Offshore Wind Moratorium Urged At Save The Whales Rally

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday to demand a moratorium on offshore wind turbine projects off the New Jersey coast in the wake of a string of deaths of whales.

Speakers ranging from politicians to commercial fishermen raised many of the same questions that have been raised for weeks as whales have washed ashore dead from New England to the Carolinas since early December.

More than 20 whales including humpback whales and endangered right whales have died in that time frame. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has been tracking "an unusual whale mortality event" that dates back to 2016, has not announced a definitive cause for the deaths.

The most recent whale, which washed up on Feb. 13, was ruled to have been the result of the whale being hit by a vessel, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the organization responsible for completing necropsies on marine mammal life found dead on New Jersey beaches.

"The whale was in good body condition and there were no obvious signs of external trauma," the group wrote. "However, the internal examination showed evidence of vessel strike. There is not always obvious external evidence of vessel strikes, which is why internal exams are important. The results of the tissue analysis will help us determine if the vessel strike occurred before or after death."

Speakers on Sunday questioned that conclusion, asking why so many whales were being hit by vessels during a time when vessel traffic is reduced and when there are fewer whales off the New Jersey coast, because of migration.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, who represents New Jersey's 3rd District in the House of Representatives, including much of northern Ocean County, said he has sponsored a bill that demands an investigation into the deaths.

"As part of a full-court press for answers, my legislation will investigate the level of transparency from federal agencies that greenlighted this aggressive offshore wind development and determine how much scrutiny was implemented in reviewing the environmental and maritime safety of this project, especially given its unprecedented size and scale," Smith said.

Smith said one of the questions that needs to be answered, in addition to the effects on the whales and other marine life, is the stability of the turbines if a hurricane strikes.

"How vulnerable are they to storms?" Smith said.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has granted a number of leases to companies to build wind turbines offshore, with preliminary work underway for projects off Atlantic City, off Long Beach Island and off Long Branch.

Those projects account for proposals of more than 500 wind turbines that would be an average of 90 stories tall, speakers said. Construction has not yet started; right now, the work being done is surveying, speakers said.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who represents New Jersey's 2nd District in the House, said he wants to see a moratorium on the work.

"I've been dealing with this for three years," Van Drew said, and said in his conversations with representatives of Orsted, one of the companies set to build the turbines, Orsted has lied to him on several occasions, including in claiming it spoke with local residents and fishermen about the project.

"They're going to ruin our way of life at the Jersey Shore," Van Drew said.

Bonnie Brady, of the Montauk Commercial Fishermen's Association, said the testing being done is not seismic testing but sub-bottom profiling, which uses low-frequency sonar to look at 200 to 300 feet below the surface for potential sites for construction.

The low-frequency sonar appears to be causing temporary deafness in the whales, affecting their ability to navigate and, in turn, resulting in vessel strikes, Brady said.

Trisha DeVoe, who works for the Miss Belmar on its whale-watching excursions and has a master's degree in conservation biology from Columbia University, said protecting the whales is about more than just taking care of the mammals; it is about protecting a piece of the ecosystem that has a role in helping to address climate change. Whales are "carbon sinks," DeVoe said, noting the animals consume the carbon that negatively affects the environment and then typically sink to the bottom of the ocean, where they decompose.

"They aren't just ocean visitors, they are our whales and we have a responsibility to protect them," said DeVoe, who also is a stranding volunteer with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

Rally attendees were urged to call Gov. Phil Murphy's office and urge him to pause the program.