'Tell us why': Monmouth Commissioners call for investigation into surge of whale deaths

LONG BRANCH — Monmouth County officials stood in the mist at Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park on Wednesday, where they gathered to call for an immediate stop to offshore wind energy work off New Jersey's coast.

Their announcement marked a new addition to a growing group of elected officials who are demanding answers on recent deaths among whales and dolphins across the region, and who allege offshore wind survey work is the cause.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 10 whale deaths had been recorded along the Jersey Shore since Dec. 1. In addition, two separate pods of dolphins had stranded since early February on New Jersey beaches. Another three individual dead dolphins and one porpoise had washed ashore in separate strandings.

"Stop! Investigate and tell us why" the animals are dying, Monmouth County Commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone told a crowd of offshore wind opponents and media who gathered at the park.

On Tuesday, the commissioners passed a resolution calling for an investigation into whether sonar used to map the ocean floor for future offshore wind development or other offshore activity contributed to the deaths.

"We're calling today (Wednesday) for a moratorium on any activity out there, until we know that reason (for the deaths)," Arnone said.

The whale and dolphins deaths have galvanized public and political opposition to offshore wind energy, which some elected officials have described as an "industrialization" of the Atlantic Ocean.

Rep. Chris Smith, of New Jersey's 4th Congressional District, said sonar from underwater mapping confuses whales and dolphins, who rely on sound to navigate and hunt for food.

"The whales are the canaries in the coal mine," said Smith. "They're telling us something that we all need to listen to: the entire ecosystem of our oceans will be devastated by this effort."

NJ whale deaths: See the full list to learn how each of them died

Federal agencies acknowledge that human-generated ocean noise can affect marine animals in different ways, but officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, say no whale deaths have been attributed to offshore wind farms or survey activity. Agency officials said they are gathering data on the factors leading to the whale deaths.

Among the whales that died along New Jersey, four deaths were likely the result of ship strikes, according NOAA. Some of the carcasses were too decomposed for marine mammal experts to gather definitive evidence while others remain under investigation.

Last week, Smith pressed for the Government Accountability Office, which provides nonpartisan information to Congress, to investigate the federal government's environmental review process for offshore wind projects, particularly their impacts on whales, fish and other marine mammals. Smith also urged the office to provide information on offshore wind energy's impacts to commercial and recreational fishing, tourism and Navy operations.

During a press conference in Union Beach last month, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said connecting whale and dolphin deaths with offshore wind development work in New Jersey was "misleading."

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"There are no offshore wind development activities occurring off the coast of New Jersey right now," he said in March. "There is nothing to have a moratorium about."

"We do recognize that there has been a continuing and escalating unusual mortality event that has affected our marine life," LaTourette added. "One of the driving forces with respect to whale mortality has been the warming of our ocean as a function of our changing climate, which has driven the prey fish, particularly menhaden, farther north and farther inland, and the whales have followed in search of that food source. And that has put a growing population of whales into direct conflict with what is a shipping superhighway just off our coast."

Earlier this week, the Port of New York and New Jersey announced it moved more cargo than any other port in the country in February and was the busiest among the nation's ports so far this year.

Arnone, the Monmouth County commissioner director, said officials still do not know for sure what is killing whales and dolphins, but that an investigation is needed to get answers.

"We will not stop until it (the high death rate among whales) stops," he said.

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Whale deaths in NJ: Monmouth County officials want investigation