Whales washing up dead along the East Coast ‘reeks of hypocrisy’: Paul Kanitra
Paul Kanitra, the mayor of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., says corporations stand to make billions of dollars from investments into offshore wind, a possible cause for the 18 whale deaths in 2 months.
A 35-foot humpback whale washed up on a beach in a Jersey shore community Monday, the ninth such stranding on the New York-New Jersey coastline in the last two months, officials said.
The 29,000-pound whale was spotted floating off the coast of Manasquan Beach before the tide brought the huge creature to shore.
"I’m currently standing on the beach a few hundred feet from the Manasquan Inlet watching yet another dead whale wash into the surf," Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra wrote on Facebook, describing the sea mammal as the "size of a bus."
Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed the whale washed up on Manasquan Beach and said it was conducting tests to determine its age and cause of death.
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The dead humpback whale, measuring 35 feet, washed ashore in Manasquan Beach, N.J., Monday. (Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra)
Of the nine whales found on the shores of New York and New Jersey in the past two months, six of those humpback whales died in New Jersey.
The East Coast has now seen 22 humpback whale strandings since December.
The Atlantic region, spanning from the coastlines of Maine to Virginia, is where this "unusual mortality event" has been happening since 2016, with fluctuations in numbers year to year, according to the NOAA. Since then, the agency says there have been 183 humpback whale deaths.
Over the weekend, another dead whale was discovered off the southeastern coast of Virginia. The death marked the third whale to be found in less than a week just miles from Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, one of two operational wind farms in federal waters.
The whale strandings in New Jersey prompted a dozen mayors in the state to pen a letter to federal and state officials earlier this month, urging them to enact an immediate moratorium on offshore wind development following the string of whale deaths.
While the uptick in dead whales has sparked a fiery debate among lawmakers and environmental groups over whether offshore wind development is to blame, NOAA officials have said that no whale death has been attributed to offshore wind activities yet.
Following the latest stranding in Manasquan, Kanitra asked New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy when action will be taken.
"Governor, when do these stop becoming coincidences? How many more will it take?" the mayor wrote on Facebook.
Fox News’ Alexis McAdams and Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.
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