You searched for whales — Page 2 of 4

Yet another whale washes up on a NJ beach and is euthanized

The pygmy whale was alive when she was stranded, but her prognosis was poor and she had to be euthanized

By Veronica Flesher, Patch Staff, Wed, Aug 30, 2023 at 4:25 pm ET

*A live pygmy sperm whale was discovered stranded on the beach at Seaview Drive in Loveladies on Aug. 29, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) said. (Shutterstock)*

LOVELADIES, NJ — A live pygmy sperm whale was discovered stranded on the beach at Seaview Drive in Loveladies on Aug. 29, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) said.

The whale, a 10-foot 9-inch long adult female weighing more than 800 pounds, was rescued by the MMSC with help from members of the Long Beach Township Beach Patrol.

The whale was rushed to the MMSC Center veterinarian.

“Upon examination, the whale was very lethargic and unresponsive, and had labored breathing,” the MMSC said. “After the medical assessment, it was determined that her prognosis was extremely poor, and she was unlikely to survive.”

The impact of stranding is traumatic on whales and dolphins as their body weight and organs are normally supported by the water surrounding them, according to the MMSC, but when they are stranded their own body weight causes crushing damage to their internal organs.

“The decision was made to humanely euthanize the whale to prevent further suffering,” the MMSC said.

The whale was immediately taken to Animal Health Diagnostic Lab for necropsy, the MMSC said.

“The laboratory will be following NOAA protocols for sampling freshly deceased cetaceans, and preserving samples for analysis of the ears and other organs,” the MMSC said.

Read the full story here

If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

Yet another whale washes up on a NJ beach and is euthanized Read More »

Ugh! Another dead whale washes ashore. This one in New York

Officials are at beach just west of the Atlantic Beach... — *Officials are at beach just west of the Atlantic Beach Bridge Friday securing a dead whale that washed up from East Rockaway Inlet. Credit: Jim Staubitser*

By John Asbury, Newsday

Marine biologists and New York City parks officials are working to secure a dead humpback whale that washed ashore near Rockaway Inlet, west of Atlantic Beach.

The 30-foot whale was reported Friday afternoon and parks officials were working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to secure the remains and prepare it for a necropsy, said Robert DiGiovanni, chief scientist for the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society.

Crews were guarding the whale’s carcass on shore and protecting the area from beachgoers approaching it in the surf, DiGiovanni said.

A necropsy is planned on the whale Saturday to determine a cause of death. Officials did not know immediately when the whale died.

It is the third whale that has washed up near Long Island beaches this month and the 17th whale in the New York-New Jersey region.

That marks a record number of dead whales this year appearing on beaches in the region. Experts say a larger number of whales are coming closer to shore to feed and arriving earlier in the winter and spring, officials said.

Officials said one of the main causes of these whale deaths has been trauma consistent with boat strikes,

It is the ninth humpback whale discovered off Long Island, in addition to three minke whales that died from a suspected biological condition.

Ugh! Another dead whale washes ashore. This one in New York Read More »

‘Stay out of our ocean!’ | ‘Big Wind’ comes face to face with its fiercest American critics – New Jerseyans

Officials from one of America’s biggest offshore wind projects underway by Shell and EDF endured an uncomfortable evening as they were lambasted by a raucous group of sector opponents.

By Tim Ferry, RECHARGE

New Jerseyans are known for being forthright (some might even say “rude”), so in some ways it’s not surprising that representatives of the 1.5GW Atlantic Shores offshore wind development heard an earful at the project’s recent public scoping hearing in Atlantic City.

Held at the city’s headquarters, the hearing was ostensibly aimed at gaining comments on the Shell-EDF joint venture (JV)’s proposed landing site for the project on the beach at 35th Street and the onshore transmission cable route beneath city streets to the point of grid interconnection at the Cardiff substation in nearby Egg Harbour Township.

Offshore wind’s supporters came to the meeting ready to lay out the benefits of the industry to an area whose last great economic revival came from the casinos that line its seafront.

Related offshore wind energy news:
Opponents fill Atlantic City offshore wind hearing
Wind Execs Catch Hell At Atlantic City Public Hearing

What the wind power employees and other officials may not have been prepared for, however, was the sheer level of vitriol on display from the 100 or so attending, who had more on their minds than cables and whose views reflect the extreme end of a wave of opposition that’s making life uncomfortable for offshore wind projects from New Jersey to Eastern England.

“You are greedy, evil, lying people. We don’t want you here – get out! Stay out of our ocean!” Atlantic City resident Louise Rosanio shouted into the microphone just feet away from Atlantic Shores’ representatives to raucous cheers from the crowd, with the police and security staff looking on providing a clue that this would be no genteel affair.

Rosanio’s comments were typical and Atlantic Shores’ outside counsel Jim Boyd, meeting chair, repeatedly stopped proceedings to allow the stenographer to hear and transcribe each speaker.

“It’s unfortunate that these are the only opportunity people have to be heard,” New Jersey resident and prolific industry critic Mike Dean told Recharge on the sidelines.

Dean claimed that the developer hasn’t publicised similar hearings in the past, and at other meetings, didn’t allow public comment.

“It’s one of the few opportunities people have to express their opposition,” he added.

The developer didn’t respond directly to any of the comments at the hearing but instead will release a document addressing each one.

“One of Atlantic Shores’ core values is ‘be a good neighbour’ and we think public hearings are just one of many ways for the community to have their voice heard on major infrastructure projects,” a representative for the developer told Recharge.

What became clear during the meeting was that any legitimate concerns expressed at the meeting were mixed in with half-truths and conspiracy theories of the kind familiar on certain regions of the internet.

Read the full story here

‘Stay out of our ocean!’ | ‘Big Wind’ comes face to face with its fiercest American critics – New Jerseyans Read More »

BOEM’s Atlantic Shores public sessions dilute, but don’t deter criticisms

The Atlantic Shores offshore wind project would build up to 200 turbines, rated at a maximum 1,510 megawatts, off Long Beach Island, N.J. BOEM graphic.

By Kirk Moore, Ntional Fisherman Mid-Atlanic News

Local groups opposing New Jersey offshore wind projects hoped this week’s public meetings on the Atlantic Shores development would be a platform for voicing their strenuous objections.

But the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the first session Wednesday evening in a highway Holiday Inn hotel in Manahawkin, N.J., in the style of an informal informational session, rather than a formal public hearing on its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on Atlantic Shores.

Dozens of visitors, many of them seaside residents from nearby Long Beach Island, made a circuit of poster presentations. Presentations on how turbines will be visible from the beach – and the project’s impact on marine mammals – attracted the most attention.

Related news:
BOEM’s Atlantic Shores public sessions dilute, but don’t deter criticisms
Biden’s Offshore Wind Dreams Face Rising Controversy, Opposition
Misinformation is derailing renewable energy projects across the United States
40-ton problem weighing on $100B offshore wind industry

Some visitors went toe-to-toe debating with BOEM staffers and agency contractors about the DEIS findings. Others, who had hoped for publicly making their cases before an audience, were dismissive of the proceedings.

“Typically BOEM. Totally tone-deaf,” said Greg DiDomenico, a fisheries management specialist with Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, N.J.

“It’s supposed to be all about dialogue,” said Cynthia Zipf, executive director of the Clean Ocean Action environmental group, which has been critical of BOEM’s planning for large wind energy developments in the New York Bight.

On arrival visitors were directed to a reception desk where they could sign up to present formal comments on the DEIS.

“The goal of these meetings is to help attendees provide written comments for the record,” according to email notifications from BOEM. “Comments can be provided by meeting with a court reporter at the meeting, by submitting comments to www.regulations.gov or by sending written comments to BOEM.”

BOEM released the draft environmental impact statement May 15 and is taking public comments for 45 days ending July 3. Four public meetings – the Wednesday session in Manahawkin, another Thursday at the Atlantic City Convention Center and online sessions June 26 and June 28 – will inform the final EIS, the agency says.

The two-phase project could build around 200 wind turbines off Long Beach Island, Brigantine an Atlantic City, an array with a nameplate capacity for generating up to 2,800 megawatts. It’s a 50/50 joint venture between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF-RE Offshore Development, LLC, a subsidiary of EDF Renewables North America.

Export cables carrying energy from the project would come ashore at landfall sites in Atlantic City, and another about 60 miles north in Monmouth County.

Passions have run high among anti- and pro-wind power groups, since whale strandings on New Jersey beaches last winter that project opponents tied to survey work on project sites.

Read the full story here

If you liked this post, you will love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation

BOEM’s Atlantic Shores public sessions dilute, but don’t deter criticisms Read More »

Report by feds, anglers cites offshore wind impacts on fish

BY WAYNE PARRY Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY — A joint study by two federal government scientific agencies and the commercial fishing industry documents numerous impacts that offshore wind power projects have on fish and marine mammals, including noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields, and heat transfer that could alter the marine environment.

It comes as the offshore wind industry is poised to grow rapidly on the U.S. East Coast, where it is facing growing opposition from those who blame it for killing whales — something numerous scientific agencies say is not true.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance issued their report Wednesday after a 2½-year-long study of the impacts existing offshore wind projects have on fish and marine mammals.

The goal was to solidify existing knowledge of the impacts and call for further research in many areas.

NOAA and BOEM are among the agencies that say there is no link between offshore wind preparation and whale deaths. Their co-authorship of a report detailing potential negative impacts on fish and marine mammals may intensify an already highly politicized controversy.

Asked Friday about the likelihood of this happening, NOAA spokesperson Lauren Gaches reiterated the agency’s position that offshore wind is not causing the whale deaths, which remain under investigation.

“We will also continue to explore how sound, vessel, and other human activities in the marine environment impact whales and other marine mammals,” she said.

The fishing industry is concerned that fish near construction sites may be killed or chased away for prolonged periods even after the turbines are built, according to the report.

“Physical changes associated with (offshore wind) developments will affect the marine environment — and, subsequently, the species that live there — to varying degrees,” the report read. ”These include construction and operation noise and vibration, electromagnetic fields, and thermal radiation from cables, as well as secondary gear entanglement.

Read the full story here

If you liked this post you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

Report by feds, anglers cites offshore wind impacts on fish Read More »

Authorities examine ‘unusual mortality events’ as ninth dead whale washes up in New Jersey

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.

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.

Read the full story here

If you like this post you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

Authorities examine ‘unusual mortality events’ as ninth dead whale washes up in New Jersey Read More »

Three more Republican lawmakers call for a pause to NJ’s offshore wind projects

Assembly Republican News

SOUTHERN SHORE LAWMAKERS SAY UNPRECEDENTED WHALE DEATHS WARRANT SUSPENSION OF OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS

TRENTON, N.J. – Sen. Michael Testa and Assemblymen Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan are intensifying calls to suspend offshore wind projects following an unprecedented number of whale deaths along the coasts of New Jersey and New York. They join a chorus of concerned elected officials and environmental and commercial fishing groups who are worried the push for more offshore wind development has contributed to the death of seven whales in a little over a month, including two on the endangered species list.

Despite the opposition, Gov. Phil Murphy continues his aggressive green energy goals, which call for increasing offshore electric wind generation to 11,000 megawatts by 2040. To date, three offshore wind projects have been approved by the state Board of Public Utilities. One would add 98 wind turbines in Ocean and Cape May counties and others could produce as many as 350 along Atlantic County’s shoreline.

Don’t miss environmental news like this Click for free updates

“It has been clear for a long while that the wind projects as proposed may pose significant impact risks to the local environment,” said Testa (R-Cumberland). “Our coastal communities and the thriving commercial fisheries and recreational fishing activities rely upon a healthy and safe ocean and these projects unnecessarily imperil that which is unacceptable. Until the proponents can assure our region that these projects are not playing a part in these incidents, it would be wise to suspend the work.”

The South Jersey state lawmakers have spoken out against Murphy’s energy plans alongside fishermen and entrepreneurs whose jobs depend on the coastline.

“We believe that the work related to offshore wind activities is the primary difference in our waters and an investigation should be done as to why these magnificent marine mammals are dying in alarming numbers,” McClellan (R-Cape May) said.

Simonsen echoed calls for an investigation, saying, “It is essential that there is transparency and accountability for what has been such a tragic loss of sea life. Our whales must be safeguarded before any further progress can be made.”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Cape May County), state Sen. Vincent J. Polistina, Assemblyman Don Guardian, and Assemblywoman Claire Swift (R-Atlantic County) have also demanded a halt to offshore wind activities at the Jersey Shore.

Three more Republican lawmakers call for a pause to NJ’s offshore wind projects Read More »

Another whale washes up on Jersey shore

The second dead whale in two days. One of seven in the past month. State senator calls for a pause in offshore wind development. Governor says no way

A young humpback whale, between 20 and 25 feet long, was found dead on a Brigantine beach Thursday — the second whale to wash up on Jersey Shore beach in the last week. Connie Pyatt photo.

By Oona Goodin-Smith, Philadelphia Inquirer

A young humpback whale, between 20 and 25 feet long, washed up on the beaches of Brigantine Island Thursday afternoon — the second whale found dead on the Jersey Shore in the last week, and one of seven discovered in New York and New Jersey in a little more than a month.

The whale in Brigantine was found upside-down on the north end of the island, on state-protected property around half a mile from the site of the former U.S. Coast Guard Station, according to a post on the municipality’s Facebook page.

New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, Fish and Wildlife department, and the non-profit Marine Mammal Stranding Center responded to the scene, the post said. The state planned to bury the carcass, according to the post.

It was not immediately clear how the whale had died, and that answer could take “several months” to determine — if at all, the center said in a statement Friday. Plans for a necropsy are under way, the center said, but due to the tide cycle and erosion, the area where the whale is located is hazardous to access. The center’s staff will continue to visit the site during low tide to take measurements and samples to send to experts tasked with investigating whale deaths.

Read the full story here

If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

Another whale washes up on Jersey shore Read More »

Offshore wind farms are coming to New Jersey Should we worry?

GE Advances Wind Turbine Blade Recycling With European Partnerships

By David Matthau, NJ 101.5 News

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities this week awarded two new contracts to offshore wind companies to construct the next phase of a planned massive wind farm out in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of South Jersey.

Nevertheless, questions remain about the financial impact of the project on ratepayers, and how hundreds of giant wind turbines will affect tourism along the shore and impact schools of fish and whales out in the ocean.

The group Save our Shoreline has collected more than 10,000 signatures opposing the state’s wind farm plan, in part because it is expected to increase the cost of electricity in the near term, but no one is sure by how much.

When BPU President Joe Fiordaliso was asked what kind of an increase is anticipated for the average Jersey home or business, and how long the higher rates would be in effect once the wind farm project was constructed in 2035, he said “clean energy costs money, there’s no getting around it, however as time goes on those costs diminish.”

He said an example of this is in the solar industry, where costs are half of what they were 14 years ago.

“When we look at the clean energy industry we also have to look at the economic benefits that we’re getting, the thousands of jobs that are being created,” Fiordaliso said.

He noted we should take into account the infusion of billions of dollars into the New Jersey economy from this kind of undertaking.

“We will be the supply chain for the entire east coast as far as offshore wind is concerned,” he said. “So you can just imagine the amount of money, the amount of economic enhancement that’s going to occur.”

Fiordaliso said when we’re talking about a shift to clean energy we need to consider up-front cost but also the economic benefit that will follow.

When asked about concerns that the electromagnetic field created by the wind farm may disrupt the migration of fluke and other fish and cause problems for whales that rely on sonar to navigate the seas, he said the BPU is working “with our friends in Europe

Offshore wind farms are coming to New Jersey Should we worry? Read More »

This spring, the environmental news from the Puget Sound is beyond encouraging — it’s resurging

With gray whales, only their blow, or exhale, and a small portion of their back is usually seen, as with this one in Possession Sound near Everett. Their tail flukes are seen if they dive in shallows to bottom feed. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)

By Lynda V. Mapes Seattle Times environment reporter

POSSESSION SOUND, Everett, Washington — Now is the sweet season, with its lengthening days and warm radiance of spring on Puget Sound.

The return of the light is rousing the natural world from dormancy. Puget Sound is on the rebound, not only in the turn of the season, but in a resurgence of life.

Today there are more humpbacks and gray whales, more harbor porpoises and seals, more sea lions and more orcas in these waters than a generation ago. These surging populations are the result of decades of protection. An exception are southern resident killer whales, an endangered species. They, and the Chinook salmon the southern residents primarily eat, are struggling for survival against an array of threats.

Jennifer Olson, left, Josh Searle (in blue, center), and Katherine Dye check water samples collected as Ardi Kveven, at the rail, cleans equipment on Possession Sound. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)

But there is another story underway here, too, of a marine mammal comeback in Washington from the urban waters of Puget Sound, to the seascapes of the San Juan Islands. The ordinary places we think we know onshore are an altogether different matter seen — and heard — from the water, where the creatures with whom we share this place are cavorting in a spring catenation of life.

In an uncertain world, made even more precarious by a warming climate, it’s also important to celebrate what’s getting better, and understand that changes we make can allow nature to heal and recover.

Ardi Kveven was at the helm of the research vessel Phocoena just offshore of Everett on a recent spring morning. She had the vessel built with funding from the National Science Foundation for the Ocean Research College Academy (ORCA) she directs at Everett Community College. The program instructs kids in the science, wonder and history of Puget Sound through a curriculum centered on getting students out on the water.

Instructors use an interdisciplinary approach, with all hands literally on deck, as professors of English, history and science all explore what Puget Sound can teach. And who knew there was so much to see and explore, all within sight of Interstate 5, whizzing by in the distance?

Here was a menagerie in an ecosystem that actually starts in the forests miles away, in the Snohomish River.

“Marbled murrelet!” called out Kveven, pointing to a chunky pair of birds bobbing in the blue not far off the bow of the boat. These birds nest in the forests of the Cascades and fly all the way to the estuary of the Snohomish River, where they feed on sand lance, herring, and other fish they take back to their forests nest.

Gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus (Emily M. Eng / The Seattle Times)

The Snohomish also carries the nutrients and silty sediment in a freshwater plume all the way out to these nearshore waters of Puget Sound around Whidbey and Camano islands. Ghost shrimp feast on the detritus, as they burrow in the soft silt — and become a meal for one of the largest animals in the Sound: gray whales.

Snuffling in the mud, a small population of gray whales, nicknamed the Sounders, has taught itself to split off from the northbound migration of grays each spring for a side trip to this estuary, for a ghost shrimp snack that plumps them up before they return to the rest of the population to finish their trip.

Read the full story

If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

This spring, the environmental news from the Puget Sound is beyond encouraging — it’s resurging Read More »

Search Results for: whales

Jennifer Olson, left, Josh Searle (in blue, center), and Katherine Dye check water samples collected as Ardi Kveven, at the rail, cleans equipment on Possession Sound. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)

Subscribe For Latest Updates