Offshore Whale Deaths Continue

At WUWT, The Offshore Wind Turbine Whale Slaughter Continues?

Green energy projects may soon rival the kill rate of Japanese Whale “research” vessels, if claims of a connection are true.

Another dead whale washes up at Jersey Shore, drawing worried crowd

By Steven Rodas | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The ninth dead whale to wash ashore on the New York-New Jersey coastline in recent months was reported Monday, officials with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center confirmed.

A crowd gathered as the whale floated about 100 yards offshore near Whiting Avenue Beach in Manasquan on Monday afternoon. As some onlookers stopped to take photos, police were seen cordoning off the area.

“We’re putting together a team with NOAA right now to respond,” Sheila Dean, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, told NJ Advance Media on Monday afternoon.

The center, as well as NOAA, have continued to state that offshore wind survey work in the area is not at fault for the whale deaths. Although some groups have called the series of strandings unprecedented, federal and state officials have yet to conclude that’s the case and continue to investigate the deaths.
…
While some towns have called for a pause on offshore wind pre-construction, Donovan said Manasquan has not followed suit.

“As soon as someone can convince me offshore wind work is responsible for any of the whale deaths I’ll more than happy sign onboard,” Donovan said.

…Read more: https://www.nj.com/news/2023/02/another-dead-whale-washes-up-at-jersey-shore-drawing-worried-crowd.html

Its not just whales which may be suffering from the offshore wind industry. There are claims turbines continue to wreak havoc on the environment even after they are constructed, with evidence that EMF pollution from undersea electric cables devastates the ability of crabs to function normally – kind of like how moths are drawn to electric lights. Other sea creatures like sharks also sense electricity, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a whole range of sea creatures are being messed up by offshore wind, which have not yet shown up on the research radar.

I doubt greens are going to get too excited by this latest whale death, or all the other problems offshore wind appears to be causing.

I'm still not convinced that the sonar blasting for wind power siting in the NE Atlantic coast is causing whale deaths, but then again, I'm not convinced they aren't. It's being reported that many of the whales are showing signs of being struck by ships, even though large areas of the ocean there have been designated as "slow" zones to protect them. Whales have pretty good ears, and they use sonar themselves to locate objects and each other. I've been on ships and observed whales, and they seem pretty aware of the ships presence. Why would there be a sudden rash of ships hitting whales? Well, having their hearing damaged by extreme sounds is at least a plausible explanation.

But if it's an effect of sound, why not dolphins. There are way more dolphins than whales in the area? Well, maybe they are, but their just not being noticed as much. A dead dolphin on the the beach is kind of a nuisance, but a dead whale; now that's a real problem. 

The Wombat is a day late and a dollar short with Rule 5 Monday: Rebecca Bagnol.