Save The Whales!

There’s a Mass Killing in the Name of Climate Change

Something totally out of the ordinary has been happening on the coasts of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Delaware over the last several months.  At least 29 dead whales have stranded along this coastline since December 2022.  Most of these have occurred on the coast of New York and New Jersey.  Dead whales are washing up on beaches.  Dolphins are beaching themselves as well.

What May Be Happening

It is perceived that the whales are dying as a result of the sonar used by offshore wind generation companies.  Surface ships use sonar to probe the seabed to map locations where enormous wind turbines proposed by state governments will be placed.

There is no conclusive proof that the sonar used is causing the mammals’ deaths but, conversely, there is no proof that it is not.

How Many Have Died

In addition to the 29 whales mentioned above, dolphins have also been impacted, including eight that beached themselves in Sea Isle City, NJ on March 21, 2023.  And since mid-February, at least six other dolphins have washed ashore in New Jersey alone, while dozens of dead whales are being routinely discovered up and down the Atlantic coast.

Some of the whales are endangered.  In particular, the North Atlantic Right Whale is endangered and the NOAA has declared an “Unusual Mortality Event” due to the number of endangered Right Whales that have perished since 2017.

Wind Development Is Not the Problem

Experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have concluded that about 40% of the whales have been killed by ships or have been entangled with fishing gear.  This statistic is not in question.  But what is in question is why did these deaths occur?  What caused the whales to swim near ships?

As some may suspect, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is blaming (wait for it) climate change – “human-caused climate change caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.”  Specifically, food sources for whales like menhaden, are forced to adapt to the rising temperatures by moving landward to a more favorable location.  Whales follow their food source, and the closer to land they get, the more likely they are to come into conflict with human activities (i.e., be hit by a vessel).  What is left unsaid is any empirical evidence that elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are causing food sources to move towards land.

In the meantime, New Jersey is continuing its wind development.  New Jersey governor Phil Murphy said that, while "this is tragic, obviously," suspicions that tie the dead whales to the wind farm development were "unfounded and premature."

Wind Development Is the Problem

Olaf Meynecke, environmental and marine researcher and a research fellow at the Coastal and Marine Research Centre at Griffith University in Australia, has stated that that underwater noise and disruption can cause trouble for marine mammals.  “Exposure to underwater noise can cause disorientation in particular for dolphins. Various studies have shown a relationship between dolphin strandings and sound interfering with their sonar.”  The same can be said of whales that use sonar to navigate and identify food.

Why They Think This Is Affecting Marine Mammals

According to Science magazine, “When naval ships and other sea vessels use sonar, many whale species flee for their lives; some even strand themselves on beaches in a desperate attempt to escape.  Now, scientists have discovered the most likely reason: the loud sounds trigger the same fear response as when the animals hear calls emitted by one of their most terrifying predators: killer whales.”

What Should We Do?

New Jersey citizens are so concerned that New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew filed a resolution that calls on all wind farm projects to be halted until a full environmental and economic impact has been carried out.  This is in addition to twelve New Jersey mayors who have raised an alarm over the ‘unprecedented’ number of whale deaths.

Also, senators from four states are asking the NOAA to investigate whale deaths.

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What I find so amazing and, in fact revealing, is that environmental and animal activist organizations like PETA and Greenpeace are not advocating for the whales.  For example, Greenpeace has reported the damage to marine life when the military and gas and oil companies use sonar for their operations but are silent when it comes to sonar use in windmill development.

Reasonable proposals to pause development in order to better understand what could be happening are not supported.

These groups’ inaction tells me that their missions are not pure; that they are really political organizations masquerading as animal and environmental activists.

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“The great virtue of a free-market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy.  It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.”

-          Milton Friedman

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Goodbye Winter!!!

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