Tag Archives: Humpback

Green Groups Turn a Blind Eye to Mysterious Increase in Whale Deaths

Several environmentalist groups campaign against offshore oil and gas projects because of their ecological impacts, but those same groups appear to apply less scrutiny to the potential impacts of offshore wind developments. The Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and Greenpeace have all advocated for East Coast offshore wind projects amid the increase in whale deaths after slamming offshore oil and gas projects for their environmental impacts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has declared “unusual mortality events” for humpback and North Atlantic right whales since 2016 and 2017, respectively, a timeline which generally coincides with the start of offshore wind development off of the East Coast in 2016, according to NOAA’s website. >>click to read<< 12:09

Wind farms creating ‘death zone’ at sea says ex-Greenpeace boss

Drilling foundations for offshore wind turbines and sound pulses used to prepare for the 900-foot towers may be creating a “death zone” for whales, a former Greenpeace chief claims. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace and its ex-president in Canada, believes the acoustic systems used by vessels surveying the ocean floor harm the marine mammals’ sense of hearing, risking their crucial ability to navigate, and leading to more dead whales washing up onshore. At least 36 “large” whales have washed up along the East Coast since Dec. 1, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. photos, >click to read< 07:51

Whale entanglements exceeded average in 2017, report says

The number of large whales entangled in U.S. waters was a little worse than usual in 2017, but entanglements of right whales and in the Northeast were down. In a report released Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed 76 large whales were found entangled in fishing gear or marine debris in U.S. waters in 2017. Six of the 76 entangled whales were found dead, 45 were presumed to be alive but still entangled, four had freed themselves and 21 were freed by good samaritans or members of the national Large Whale Entanglement Response Network. >click to read<14:35

Catch and Release: Humpback snared in a fishing net

A group of 85 whale watchers witnessed humpback whale “Owl” thrash for 50 minutes while caught in a fishing net Thursday afternoon off the Isle of Shoals, said Peter Reynolds who led the tour. Jen Kennedy, executive director of the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, said the fishing net was deployed off the purse-seiner” vessel “Western Wave” and the net “completely encompassed the 32 year-old humpback.,, A Coast Guard spokesman said a Coast Guard boat patrolling at the time, about 2:15 pm Thursday, responded to the incident, took about 40 minutes to get there and by the time it did, the fishing net had been lowered and Owl was freed. >click to read<15:13

Two dead whales wash up on the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada

It’s too soon to say what’s behind the death of a humpback whale that washed up on Nova Scotia’s Fundy Shore near the community of Ogilvie, N.S.  The humpback is one of two large whales found washed up along the Nova Scotia coast this weekend. “It would definitely take a pretty thorough examination to find out what might have killed it,” said Andrew Reid, response co-ordinator for the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS). He said his organization got the call about the carcass on the Bay of Fundy beach late Sunday. >click to read< 15:01

New record of whale strandings along coast

While East Londoners have been enjoying a bumper season of whale sightings over the past few weeks, a fourth humpback whale in less than a month has beached and died along the East London coastline. East London Museum principal scientist Kevin Cole said the strandings were a new record for his cetacean database. Yesterday, Cole examined the badly decomposed carcass of the fourth dead humpback on the rocks west of Chintsa West.,,, He said a number of factors could be responsible for the strandings including old age, pollution, ship strikes and the effects of seismic blasting to explore for gas and oil offshore. click here to read the story 11:34

Entangled Humpback rescued from fish farm ropes by fisheries officials

humpback-in-fish-farmA juvenile humpback whale was thrashing in the water north of Klemtu, B.C. yesterday for 12 hours, struggling to breathe as ropes from an empty aquaculture site cut into its flesh and blubber. Marine Harvest workers discovered the entangled whale Monday morning and immediately called Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the company said in a statement. Paul Cottrell, DFO’s marine mammal coordinator, caught the first plane from Vancouver to conduct the complicated rescue, with help from local fisheries officers, the company and members of the Kitasoo First Nation. The team needed to cut at least four ropes to free the young whale, but that’s not as quick and easy as it sounds. Video, read the rest here 09:52