Fulton Fish Market Hosts Rally Urging President Trump to Halt Empire Wind Project

Fulton Fish Market rally urges Trump to stop Empire Wind, citing threats to seafood jobs, supply chains, and national food security.

BRONX, NYC, NY, UNITED STATES, July 16, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Yesterday morning, the Fulton Fish Market Cooperative, the largest fish market in the United States and a 203-year-old institution, hosted an emergency rally at its Hunts Point facility in the Bronx to oppose the Empire Wind offshore wind project, citing its threat to American jobs, seafood supply chains, and national food security.

The event was organized by the Cooperative and featured union seafood workers, fishing industry leaders, and coastal advocates standing together to call on President Donald J. Trump to stop Empire Wind from proceeding off Long Island’s shores.

Speakers included:

Nicole Ackerina, CEO, Fulton Fish Market Cooperative
Warren Kremin, shareholder and board member, Fulton Fish Market Cooperative; principal at Blue Ribbon Fish
Bonnie Brady, Executive Director, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association; Board Member, Protect Our Coast-NJ
Robin Shaffer, President, Protect Our Coast-NJ
Rose Willis, Member, Protect Our Coast-NJ

The rally also follows the Fulton Fish Market Cooperative’s formal entry into a major federal lawsuit to stop the Empire Wind project (Protect Our Coast New Jersey v. United States; Docket No: 25-cv-6890-GC-TJB; https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zlZhKS0b9NJdue5LaQLU0lMBtqTfoRQb/view?usp=drivesdk). The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, brings together a sweeping coalition of plaintiffs representing the full chain of custody in the American seafood industry: from offshore vessels to processing docks to the Bronx-based wholesale Market that distributes seafood nationwide. Co-plaintiffs include Protect Our Coast NJ, Clean Ocean Action, ACK for Whales, Lund’s Fisheries, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, Seafreeze Shoreside, Belford Seafood Cooperative, Point Pleasant Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative, Miss Belmar, American Seafood, the Fulton Fish Market Cooperative, Point Lookout Fishing Club, and numerous commercial and recreational fishermen from Cape May to New Bedford. Together, they argue that Empire Wind threatens the ecological, economic, and navigational foundation of U.S. fisheries and working waterfronts.

“Offshore wind is not a supplement to our industry, it is a direct replacement,” said Nicole Ackerina. “These projects will eliminate access to vital fishing grounds, destabilize our seafood infrastructure, and trade American jobs for short-term foreign-backed construction contracts.”

Ackerina noted that the Market employs over 1,200 full-time workers, including 500 Bronx residents, most of whom are union workers. “Our industry feeds America. NOAA reported that in 2022, New York’s seafood industry supported nearly 70,000 jobs and over $9.2 billion in sales. New Jersey supported more than 72,000 jobs and $12.9 billion in sales. This is not expendable.”

Warren Kremin, shareholder of the Cooperative and principal at Blue Ribbon Fish, emphasized the lack of transparency and scientific justification behind Empire Wind:

“Where is the science? We’re not asking for anything unreasonable, but before we lose all these jobs, where is the data? When the government doesn’t have the data, they shut down a fishery in the name of conservation and sustainability. This is a major issue that bridges both sides of the aisle. We need the Trump administration to look into this deeply, because the trickle-down effect of this project could be severe for our industry.”

Bonnie Brady, Executive Director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and a board member of Protect Our Coast-NJ, emphasized the importance of the Market’s workers and fishermen to the seafood supply chain—and called out the misleading promises of Empire Wind.

“We’re here because we need to make it extremely clear that our jobs matter, your jobs matter,” she said. “My husband’s a commercial dragger. He leaves in darkness and comes home in darkness. People think that because we’re not seen, we don’t exist. But we do. They say Empire Wind will create thousands of jobs, but that’s smoke and mirrors. At the end of the day, it’s only 53 permanent jobs, compared to the tens of thousands in New York and New Jersey that actually feed people. These turbines will disrupt radar, increase sea surface temperature, and interfere with how the ocean feeds itself. We may be unseen most of the time, but we will not go quietly. We will not be erased.”

Robin Shaffer, President of Protect Our Coast-NJ, delivered a sharp and unified message to the President:

“POCNJ has been on the frontlines in the fight to protect our marine environment. The science is on our side. The facts are on our side. Offshore wind is unreliable, unaffordable, and unsafe. Empire Wind will put thousands of American jobs at risk, including right here at the Market, where families have worked for generations to feed this country. These are the real union jobs that matter. We’re gathered here today in the heart of America’s largest fish market with one united message for President Trump: Stop Empire Wind. Stop all offshore wind. Put American workers first. Put our oceans first. Put America first.”

Rose Willis, a member of Protect Our Coast-NJ and wife of a commercial fisherman, spoke to the human scale of the industry and the wide network of jobs tied to every single fish landed.

“When my husband comes in from a trip, I’m the one catching his lines. Behind every fish is a chain of people working hard to feed this country,” she said. “When a boat comes in, it’s not just the captain and crew. It’s the dock workers, the guys making the ice, the truckers who haul the catch to other states or right here to Fulton. It’s the people who filet it, pack it, sell it to restaurants, or the folks who sell it again in local markets. It’s the net builders, the gear shops, everyone who keeps this engine going. This isn’t just an industry, it’s a community that feeds people.”

Representatives requested the opportunity to meet directly with the President to discuss the impacts of Empire Wind specifically, and offshore wind more broadly, on U.S. commercial fishing and the American seafood supply chain.

Contact: Nicole Ackerina; (516) 462-0726; Nicole@fultonfishcooperative.com
Robin Shaffer; (703) 861-2809; protectourcoastnj@gmail.com
Bonnie Brady; (516) 527-3099; greenfluke@optonline.net

Robin Shaffer
Protect Our Coast New Jersey
+1 703-861-2809
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