Keeping Whales Safe

As wind farms go online off the East Coast, in our nearby waters, one of the major concerns has been the potential impact of this industrialization of swaths of the ocean floor on the most vulnerable sea creatures, especially right whales. It remains a primary concern for environmentalists, as well as animal lovers.

But as green energy facilities, including wind farms, become ubiquitous, it’s important to keep things in perspective. And to say, once again, that a great deal of attention has been paid to wind farms and their impact on right whales that use those waters — and none of it has found a concern.

Most recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is set to release a “biological opinion” that looks at the wind project off the Massachusetts coast, and its impact on whales. It’s conclusion: The wind farms will not create a long-term concern, nor jeopardize their existence.

Certainly, there is an impact during construction: Driving the wind farm bases into the ocean floor can create noises that are disorienting and potentially harmful. But the impact is limited and does not cause serious injuries to whales.

WSHU, a public radio station in Connecticut, notes that NOAA says the Vineyard Wind project “includes several measures designed to minimize, monitor, and report the effects on endangered species. By incorporating the measures in the new opinion, NOAA finds that all impacts on North Atlantic right whales will be limited to temporary behavioral disturbance.”

WSHU also recently did an interview with Dr. Lesley Thorne of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, who recently completed a study into the hundreds of whale strandings along the East Coast from 1995 through 2022, with some of them coming in recent years and in local waters.

That study, which focused on humpback whales, which are most often at risk, found that serious injuries and deaths of whales are mostly due to vessel strikes, particularly in the busy waters of this region. “Humpback whales have expanded into new foraging grounds in recent years. Mortalities due to vessel strikes have increased significantly in these newly occupied regions, which show high vessel traffic,” the study said, noting that traffic increased particularly during the period when more whale mortalities were reported.

Wind farm construction, the study noted, certainly poses risks that must be considered and addressed. But the relatively small amount of wind farm construction off th East Coast is “unlikely to have been a driver of the recent increase in humpback whale strandings.”

The takeaway: Wind farms are part of the ongoing use of ocean waters for human purposes, and they have risks. But those risks are far outweighed by other threats, especially vessels and the speed they travel through waters where whales might be found. Moreover, there is no hard evidence that wind farms are causing ongoing harm.

In July, a wind farm blade in Massachusetts failed, and it might soon wash ashore on the East End — a reminder that these are industrial-size projects that can have a negative environmental impact. Attention must be paid. But it bears repeating: Attention is being paid, careful attention, and so far there is no suggestion that the wind farms are, on balance, too dangerous or harmful. Very much the opposite.