As dead whales continue to wash ashore on Delmarva, elsewhere, questions are also mounting
Kristian Jaime, Salisbury Daily Times
Mon, February 20, 2023
This article was updated at 4:13 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16 to include the latest incidents along the East Coast.
As more dead whales have washed ashore along the East Coast, the calls for moratoriums on wind energy programs have also grown louder.
The most recent incidents include a right whale — one of only an estimated 340 North Atlantic right whales remaining in the world — was found dead in Virginia Beach on Sunday. The 43-foot-long, 20-year-old whale suffered multiple vertebral fractures and separations from a likely ship strike that would have resulted in death shortly after the injury.
The second whale, a humpback found in Manasquan, New Jersey on Monday, was a 35-foot female in an advanced state of decomposition. Although no outward evidence of a vessel strike was seen, an exam showed internal injuries. NOAA stated a tissue analysis should determine whether the vessel strike occurred before or after death.
Incidents included an adolescent humpback whale on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on Friday afternoon, Feb. 10, that washed ashore at the mouth of Plantation Creek near Bay Creek. According to reporting by USA Today, at least 14 whales have washed ashore along the East Coast since Dec. 1, 2022, and some have blamed the whale deaths on seismic testing being done to construct offshore wind turbines. Yet longtime whale advocacy groups don't agree.
Both whales, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and a humpback, were already beginning to decompose, but preliminary results show internal injuries consistent with the blunt force trauma of a vessel strike, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.
A dead humpback whale was also found floating in the waters off Virginia Beach, near Lynnhaven Beach, on Tuesday, Feb. 7. The Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team, as in all similar instances, coordinated with the Virginia Beach Police Marine Patrol to track down the whale’s specific location.
UPDATE: NOAA says Virginia Beach dead whale likely hit by boat
A full necropsy is conducted in all cases of dead whales found along the Delmarva Peninsula.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains there are no documented cases of whale deaths linked to offshore wind projects and no evidence of whales being injured due to the seafloor probing developers have been doing to identify cable corridors or other wind energy activity.
IN MARYLAND: 'Vessel Strike' likely cause of recent Assateague Island whale death
Maryland also had a recent carcass of a 33.8-foot humpback whale wash ashore at Assateague Island National Seashore.
"We are in the middle of an unusual ongoing (whale) mortality event since 2016 that is specific to the humpback whales. While elevated, we have also had an elevated mortality rate for humpback whales to date. We've also seen similar cases for the North Atlantic right whales also," said Sarah Wilkin, coordinator of NOAA's Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program, Fisheries Office of Protected Resources in a news conference earlier this month.
Whale deaths a political football?
Benjamin Laws, deputy chief for NOAA's Permits and Conservation Division, Fisheries Office of Protected Resources, quickly stifled speculation that preliminary offshore wind seafloor scanning and development is to blame for the spike of recent whale deaths along the East Coast.
Yet that has not stopped longtime detractors of offshore wind from crying foul and demanding a federal moratorium on such development.
A Jan. 30 letter signed by 12 New Jersey mayors and Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ, called for such a moratium, a move also backed by Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md-1st.
More on federal opposition
How does wind energy affect marine mammals, fish and birds? New studies seek to find out
"Following the death of yet another whale, this time on Assateague Island, I am calling for an immediate moratorium on windmill construction and related underwater geotechnical testing until it is definitively proven that this construction and testing are not the cause of the repeated whale deaths," Harris said. "NOAA has offered zero evidence that this construction, including geotechnical testing, is not the cause of death.
"I am also calling for a full and transparent release of necropsy results, including the necropsy results of the whale ear structures which should be removed for examination to determine whether sonar actively contributed to the cause of death," Harris said in a January statement.
Yet activists looking to bolster the case of offshore wind development claim opponents are using the whale death events to sway the conversation back to fossil fuels.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Questions on wind energy rise as dead whales continue to wash ashore
"Following the death of yet another whale, this time on Assateague Island, I am calling for an immediate moratorium on windmill construction and related underwater geotechnical testing until it is definitively proven that this construction and testing are not the cause of the repeated whale deaths," Harris said. "NOAA has offered zero evidence that this construction, including geotechnical testing, is not the cause of death.
"I am also calling for a full and transparent release of necropsy results, including the necropsy results of the whale ear structures which should be removed for examination to determine whether sonar actively contributed to the cause of death," Harris said in a January statement.
Yet activists looking to bolster the case of offshore wind development claim opponents are using the whale death events to sway the conversation back to fossil fuels.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Questions on wind energy rise as dead whales continue to wash ashore
US protesters turn ire on wind farms to explain whale deaths – but where’s the evidence?
Gloria Oladipo
Mon, February 20, 2023
Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Thousands gathered at New Jersey’s Point Pleasant beach on Sunday with a united mission: to pause offshore wind projects in response to recent whale deaths along the New York-New Jersey coast.
The gathering unfolded even as officials dispute the notion that the projects may be to blame for the dead whales, a controversy that – like many – is breaking along political party lines.
Holding signs reading “Save the Whales” and “Whale Lives Matter” on Sunday, World Whale Day, a coalition of ocean conservationist groups and homegrown activists argued that local wind turbine survey projects were harming marine wildlife.
“You are the ocean’s voice,” said organizer Cindy Zipf, encouraging protesters to get in touch with their local officials.
Since 2023, at least 10 whales have washed ashore on the New York and New Jersey coastlines.
Last Monday, a ninth humpback whale was found dead in Manasquan, New Jersey.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) fisheries division, which investigates such whale deaths, has called them “unusual mortality events”.
As organizers at Sunday’s protest argued for a moratorium on wind turbines in the area, others say there is no evidence to support claims that wind turbines are the cause of the whale deaths.
Many raising alarms on recent whale deaths have pointed to noise created by offshore wind survey work as confusing the whale’s navigation system.
But scientists argue that current evidence does not support such a claim.
“It’s just a cynical disinformation campaign,” Greenpeace oceans director John Hocevar said to USA Today.
And even though the agency considers the whale deaths unusual, a statement from Noaa fisheries officials added: “[T]here is no evidence to support speculation that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys could … cause mortality of whales, and no specific links between recent large whale mortalities and currently ongoing surveys.”
Noaa fisheries research on the 183 total whale deaths found that 40% of them resulted from human interaction, either from ship strikes or netting entanglement.
Many attendees of Sunday’s rally are locals to the New Jersey coast and say they came out to express their concern.
“I’ve gotten lots of information from different sources, and you can’t argue with the fact that 10 whales have washed up,” said Kim Wetzel, 57, an Ocean City resident.
Wetzel works in a primary school and became involved through whale advocacy work in Ocean City.
“Even though we don’t have the facts yet, the facts will come – but we’re seeing the evidence with our own eyes,” Wetzel said.
“Also, what’s real is common sense,” Michelle Gehring, a stay-at-home mom, also from Ocean City, added.
Gehring said that outside whales, residents of Ocean City were complaining that offshore wind projects were causing their houses to shake.
Both felt that more time and research was needed to understand how offshore wind projects affect the environment.
Others came to the protest via friends and local Facebook groups.
“I’m trying to educate myself,” said Casey Small, a teacher who lives in Cape May, almost two hours away from Sunday’s rally.
Small said many participants did not seem to have evidence on the survey’s exact impact.
“What I’m finding is a lot of people don’t really know what’s going on,” Small said. “We don’t really have a lot of information on it. I think it’s important to have concrete evidence. I’m learning that it’s really hard to find.”
Trisha Devoe, a whale-watching naturalist, organized Sunday’s rally and became involved after learning about recent humpback whale deaths.
“You have to stop and say, ‘Is it contributing to these deaths’?” said Devoe, who wants more studies on the whale deaths.
Zipf, who has organized for decades with her group Clean Ocean Action, said organizers originally supported a pilot project for wind turbines. But they have grown concerned as larger projects develop without a complete understanding of the turbines’ ecological impact.
“[People] are outraged because they feel like they weren’t told that this has been happening,” Zipf said.
“All of a sudden, their ocean is being turned into a giant power plant.”
Politicians also participated in Sunday’s event. The New Jersey congressman Chris Smith, a Republican who represents Point Pleasant, echoed calls for a moratorium on wind turbine projects.
Smith, who said he supports clean energy where viable, has introduced a bill for the federal General Accountability Office to determine how well the environmental impact statements on wind development projects were done.
“It hasn’t been looked at strongly for those who are about the benefits financially,” Smith said. “That brings a healthy skepticism to people like myself who think, ‘I don’t get anything out of this. I just want a clean ocean’.”
Discussions around whale deaths have become increasingly partisan.
Arguments that windfarms are harming whales is a talking point that has been parroted by conservative politicians and figures, including far-right Georgia congresswoman Majorie Tayor Greene and Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
But many at Sunday’s rally said the issue, for them, wasn’t political.
“It’s very frustrating that this has become a partisan issue because the ocean has always been and always be non partisan,” Zipf said. “We all depend on a clean and healthy ocean.”
Gloria Oladipo
Mon, February 20, 2023
Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Thousands gathered at New Jersey’s Point Pleasant beach on Sunday with a united mission: to pause offshore wind projects in response to recent whale deaths along the New York-New Jersey coast.
The gathering unfolded even as officials dispute the notion that the projects may be to blame for the dead whales, a controversy that – like many – is breaking along political party lines.
Holding signs reading “Save the Whales” and “Whale Lives Matter” on Sunday, World Whale Day, a coalition of ocean conservationist groups and homegrown activists argued that local wind turbine survey projects were harming marine wildlife.
“You are the ocean’s voice,” said organizer Cindy Zipf, encouraging protesters to get in touch with their local officials.
Since 2023, at least 10 whales have washed ashore on the New York and New Jersey coastlines.
Last Monday, a ninth humpback whale was found dead in Manasquan, New Jersey.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) fisheries division, which investigates such whale deaths, has called them “unusual mortality events”.
As organizers at Sunday’s protest argued for a moratorium on wind turbines in the area, others say there is no evidence to support claims that wind turbines are the cause of the whale deaths.
Many raising alarms on recent whale deaths have pointed to noise created by offshore wind survey work as confusing the whale’s navigation system.
But scientists argue that current evidence does not support such a claim.
“It’s just a cynical disinformation campaign,” Greenpeace oceans director John Hocevar said to USA Today.
And even though the agency considers the whale deaths unusual, a statement from Noaa fisheries officials added: “[T]here is no evidence to support speculation that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys could … cause mortality of whales, and no specific links between recent large whale mortalities and currently ongoing surveys.”
Noaa fisheries research on the 183 total whale deaths found that 40% of them resulted from human interaction, either from ship strikes or netting entanglement.
Many attendees of Sunday’s rally are locals to the New Jersey coast and say they came out to express their concern.
“I’ve gotten lots of information from different sources, and you can’t argue with the fact that 10 whales have washed up,” said Kim Wetzel, 57, an Ocean City resident.
Wetzel works in a primary school and became involved through whale advocacy work in Ocean City.
“Even though we don’t have the facts yet, the facts will come – but we’re seeing the evidence with our own eyes,” Wetzel said.
“Also, what’s real is common sense,” Michelle Gehring, a stay-at-home mom, also from Ocean City, added.
Gehring said that outside whales, residents of Ocean City were complaining that offshore wind projects were causing their houses to shake.
Both felt that more time and research was needed to understand how offshore wind projects affect the environment.
Others came to the protest via friends and local Facebook groups.
“I’m trying to educate myself,” said Casey Small, a teacher who lives in Cape May, almost two hours away from Sunday’s rally.
Small said many participants did not seem to have evidence on the survey’s exact impact.
“What I’m finding is a lot of people don’t really know what’s going on,” Small said. “We don’t really have a lot of information on it. I think it’s important to have concrete evidence. I’m learning that it’s really hard to find.”
Trisha Devoe, a whale-watching naturalist, organized Sunday’s rally and became involved after learning about recent humpback whale deaths.
“You have to stop and say, ‘Is it contributing to these deaths’?” said Devoe, who wants more studies on the whale deaths.
Zipf, who has organized for decades with her group Clean Ocean Action, said organizers originally supported a pilot project for wind turbines. But they have grown concerned as larger projects develop without a complete understanding of the turbines’ ecological impact.
“[People] are outraged because they feel like they weren’t told that this has been happening,” Zipf said.
“All of a sudden, their ocean is being turned into a giant power plant.”
Politicians also participated in Sunday’s event. The New Jersey congressman Chris Smith, a Republican who represents Point Pleasant, echoed calls for a moratorium on wind turbine projects.
Smith, who said he supports clean energy where viable, has introduced a bill for the federal General Accountability Office to determine how well the environmental impact statements on wind development projects were done.
“It hasn’t been looked at strongly for those who are about the benefits financially,” Smith said. “That brings a healthy skepticism to people like myself who think, ‘I don’t get anything out of this. I just want a clean ocean’.”
Discussions around whale deaths have become increasingly partisan.
Arguments that windfarms are harming whales is a talking point that has been parroted by conservative politicians and figures, including far-right Georgia congresswoman Majorie Tayor Greene and Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
But many at Sunday’s rally said the issue, for them, wasn’t political.
“It’s very frustrating that this has become a partisan issue because the ocean has always been and always be non partisan,” Zipf said. “We all depend on a clean and healthy ocean.”
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