Whale Tales and Whale Facts
By Jeff Jones, Alliance for Clean Energy New York
Recent whale strandings and deaths off the Atlantic coast have led to questions about possible connections to offshore wind energy development. To address these concerns and dispel the profound misinformation in certain media outlets, the New York Offshore Wind Alliance (NYOWA), Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment (CCE) and the New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) hosted Whale Tales and Whale Facts, a virtual educational forum featuring expert reports from scientists and researchers from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMCS). More than 400 people tuned into the session.
Speaking for the three sponsoring organizations, Julie Tighe, NYLCV Executive Director noted the outpouring of public concern about whale strandings and deaths, and stressed the importance of “accountability” from the offshore wind industry. NYOWA Director Fred Zalcman noted the growth of a “robust and responsible industry” and cautioned that much recent social media is “not factually accurate or deliberately false or misleading” in relation to offshore wind. “Today we hope to set the record straight,” Zalcman said. And Adrianne Espositio, the executive director of CCE noted the increasing number of whales reported along Long Island shores and the New York Bight in the past 7 years. She noted the likely connection to New York state’s 2016 ban on the commercial harvesting of menhaden, a small, swarming fish that is a primary food source for baleen whales.
Describing the DEC’s whale monitoring program as part of the state’s Ocean Action Plan, Meghan Rickard, of the department’s Division of Marine Resources shared the results of three years of baseline monitoring. Both aerial observations from low-flying aircraft and acoustic monitoring sound buoys tracked and diagramed the presence of hundreds of groups and individual whales in local waters. Most, if not all, were baleens from six different species: North Atlantic Right (endangered), Fin, Humpback (recovering), Sei, Blue and Sperm. According to Rickard, the state has tracked whales throughout the year in multiple coastline zones, including in two of three shipping lanes leading to New York Harbor (one lane was not monitored). Detected behaviors included feeding, mating, nursing, socializing, resting, and migrating. Funding for the 3-year survey came from the state’s Environmental Protection Fund and will hopefully be renewed for another three years in the near future.
Dr. Erica Staaterman, of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), focused her presentation on research sound and acoustics. BOEM works to achieve the least possible impact between large mammal species, including whales, and shipping and other industrial activities along the coast. Staaterman, who holds a Ph.D. in bioacoustics, said air guns and naval sonar are the most impactful, potentially leading to disorientation and deafness. While these technologies are used for oil and gas exploration and military testing, neither are used in offshore wind exploration. A critical finding, she said, is that “there is no evidence that high-resolution geophysical sources used in seafloor mapping... used by offshore wind companies could cause mortality of whales, nor any evidence that they are responsible for the recent whale strandings.” For more detailed information, Staaterman offered access to her recently published comprehensive peer-reviewed report on the invasive impacts of acoustic exploration on large mammal species.
Robert DiGiovanni, executive director and chief scientist of the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society described how his organization was formed several years ago in response to increasing whale injuries and mortality. Noting the resurgence of the menhaden population in New York waters, he described both the increasing number of healthy and injured whales. “It’s a very different environment than it was two decades ago,” he said. In 2007, there could be as few as three strandings a year along the East Coast (one every 160 days or more). Today, the average is one every 28 days. Since its formation, his group has responded to 83 whale strandings. Some have been rescued from entanglement in fishing nets. The leading cause of mortality, he observed, is from vessel strikes. There is no evidence of strikes related to offshore wind development, DiGiovanni explained. “We are seeing a lot more animals. We have food here, so we have more whales spending time,” he concluded.
Public materials presented during the webinar will be posted on the NYOWA Whale Stranding Resources Page.
