Reports: Latest dead whales along NJ/NY coast show evidence of ship strikes
Since December, more than a dozen whales have been found dead along or just off the New Jersey and New York coastline.
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More information was released about the two latest whales found dead last week. One whale was spotted in the Raritan Bay, and the other off of Long Island.
Both whales were examined and according to necropsy reports, evidence points to ship strikes before they were found.
A 28-foot-long female humpback whale was first seen in the Raritan Bay before being towed by a United States Army Corps of Engineers vessel to Sandy Hook. This animal had bruises, lacerations and fractures in several places across its body, including fractures on its skull and left pectoral fin, which had been severed. The cause of death is suspected to be blunt force trauma consistent with a ship strike. The whale was buried on the beach.
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The second whale was found off the Hamptons and is believed not to be related to the Raritan Bay whale. It was a 47-foot-long male and badly decomposed. It also showed evidence of blunt force trauma. This whale was also buried on the beach.
More than a dozen whales have been found dead along, or just off the New Jersey and New York coastline since December. It prompted a debate whether or not ships conducting mapping for offshore wind farms could be interfering with whale sonar.
Calls for a pause on all offshore wind activity by several environmental groups and thousands of concerned New Jersey residents have been denied so far as scientists continue to say there are no known connections.
