LAKEWOOD, NJ – New Jersey Senator Robert Singer today said the State of New Jersey and the federal government needs to start taking the sudden increase in dead whales at the Jersey Shore seriously.
While recent whale deaths were reportedly caused by apparent trauma in strikes with ‘vessels’, Singer pointed to a report published by the NJ DEP and NJ Board of Public Utilities that noted underwater gliders, or small submarine-type units are being used survey the ocean floor off the coast.
“The ecological and oceanographic baseline study approved earlier this year has allowed underwater gliders operated by Rutgers University, including the DEP’s Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring to begin initial data collection on the Outer Continental Shelf. New gliders funded through the RMI will arrive next month to begin collecting even larger sets of data, including ocean pH, presence of tagged fish, and even detections of whales,” the NJDEP said in a release last fall.
While each of the whale deaths is being blamed on vessel strikes, no vessels have reported striking whales in New Jersey.
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“Nine dead whales have washed up on New Jersey beaches and we haven’t heard a word from any of the environmental protection agencies,” said New Jersey State Senator Robert Singer said. “Whales are federally protected animals and we should have an agency that is dedicated, if not already, to monitor and care for our marine wildlife. There needs to be more oversight to prevent these alarming deaths from continuing in the future.”
Singer and others have called for a halt on surveying off the coast of New Jersey until it can be determined exactly what is killing the whales.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said that won’t be happening. Murphy said the project will push forward and said the nine dead whales at the Jersey Shore this winter are nothing more than a longterm increase of whale deaths dating back to 2016.
Singer said he has found it strange that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) along with the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife agency, has issued no response to the growing number of whales appearing dead along the Jersey coastline, according to their news release webpages.
“The only difference between now and before these studies began is nine dead whales that have washed up on shore,” Singer added. “If the agencies responsible for protecting the environment and our marine wildlife refuse to step up and address this alarming trend then we need to establish an agency who will. The offshore wind development projects should be temporarily shut down until we can better understand the impact that these studies are having on our marine wildlife population.”
