Whale strandings rise, but feds say wind farm work not to blame

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Nine large whale strandings in the area in the past six weeks, and an unusual rise in the number of humpback whale stranding deaths since 2016, have federal wildlife regulators worried, but they said there is no There was no evidence that new offshore wind study activities were to blame.

The nine whales that have washed up on beaches along the Atlantic coast, including the coasts of New Jersey and Long Island, since Dec. 1 consisted of seven humpback whales and two sperm whales, said Sarah Wilkin, coordinator of the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program of the National Oceanic. and Atmospheric Administrations Bureau of Fisheries Protected Resources.

The recent humpback whale deaths are part of what the government calls an unusual mortality event for the species which has seen 178 stranding deaths since January 2016. Wilkins said there are also unusual mortality events for the North Atlantic right whale and minke whale.

Unfortunately, it has had high strandings of large whales for several years, she said. But were still concerned about it [increase] over the past six weeks or so.

During a briefing on the whale deaths on Wednesday, federal Office of Ocean Energy Management officials were quick to note that a slight increase in work studying offshore winds doesn’t appear to be to blame.

We have no evidence that would support a connection between the survey work and these recent grounding events, or any grounding events in recent years, said Benjamin Laws, deputy chief of the permitting and Conservation, NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources. The surveys use sounding devices which can have an effect on the whales, but the equipment is said to be less damaging than other such equipment used for oil and gas exploration.

Of about half of the whales that have been able to be examined at a necropsy since 2016, about 40% showed evidence of human interaction, including a collision with a ship or entanglement, NOAA said. To date, no whale deaths have been attributed to offshore wind activities, an official said.

But concern over the impacts of wind farms was enough to prompt Sean Hayes, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s protected species unit, to write a letter to BOEM’s senior biologist last May expressing concern about the potential impact of a planned wind farm on the endangered right whale. . Newsday obtained the letter through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Offshore wind development poses risks to these species, which are amplified in southern New England waters due to species abundance and distribution, Hayes wrote, citing increased noise , shipping traffic, habitat changes and other factors. He called for the creation of a conservation buffer zone and other changes to plans to further protect right whales.

But officials on Wednesday noted that other factors could lure the whales into more perilous waters. The whales could track their prey, which was heard by our partners near shore this winter, NOAA said.

An opponent of the wind farm said the uncertainty surrounding the deaths calls for further study. ‘We need a moratorium’ on survey work on vessels until impacts are known, said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, which opposes wind farms on the fishing grounds.

Mark Harrington, Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.

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