Rally Over Whale Deaths Planned In Point Pleasant Beach

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — In the wake of yet another dead whale washing up on a New Jersey beach, opponents of wind turbines being constructed off the coast are demanding a halt to construction and answers about the cause of the deaths.

The most recent whale, a juvenile female humpback whale, washed up on the beach in Manasquan Monday. It is the ninth whale since early December to wash up, authorities have said.

The whale was removed from the beach Tuesday and taken to an undisclosed site where authorities will perform a necropsy, Monmouth County authorities said.

A rally to demand Gov. Phil Murphy pause the wind turbine projects is set for 1 p.m. Sunday in front of Jenkinson's Aquarium on the boardwalk.

Opponents of the offshore wind farms believe the sonar being used to determine where to construct the turbines is responsible for the harm the whales are suffering.

Dead whales have washed up on New Jersey beaches in the past, but both the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the ocean watchdog groups have said 2022/23 has seen an unusually high number of dead whales washing ashore in New York and New Jersey.

NOAA , which has been tracking higher-than-usual numbers of whale deaths since 2016, also says ship strikes are the most common cause of whale deaths, and major Eastern Seaboard shipping lanes run right off the Jersey Shore. Wind turbine construction did not begin until 2019-2020.

Read more:

• Dead Female Whale Removed From Manasquan Beach, Necropsy Is Next
• Dead Whale Washes Ashore In Manasquan, 9th This Winter In NJ
• Feds Want To Bring Wind Farms To 480,000 More Acres Off NJ (Jan. 2022)
• NJ's Offshore Wind Farms Grow To 9; Firms Bid $4B To Operate (March 2022)
• Massive Offshore Wind Farms Coming To The Jersey Shore (Sept. 2021)

With reporting by Carly Baldwin