019 photo shows commercial fishing boats docked in Atlantic City, N.J. On Oct. 22, 2019, a conference at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. examined growing competition for space out on the ocean by users including the fishing, shipping, wind energy industries and conservationists. (AP PhotoWayne Parry)

She said her agency spends $2 million a year to incentivize shipping companies to sail at lower speeds and to burn less-polluting forms of fuel, in the name of helping the environment.

Paul Gaffney, Monmouth University's president emeritus, said the competition for ocean resources is likely to include a surge in salt water desalinization plants to provide clean drinking water to surging coastal populations around the world.

Clinton Plummer, an official with Orsted U.S. offshore wind, said his company had to navigate 26 government approvals to build its wind farm off the coast of Block Island in Rhode Island, currently the only functioning U.S. wind farm. As it moves forward with other projects off Massachusetts, New Jersey and Delaware, it will need dozens more, which include interacting and planning with fishing and shipping companies, marine conservationists, and onshore communities.

This Oct. 18, 2019 photo shows a man standing on the bow of a yacht in Atlantic City, N.J. On Oct. 22, 2019, a conference at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. examined growing competition for space out on the ocean by users including the fishing, shipping, wind energy industries and conservationists. (AP PhotoWayne Parry)

The Boston to Washington corridor on the U.S. East Coast holds 20% of the nation's population, and is among the most promising wind-power markets in the world; Plummer called it "the Saudi Arabia of wind."

But commercial and recreational fishing interests complain they need more of a say in advance planning as wind energy projects are considered. Fishermen insisted last month to a congressional subcommittee looking at offshore wind energy that they be consulted when crucial decisions are being made on the development of such projects, including where they are located and the level of access to the waters near them.

"To pull this off, we have to work very closely with the stakeholders," Plummer said Tuesday.

Bradley Campbell, president of the New-England-based Conservation Law Foundation, and New Jersey's former environmental protection commissioner, said shipping lanes that were altered to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales need to be changed again now that the animals are migrating, due in part to warming oceans. Only about 400 of those whales now exist, he said.

He said countries including the U.S. need to designate more protected marine areas where commercially valuable species can be permitted to breed to sustainable levels.

Scott Glenn, a Rutgers University professor who leads an ocean observation center there, said conservation groups acknowledge the value of industries like fishing and wind energy.

"The fishing industry, we need those fish and we need those jobs," he said. "The wind energy industry, we need those jobs and we need that energy. We need all of this to succeed in this increasingly tight workspace."

Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)