The death toll associated with offshore wind exploration continued this week, Save Jerseyans, when a 44-foot whale washed up at Sandy Hook National Park on Tuesday.
“On the morning of Saturday, May 4, a cruise ship in the Port of Brooklyn, New York, reported a dead whale caught on the ship’s bow. The whale has been identified as a Sei whale, approximately 44 feet long,” the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries explained on its Facebook page. “The whale was relocated and towed to shore at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to allow for better access to heavy equipment and resources to conduct a necropsy.”
The sei whale is endangered pursuant to the Endangered Species Act according to NOAA.
Interestingly, NOAA’s website lists “ocean noise” as a leading cause of Sei whale deaths. “Underwater noise threatens whale populations, interrupting their normal behavior and driving them away from areas important to their survival,” according to the NOAA website. “Increasing evidence suggests that exposure to intense underwater sound in some settings may cause some whales to strand and ultimately die.”
The impact of sonar on marine mammal populations is well-established.
https://twitter.com/AWokeZombie/status/1788296873398165567
New: Dead #whale reported in yesterday 5-7-2024, Sandy Hook, NJ. A necropsy was reportedly performed and the whale was buried. https://t.co/4DpRl34jka
— SaveLBI (@saveLBIorg) May 8, 2024
So sad to learn that another dead whale washed in on our New Jersey beaches.
If this were any other industry in the world, these projects would be stopped until the companies could prove that were not the cause. pic.twitter.com/ADywMpUotg
— Vince Sera (@VinceSeraNJ) May 8, 2024
