An Increase In Whale Deaths Along The Jersey Shore Has Been Linked To Shipping & Changes In Feeding Patterns

Tuesday, June 4, 2024, 7:30 A.M. ET. By Ryan Metz: Englebrook Independent News,

LONG BEACH ISLAND, NJ.- Earlier this year in April, a humpback whale was found dead on Long Beach Island in New Jersey. This was the 9th event in two years of humpback whales to wash ashore in New Jersey, recalling the effort in 2023 by Republicans to halt offshore wind farms along the East Coast. 

     The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, has called the increase in deaths of humpback whales along the East Coast an unusual mortality event. NOAA has been monitoring this ever since 2016.

     Republican lawmakers in New Jersey have voiced loud and consistent opposition to the wind farms, eventually demanding a halt to the offshore wind farm construction projects to allow time to determine if the projects were the cause of these whale deaths. Conservative social media posts have been blaming the deaths on the construction of the wind farms, despite the fact that none have begun construction in New Jersey, and there is no clear that any activity in preparation of the offshore sites is a factor. Government agencies on both the Federal and State levels reject the idea that wind farms are to blame.

     Instead, government agencies have reported on the necropsies of no less than 40% of the dead whales, with most of them showing marks indicating strikes by large ships and entanglement in fishing lines and nets. Some scientists believe that warming waters may also have played a part, in changing the feeding behavior of the whales, but that link has yet to be fully established. Critics of the Republican lawmakers have argued that the Republican effort to stop offshore wind farms is fundamentally an effort to protect fossil fuel interests.

     The Environmental Protection Agency has found that wind farms pose a risk to certain species of birds, particularly during nighttime migration, but has not issued any rules prohibiting the use of wind turbines to generate power. Further studies will be required to determine the direct effects of wind farms on wildlife, both offshore and off.