Whale Deaths off New Jersey-Evidence of the Cause

There is substantial evidence that the wind energy vessel surveys are the only plausible
cause of the recent whale and dolphin deaths off the New Jersey shore.

We keep hearing from the agencies- and parroted by some of the Press- that “there are no
known links between recent large whale mortalities and ongoing offshore wind surveys.”
and “no scientific evidence” that the vessel surveys are the cause of the recent whale
deaths. But that is only because they choose not to look for or at that evidence, which is
there from numerous instances worldwide of whale stranding in the presence of similar
vessel surveys, and for these surveys was provided to them in comment letters over a year
ago. Not looking at evidence is not the same as there being no evidence.

Before we summarize that evidence below, let’s explain what’s going on here.

The vessel surveys use high intensity noise devices to characterize the seabed for turbine
placement. Most of that noise is in the frequency range of the whale’s hearing and
vocalizing. There are two ways that noise can kill whales. If they are close enough to the
source and the noise is loud enough, their hearing organs will be permanently damaged.
That spells doom for them because their entire world is shaped by sound the way ours is by
sight and other senses. They use sound to navigate and avoid obstacles, to communicate, to
find food and mates, and to avoid predators.

The necropsy examinations being done do not look for that permanent hearing damage, but
even if they did, they wouldn’t find it because that is not likely to be happening here. What
is happening is disturbance of the whale’s behavior at lower sound levels and at large
distances from the survey vessel, which then leads indirectly to harm and fatality in many
ways. The analogy of this is a dog frightened by firework noise runs into the street to meet
its untimely death by a car. The cause if death will be recorded as vehicle strike but the
precipitating cause was the noise.

• The whales will avoid the noise-potentially blocking their essential migrations.
• It could force the whale to surface to lessen the noise, but then be more susceptible to
vessel strike.
• It can cause loss of communication between- and then separation of-mothers and
calves.
• It can cause the whale to head to shore to avoid the noise, while at the same time
blocking its capability to detect obstacles, and beach itself.
• It can cause stress, panic and harm in other ways we don’t even understand.

Additionally, the whales face not just a single disturbance from vessel surveys, but repeated
ones, by the same vessel going back over a nearby area, and by other survey vessels in
that area as well.

The evidence that this is happening is plain for anyone to see:

• The whale deaths began in December when the number of survey vessels out there
increased from two to six.

• The number of deaths is unprecedented in New Jersey’s records, 17 whales washed up
in just 4 months, and according to government data it is likely that twice that number
died out to sea. The annual average from past years has been seven.

• The approvals of the vessel surveys were based on unsupported technical and scientific
assumptions of low noise source level, high noise dissipation, and a high level of noise
needed to cause whale disturbance. Specifically,

1. They use a low noise source number of 203 decibels (dB) from a smaller, less
powerful device rather than measurements from the loudest device, the Dura Spark
unit, which would put it at 211 dB,

2. Second, they use a high rate of noise dissipation, 20 decibels per 10-fold increase in
distance, for all distances from the vessel, but that is only valid for distances about
equal to the water depth, because then the noise wave bounces off the seabed, and
spreads out in the water column as a cylinder at a lower dissipation rate of 10 dB,

3. Finally, they use a relatively high noise level of 160 dB at which it is assumed that all
animals are disturbed. But that ignores whale observation studies that show that fifty
percent of baleen whales are disturbed at a lower level of 140 dB, and to get down to
140 dB requires a much larger distance, and affects many more animals in the area.

• The range or distance to get down to the accepted level varies exponentially with these
three factors. So, the use of the more realistic factors increases that range dramatically
from 0.1 miles to 34 miles from the vessel, and obviously that will affect many more
whales.

• There is a clear correlation of the place and time of the whale deaths with the presence
of the vessels. Maps showing that correlation will be presented to the public soon.

• Many similar occurrences of whale stranding have occurred worldwide from vessel
surveys using air guns and mid-frequency sonars. Those events are dismissed by the
agencies, saying that the noise from the air guns is louder. But they neglect to say that

much of the noise energy from the air gun is directed downward- and not outward-
where most of the animals are. The air gun noise energy traveling outward horizontally

in the water column is similar to that of the sparker units being used here. So, these
events provide further evidence of the survey devices here causing the whale stranding.
Finally, no other plausible cause of the recent deaths has been put forward:

Only 20 percent of the deaths have been attributed by the NJ Marine Mammal Stranding
Center to “possible” vessel strike. The agencies continue to say about 40 percent but that is
actually of the whales examined, which is half of those washed up. The “possible” word is in
there because the blunt force trauma observed could have happened from something else,
for example, the whale beaching itself while trying to avoid the noise. Even where vessel
strike may have occurred, it could have been precipitated by the noise from the survey
vessel causing the loss of the whale’s capability to hear and avoid the oncoming vessel.

Finally, a vessel strike could have occurred after the whale had died of some other cause. In
any event that leaves at least 80 percent of the causes of death unaccounted for by the
agencies.

Climate change is not a plausible cause, it is a slow, gradual phenomenon that would not
account for a spike in whale deaths. Vessel traffic in the area actually decreased after
November so it is an unlikely cause. Whales feeding in different areas would not account for
their deaths.

Put it all together, and there is compelling evidence that the vessel surveys are the only
plausible cause of the recent whale and dolphin deaths. The failure of the agencies to even

conduct a serious investigation is a disgrace, as is the failure of some of the Press to do
research and present facts.

Save LBI has assembled a lawsuit with detailed technical, mathematical and scientific
evidence supporting the above seeking to cease the active and future surveys and to compel
an independent investigation of the matter. It is also seeking a Court order to require the
agencies to prepare new procedures on estimating noise impact for future activities.

Bob Stern President
Save LBI