3 Dead Whales Wash Up On Jersey Shore In 1 Month, Locals Have Questions

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — A dead humpback whale washed up on the beach in Atlantic City on Jan. 7. It was the third in the area in a month.

Another one, also in Atlantic City, washed up on Dec. 23, as Patch previously reported. And before than, on Dec. 10, a dead humpback whale washed up in Strathmere.

The latest whale's cause of death is unknown, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center who responded to Atlantic City Saturday morning, but its corpse had bruising from a suspected ship strike and scars from a possible entanglement.

But it could take several months before a cause of death can be determined, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center said.

In total in the New York/New Jersey area, there have been six dead whales washing up on the coast in the past 33 days.

Why has there been an increase in dead whales? More and more of them have been coming to the Jersey Shore area and staying longer, according to a recent study. Read more: Humpback Whales Keep Coming To Jersey Shore - And Staying

But some conservation groups believe offshore wind to be the cause, and they're demanding answers.

Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, held a press conference on the beach Monday to call for action. The group, along with Protect Our Coast NJ, Save Long Beach Island, Defend Brigantine Beach and the Long Island Commercial Fishing Assocation, is sending a letter to President Joe Biden seeking federal action regarding the deaths.

"These tragic multiple deaths of mostly young, endangered whales are of no apparent cause, however, the only new activity in the ocean is the unprecedented concurrent industrial activity by over 11 companies in the region's ocean, which allows the harassment and harm of tens of thousands of marine mammals," Zipf said. " Moreover, federal and state agencies have been recklessly fast-tracking offshore wind development projects. These three coinciding factors raise suspicions, and a responsible and reasonable response is the action plan for which we are calling."

Zipf said that work on offshore wind facilities is being "rushed," and the true impact of them is not known - not just on whales, but other marine mammals and creatures. This is something that has been repeated by locals in the fight against offshore wind. Read more: Impact Needs Study For Offshore Wind Project, Ocean City Says

"Never before in the history of man has there been such a massive industrialization of an ecosystem in such a short period of time," Zipf said.

"The premature death of so many whales and other marine mammals is an untenable situation that we believe is most likely caused by the increase in vessel traffic and the 'sounding' or mapping of the ocean floor by several offshore wind project developers. Until we know for sure what is causing the extraordinary number of deaths all activity associated with offshore wind industry projects in the area must be stopped immediately," said Suzanne Hornick, from Protect Our Coast NJ. "We must have scientific investigation and complete transparency of all government agencies involved with the industrialization of our ocean."

In the letter to Biden, the groups call for an outside and immediate investigation into marine mammal deaths, stopping sonar and preconstruction activity until it is determined if it has any impact on the whales and to stop any new offshore wind development.

They also seek immediate public disclosure of wind farm survey boat logs, data, equipment and real-time sound data and activities for the Ocean Wind 1 and Atlantic Shores windfarms, including information on whale sightings, vessel strikes, near misses and avoidance details.

Real-time and past-history survey boat tracking data must also be made public for all Ocean Wind 1 and Atlantic Shores windfarm and transmission cable survey vessels, the groups say.