The whale

Seven dead whales have washed ashore in New Jersey and New York in less than two months. Some are blaming offshore wind energy sites, but federal officials ...

However, these are reasons for overall deaths and are not specific to the most recent string of events. Erica Staaterman, a bioacoustician with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said during the call that the equipment used in these surveys is not as intrusive to marine animals compared to the equipment used in oil and gas construction. More research on the cause for the event as a whole is needed. However, there is no evidence that's what happened in the most recent cases of whale strandings, the agency said. [178 deaths](https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/2016-2023-humpback-whale-unusual-mortality-event-along-atlantic-coast), most of which occurred in Massachusetts and New York. [blunt trauma to the whale's head](https://www.facebook.com/njmarinemammal/posts/pfbid02m8rtfLHCYXn7TiqfLYwsBFvw2feT6yCLohCRUmbSNunnF46UYMagZdhLBZCGNGqml) and thoracic area, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. The others have been found in New Jersey, including a 12-foot infant sperm whale in Keansburg on Dec. Laws said that most of the offshore activity right now is surveys for more developments. Some have pointed blame at offshore wind development in the region and claimed construction of the sites causes harm to marine animals. 10, a humpback whale in Atlantic City on Dec. In less than two months, seven dead whales have washed up on the shores of New Jersey and New York. Two were found in New York, with a 31-foot-long humpback whale washing up in Amagansett, on Long Island, on Dec.

Nine recent whale deaths in New York and New Jersey have prompted several New Jersey GOP lawmakers to question whether the deaths were linked to development ...

Some, including Clean Ocean Action, have called for a halt to the Ørsted New Jersey operation as well as stopping future planned wind farms. “We’re accepting the fact that humans have messed up and climate change is because of us. “Our current work off the coast of New Jersey consists of surveys and does not involve sounds or actions that will disturb whales or any ocean mammals,” Urbish added. “The whales are coming to area where there’s a lot of boat traffic.” Officials stressed that the acoustic instruments used by wind projects are typically less sound-intensive than the seismic air guns used by offshore oil and gas operations to penetrate deeper into the seabed. More recently, the focus has been on nine whales that had been stranded off the New York and New Jersey coast since early December. “People are overlooking the obvious just because there’s some news going on about wind farms.” There are several factors that may be contributing to increase whale strandings in the mid-Atlantic region, federal officials and local experts said. Of those, about 40% were because whales were struck by ships or got tangled in ropes or nets in the water. From Maine to Florida, 178 whales have died, and scientists have examined about half of the incidents. Officials noted the New Jersey wind energy project is prohibited from using levels of sonar so loud they could be fatal to whales or other marine life. “We want to know the answers.”

WASHINGTON— The National Marine Fisheries Service today denied an emergency petition that sought to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right ...

Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. Every mother right whale and calf is critical to the survival of the species. The agency’s decision not to take emergency action to protect mothers and calves puts the species’ entire future at risk.” The agency has noted that a rule expansion is essential to preventing the whale’s extinction. Protecting right whales from vessel strikes is even more crucial after the Senate’s recent omnibus bill, which delayed efforts to curb right whale entanglements in lobster gear.” The agency has yet to finalize that proposal, and the emergency rule would have helped prevent incidents like the 2021 boat collision that killed a right whale calf off Florida and likely fatally injured its mother.

What to know about about recent whale deaths on the East Coast: How many dead? Why are whales dying?

[Warming waters off the northeast coast](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/14/climate-change-causes-explained/10810663002/) send whales and their prey into new areas where they encounter more vessels and fishing gear. The equipment being used does not produce the powerful, high energy sound used in seismic air gun blasting for oil and gas exploration, said Erica Staaterman, a bureau bioacoustician. ['Things are grim for the species': Endangered whales continue to decline in Atlantic](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/10/25/endangered-right-whale-population-declines-atlantic/10588097002/) [Climate change](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/25/what-climate-change-and-global-warming-causes-effects/10757480002/) alters the food chain. NOAA said humpback deaths are higher in winter. [an orca washed up in Florida.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/11/orca-whale-dies-florida-beach/11032887002/) [critically endangered North Atlantic right whale calf](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/10/endangered-north-atlantic-whale-calf-dead-east-coast/11022850002/) Authorities can't say for certain how many whales die. Increasing populations can put the animals at greater risk of interactions with boats and fishing gear. It's unknown how many die at sea. On Wednesday, federal officials held a conference call with reporters to try to address swirling questions and rumors. Final results of their investigations aren’t yet available.

Fatal collisions with whales typically occur with ships going faster than an offshore wind survey vessel travels. The wind ships also have whale spotters ...

Orsted provides weekly briefings to mariners, with the latest saying that the NorthStar Voyager will be traveling along a planned cable route and within the area it has leased from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Orsted said the test is “low in terms of noise impacts.” Some of these kinds of tests use sound, Orsted said, but their vessels do not. 4-10 with its ship Regulus, a 272-foot vessel that has since moved out of the area. “Orsted-contracted vessels have not experienced any marine mammal strikes during offshore survey activity in the U.S.” “Preliminary results based on observations during the necropsy suggest that the whale suffered blunt trauma injuries consistent with those from a vessel strike,” the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine said in a statement about the Jan. “Injuries and hemorrhaging were observed on the head and thoracic region, as well as along the right side and the pectoral flipper.” The company says it is not performing any seismic activity as part if its testing of the seafloor. As the humpback whale population has grown, their occurrence in the mid-Atlantic has increased. A humpback whale found dead in Atlantic City on Jan. In January, it has had one vessel at a time on the water totaling little more than seven days. The ships are required to reduce speed only as they near the ports, but they often follow voluntary speed restrictions farther out. Opponents of offshore wind have suggested survey vessels are to blame, but officials suggest otherwise.

US marine mammal experts have hit back at allegations by offshore wind opponents that the sector's site surveying activity is responsible for a recent spate ...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Federal environmental and energy officials moved Wednesday to quell a growing controversy over whether work done by the offshore ...

During the teleconference, NOAA fisheries spokeswoman Lauren Gaches said that 178 humpback whales have died off the East Coast from Maine to Florida since ...

That wind activity includes the use of sonar during surveying, he said, a procedure that has been widely used worldwide. Nine deaths have occurred since 1 December 2022. “There is no known evidence of a connection between whale strandings and offshore wind activity,” said Ben Laws, deputy chief for permits and conservation with the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) fisheries office of protected resources.