Huge 25-foot Minke is pictured dead on the Westhampton sandbar — as lawmakers in NY and NJ call for a ban on offshore wind turbines, fearing they’re linked to 32 recent whale deaths
- The large animal was found floating in waters near Westhampton, New York,
- This latest death means that about 33 whales have turned up dead along the east coast since December
- It comes after New Jersey lawmakers last week called for up to 60 days for construction of wind farms being built offshore
A 25-foot-long Minke has been pictured dead on a sandbar near Westhampton, New York, as concerns grow that a spate of recent deaths involving the mammals may be related to offshore wind farms.
The large animal was caught on Saturday in shallow waters near the Suffolk County town, in the Moriches Inlet.
According to an eyewitness, a whale rescue group has attached satellite equipment to it in case it drifts away.
It is the latest in a large number of whale deaths along the east coast of the United States. Massive offshore wind turbines are currently being built off the coast of New Jersey, and others are planned for New York, raising concerns that they could interfere with the animals’ sonar.
The large animal was caught floating in shallow waters in the Moriches Inlet
It is the latest in a large number of whale deaths along the east coast of the United States
Since December, at least 32 whales of various species have been found dead on beaches on the east coast from Massachusetts to Florida, many of them along the coast of Jersey.
Environmental groups are convinced that the number of deaths is directly related to the construction of offshore wind farms.
In January, the environmental group Clean Ocean Action asked President Joe Biden to intervene and halt the wind farm projects, arguing that it was linked to whale deaths.
Clean Ocean Action director Cindy Zipf said, “We’ve gone too far, too fast.
More than 2.2 million acres are allocated to offshore wind and 10,000 miles to cables.
Pictured: The areas of the outer continental shelf in the New York area used for wind farms
“We were alerted that it was plausible that marine activity was related to whale die-offs. We felt there was cause for investigation.’
Last week, four New Jersey Republicans opposed to the state’s offshore wind turbines called for construction to be halted for up to 60 days to see if it would reduce the number of deaths.
New Jersey has quickly paved the way for the development of new offshore wind farm projects, with large-scale construction already underway in several locations.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – has been adamant that there is no evidence that the farms are causing the deaths.
Federal lawmakers such as New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker have called for a deeper investigation into the cause of the deaths.
New Jersey Republican Senator Michael Testa said halting construction on the wind farms was an easy way to test the theory.
He told CBS news: “One thing our side of the aisle is accused of is not following the science. So what’s the harm in waiting 30 or 60 days?’
Currently, New York has five offshore wind projects in active development that will cover 480,000 acres.
Skeptics of the wind farm theory have said that climate change is the biggest threat to East Coast marine life.
U.S. Representative Frank Pallone Jr, of New Jersey, said in a statement: “The food source on which whales depend is moving closer to the busy shipping lanes near the ports of New York and New Jersey as ocean temperatures rise, making them vulnerable to ships. strikes and entanglements.’