#8. Whales v. Wind Turbines: Truth v. Fiction
In which the E@L debunks myths about whale mortalities and wind farms
Whales Are Being Killed
Recent strandings of whales along the east coast of the United States have generated a lot of alarm and misinformation concerning the cause of mortality.
A dead 30-foot humpback whale on a beach near Hampton Roads VA being prepared for disposal in February 2017 (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) investigated the recent deaths of humpback ,minke, and North Atlantic Right Whales and concluded that, of those they examined, the most common causes of death were ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
Even so, some pseudo-environmental conservation groups (actually funded by conservative “dark money” sources) have claimed that whale mortalities were somehow associated with wind turbines. When such arguments come from groups with names like “Save Our Beach View” and “Clean Ocean Action”, it makes them appear to be legitimate, when in fact they are not supported by any actual data.
Republican congressman Andy Harris (MD) and Rick Meehan, mayor of Ocean City, MD, have jumped on that bandwagon, calling for a moratorium on wind turbine construction in the area.
All of this drama is occurring despite the fact that no wind turbines have been built in the area, and surveying activities have not been conducted since spring of 2022.
The Truth About Whale Deaths
To set the record straight, here are some actual verifiable facts:
Fact: Wind turbines have not killed any whales. Anywhere. Ever. Over 5,000 offshore wind turbines have been built around the world, yet no whale mortalities have ever been observed in association with surveying, construction or operation of these turbines. A search of the scientific literature turned up a total of zero studies associating whale deaths with offshore wind power.
Fact: Ship strikes are the leading cause of death for North Atlantic right whales. Many of those occur in New England, where ship channels run close to known summer feeding grounds for right whales. Although most of the recent local strandings were of humpback whales, they too were the result of ship strikes.
Fact: The major source of mortality for whales worldwide is entanglement with fishing gear, primarily lobster and crab trap lines. Such entanglement causes 82% of total whale mortalities. In fact, 85 percent of North Atlantic Right Whales have been entangled at least once, and 26 percent of them are entangled every year.
Humpback whale entangled in bouy lines from fishing gear (NOAA photo).
Fact: From 2016 to 2023, over 180 humpback whales have died along the East Coast of the U.S., along with 36 extremely endangered North Atlantic right whales. NOAA includes both of these in its running tally of “Unusual Mortality Events” among marine mammals, of which there have been 72 since 1991. The majority of the most recent whale deaths have occurred in North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, which have a combined total of two wind turbines. These deaths started well before any turbine construction or surveying activities off the Mid-Atlantic coast.
Fact: Whales and other marine mammals do avoid loud noises, including areas where wind turbines are under construction. But there is no evidence they avoid turbines after construction, and even some evidence of increased abundance.
Fact: Noise levels produced by operating turbines are lower than ambient ocean levels, and much lower than noise created by ship traffic, which is much more likely to disturb whales.
The Source of Misinformation
Fact: Much of the anti-turbine disinformation is supported by dark money connected to conservative anti-environmental organizations. Two of those, Protect our Coast New Jersey and Save Our Beach View, purport to be “grass-roots” organizations, but are actually funded by the Ocean Legal Defense Fund which is controlled by the Caesar Rodney Institute. The Caesar Rodney Institute (CRI) is operated primarily by one person, David Stevenson, who is a former Enron and Dupont executive and a known climate change denier. The CRI is a member of the State Policy Network, a web of right-wing “think tanks” funded by Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund, which strongly support climate change denial.
According to SourceWatch, published by the Center for Media and Democracy, the largest donors to Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund organizations are the Bradley Foundation, the Walton Foundation, the Searle Freedom Trust, and the Sarah Scaife (Mellon) Foundation, all of which fund right-wing conservative groups like ALEC and the Heartland Foundation, that support climate denial. Follow the money.
The Benefits of Wind Farms
And finally, one last fact: The preponderance of scientific evidence suggests that offshore wind turbines have a net positive impact on marine ecosystems. The coastal seafloor is mostly bare sand and mud with little habitat for fish. Wind turbines attract fouling organisms and small fish, which in turn feed larger fish. Fish such as black sea bass and tautog need vertical structure for shelter. And many pelagic fish, like tuna, are attracted to large underwater structures — likely just because they are there. And by providing refuge from ship traffic, noise, and trap lines, turbine farms may actually help whale populations recover.
Which is not to say that offshore turbines have no impacts; any large-scale development will affect it’s environment. But whale mortality is not one of them.
So, there you have it. According to the best evidence available, whales are killed by ship strikes, fishing gear entanglement and disease, but not by wind turbines. And operational noise levels are a non-issue.
How Can We Help?
Then what can we do to prevent whale mortalities? A variety of mitigation efforts are already underway. These include rerouting ship traffic to stay clear of whale migration routes, and enforcing slow speeds in areas where ships and whales cross pathways. More importantly, major research efforts are underway to develop whale safe fishing gear such as rope-less traps that do not require buoy lines. This development will probably lead to even greater reductions in whale mortality, and is the future of trap fishing.
Spreading myths about whale mortalities serves only one purpose: to confuse people in order to delay the inevitable replacement of the fossil fuel industry with renewable energy. If Rep. Harris really wants to help, he should ask for increases in funds to develop whale-safe fishing gear. That would have a greater impact on reducing human-caused whale deaths than any other solution.