Tag Archives: dolphins

Nils Stolpe: It’s not the fault of the wind industry??? Sophistry is the use of fallacious arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving.

The “We’re for ocean wind power, the Hell with the rest of the oceans” claque have been yammering their “it’s not the fault of the wind industry” chant ever since an unprecedented number of whales and dolphins started washing up on New York and New Jersey beaches. Since December of this past year, when each of these incidents (was?) turned into a media event, it has been inevitably accompanied by some government (from Washington or Trenton) official, some (oddly enough, almost assuredly Democratic) legislator, some presumed objective scientist (doing an on-camera or recorded interview) with his or her hand held out for her or his share of what are very likely going to be billions of state, federal or wind industry research dollars, or some so-called environmentalist with the same goal. Just about all of them are insistently proclaiming “there is no proof that sonar testing (or any other testing being done by/for the wind industry) kills whales and/or dolphins.” >click to read< 18:55

Where have all the dead whales gone? By Nils Stolpe, FishNet-USA

Beginning in December of last year and extending through most of the first quarter of 2023, New Jersey and New York beaches were inundated with abnormally high numbers of dead or dying whales and smaller marine mammals. These majestic creatures-though not so majestic when being pushed about willy-nilly by tides, wind, waves and various types of earth moving machines-have never expired in such large numbers in such publicly accessible locations in local residents’ memories. Perhaps coincidently, intensive hydroacoustic surveys to determine the suitability of potential sites for the construction of thousands of gigantic windmills and their supporting infrastructure (supposedly to help us all survive what is being sold as an imminent energy/climate crisis) were being committed offshore of the beaches where all of these marine mammal deaths and strandings have been concentrated. To us inveterate observers of that hunk of Atlantic Ocean real estate known as the New York Bight, and the critters that temporarily or permanently live there, and of the actions of the public agencies charged with-and entitled to tens of millions of taxpayer dollars each year to do so-administering the Endangered Species and the Marine Mammal Protection Acts, that surely hints at, at best, ineptitude at that’s ineptitude at a fairly advanced level. >click to read the article< 16:14

Anti-wind farm petition hits 500,000 signatures

An online petition drive in opposition to offshore wind farms following the deaths of dozens of whales along the East Coast has now hit a milestone of 500,000 signatures. Suzanne Hornick, an Ocean City resident and a founder of Protect Our Coast NJ, the independent grassroots organization that started the petition drive, said the goal is to collect a million signatures as a push continues to halt the wind farm projects. “Protect Our Coast NJ is absolutely thrilled that we have well over half a million signatures on our petition that was only started mid-January. Many of the signers are from states other than New Jersey up and down the East Coast,” Hornick said. “This is a wake-up call to every single politician. If a half a million people can come together against a single issue so quickly, imagine what we will be able to do going forward.” >click to read< 13:11

Offshore Wind: Nantucket project faces lawsuit that could impact Skipjack, U.S. Wind projects

Environmentalists are concerned about impact to sea mammals, such as whales and dolphins, The American Coalition for Ocean Protection  has been created by the Caesar Rodney Institute to push back against offshore wind development, and they have joined the Vineyard Wind legal case as technical advisors. The case against Vineyard Wind could set a precedent for legal action to be taken locally, where Orsted and U.S. Wind have already secured OREC approvals to begin offshore wind development. The Vineyard Wind case claims there could be environmental harm to the threatened right whale from the project. A coalition in Cape Cod, Mass. the Nantucket Residents Against Turbines, in August filed a suit that calls for delay in the development of 2,000 wind turbines off Nantucket Island and Martha’s Vineyard. >click to read<  12:31

Researchers probing marine mammal genitals, copulation with simulated sex!

Dara Orbach is probably one of very few people in the world who regularly gets sent dolphin vaginas in the mail. “The boxes don’t usually smell very good when they arrive,” says Orbach, a post-doctoral fellow at Dalhousie University and a research assistant at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. The marine mammologist has spent the last few years studying the genitals of whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea lions and seals to understand how they fit together during sex. It’s not an easy thing to do. First, she has to actually obtain the animals’ vaginas and penises. Orbach has a permit to receive the reproductive organs of marine mammals that have died of natural causes after a necropsy has taken place. It has taken her years, but at its peak, her collection included about 140 specimens. Second, she has to figure out how the penises and vaginas interact in real life when, in fact, they’re lying inert and disembodied on her laboratory table. click here to read this story 12:30

Sewerage Nitrates are Killers. Dolphins, manatees dying in record numbers

Unprecedented number of dolphins, manatees dying in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Can’t blame over fishing on this one, but I’ll bet these nitrates are the true culprit of declining fish populations. [email protected]  10:59

New policies, and a court ruling, protect whales from ships in SF Bay and along the Pacific coast from the US Navy.

nmfs_logoWhales, dolphins, and marine mammals in the San Francisco Bay and along the California coast could be better protected by a federal court ruling on US Navy exercises and new policies being put in place to prevent whales from being struck by ships. US District Court Judge Nandor Vadas issued a ruling late yesterday (Wed/25) finding that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, sea lions, seals, and porpoises from Navy training exercises along the Pacific coast. It requires the agency to reconsider permits and whether they violated the Endangered Species Act.  more@sfbg 16:13

Navy: Training, testing may kill hundreds of whales, dolphins and injure thousands

The studies were done ahead of the Navy applying to the National Marine Fisheries Service for permits for its activities. The Navy said that the studies focused on waters off the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, Southern California and Hawaii from 2014 through 2019, the main areas that the service branch tests equipment and trains sailors. more@wapo 08:01