The Commercial Fishermen of Sea Services are back at work on the Empire Wind farm off the coast of New York thanks to the Federal Administration’s reversal of a stop-work order issued in April.

“The guys are back out there setting up safety zones for the cable-lay vessels,” said Gary Yerman, Co-Founder and Fleet Manager of Sea Services North America. “It’s a 47-mile cable going into Brooklyn so we’re doing safety work and scouting for fishing gear ahead of the cable vessels to avoid problems for fishermen and the Empire crew.”

The administration’s reversal provided the entire industry a huge sigh of relief, considering the project was fully permitted with construction well underway and about 30 percent complete at the time of the stop-work order.

While Sea Services provides the vital work of preventing or mitigating conflicts between fishermen and installation crews with their local knowledge of the lease areas and those fishing them, it represents just a tiny fraction of the jobs and investment generated by Empire Wind and developer Equinor ASA of Norway.

The 54-turbine, 810 MW wind farm is designed to power more than 500,000 homes in New York beginning in 2027. In addition to this offshore work, Equinor is investing up to $250 million in upgrades to transform the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into one of the largest dedicated offshore wind assembly and shipping hubs in the U.S. The project is generating 1,000 union jobs under a Project Labor Agreement signed in 2024.

Anders Opedal, President and CEO of Equinor ASA issued the following statement in response to the reversal:

“I would like to thank President Trump for finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the U.S. I am grateful to Governor Hochul for her constructive collaboration with the Trump Administration, without which we would not have been able to advance this project and secure energy for 500,000 homes in New York. We are very appreciative of New York City Mayor Adams, congressional leaders including Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, Representative Garbarino, and Representative Goldman, as well as labour groups and other advocates that have maintained their steadfast support for the project.”