the staff of the Ridgewood blog
BELMAR NJ, Save Right Whales, a grassroots coalition focused on protecting the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and other marine life from large-scale offshore wind energy development across the eastern seaboard, recently hosted a group of highly credentialed experts on a boat tour focused on studying the impacts that offshore wind development will have on the Jersey Shore’s ecosystem, including marine mammals, commercial and recreational fishing, shore communities, boating safety and national security interests.
Since December 2022 when surveying for offshore wind turbine developments began off the East Coast, more than 71 dead whales have washed ashore, and more than 370 cetaceans, including dolphins and porpoises have either washed ashore or have been sighted decaying in the water, in what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has labelled an “unusual mortality event.” Some of the experts find the deaths extremely suspicious given the locations of the survey ships and their close proximity to the dead whales and cetaceans.
The panel of experts on board included Save Right Whales Coalition NJ Spokesman David Shanker, SaveOurWhalesNow Founder and Conservation Biologist Trisha DeVoe; Save Long Beach Island President Bob Stern. PhD; Long Island Commercial Fishing Association (LICFA) Executive Director Bonnie Brady; and Center for Sustainable Fisheries Secretary Meghan Lapp.
While underway, each of these experts spoke about the impacts that irresponsible offshore wind turbine development will have on their distinctive areas of focus. The specialties addressed include whale and cetacean deaths, commercial fishing, oceanic ecosystem destruction, national security and the impact of lost jobs in coastal communities.
“In light of the recent industry-related issues wind developers are facing and the negative impacts we are already seeing along the East Coast, in correlation to surveying activity, we demand a moratorium for offshore wind turbine developments,” said New Jersey Spokesman David Shanker “We are at a pivotal moment in this fight, this is not the time for New Jersey or the East Coast to be used as an experiment with no hard evidence of the substantial and long-lasting effects these projects will have.”
“Over the next few weeks New Jersey will be entering Hurricane season, and we on New Jersey’s shore have seen the havoc that these storms can wreck. Has anyone in Trenton vetted how these turbines will sustain gale force winds from hurricanes? How’s that possible given that the first turbines of this size, in the world, are slated to be installed off New Jersey’s beaches? New Jersey shouldn’t be the guinea pig for the rest of the world,” Shanker added.
The goal of the trip was to provide greater understanding to the impact these turbine systems will have on the Jersey Shore and East Coast and to generate more discussion and understanding about one of the largest issues the East Coast and the State of New Jersey are facing.
Save Right Whales is a grassroots coalition made up of more than 11 environmental and community organizations, scientists, and conservationists working to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and other marine life from the industrialization of our ocean habitat through large-scale offshore wind energy development across the eastern seaboard. For more information or to get involved, visit: https://saverightwhales.org/.
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