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— An independent scientific agency that advises the federal government on policies that could impact marine mammals said there is no evidence linking site preparation work for offshore wind farms with a number of whale deaths along the U.S. East Coast.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Marine Mammal Commission became the third federal agency to reject a link between the deaths and the offshore wind energy industry, despite a growing narrative among offshore wind opponents that probing the ocean floor to prepare for wind turbine projects is killing whales.
Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said there is no evidence linking offshore wind development with whale deaths.
The commission said 16 humpback whales and at least one critically endangered North Atlantic right whale have washed ashore dead on the East Coast this winter.
“Despite several reports in the media, there is no evidence to link these strandings to offshore wind energy development,” the commission said.
The deaths are part of an “unusual mortality event” involving humpback whales declared by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2016. The agency said 40% of the whales that could be examined at necropsy, or post-mortem, showed evidence of a ship strike or entanglement with fishing gear.
