February 16, 2023 — Necropsies on two whales found dead along the Atlantic coast this week revealed that both marine mammals showed evidence of vessel strikes.
Both whales, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and a humpback, were already beginning to decompose, but preliminary results show internal injuries consistent with the blunt force trauma of a vessel strike, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.
The deaths are among a flurry of 21 whale deaths along the length of the Atlantic coast since Dec. 3.
While several politicians who previously expressed opposition to — or concerns about — offshore wind energy projects have called for a moratorium on wind activities and an investigation into the whale deaths, preliminary exams show at least five of the 21 whales were likely killed in vessel collisions. Several were too decomposed to be examined.