By Gloria Oladipo, The Guardian Feb 15 2023 12.18 EST
A ninth dead whale has washed up on the New Jersey coastline, as conservationists and local authorities investigate the causes of an unusual number of such deaths along the US east coast.
The humpback was found in Manasquan, New Jersey, on Monday.
The whale was removed from the beach on Tuesday and taken to the county landfill for a necropsy and to collect tissue samples, a spokesperson for Noaa Fisheries, part of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, told Gothamist.
The whale is one of many recently found dead off New York and New Jersey. At least 10 humpback whales have died in east coast waters in 2023, six near New York and New Jersey, CBS reported.
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Noaa Fisheries is investigating the cause of such “unusual mortality events”, data for which has been collected since 2016.
Conservatives and some conservationist activists attribute the rise in deaths to increasing offshore wind projects, calling on federal authorities to do more to protect the coastline.
But federal officials have pushed back against claims that wind turbines are to blame, saying evidence does not support the contention wind energy projects cause whale fatalities.
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