January 29, 2024 — With whale deaths and offshore wind power now firmly connected in many minds along the Jersey Shore, federal officials released a strategy to protect one of the most endangered species while developing wind power off the coast.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, under the U.S. Department of the Interior, on Thursday released a final joint strategy aimed at helping the North Atlantic right whale recover while also developing offshore wind energy, citing a Biden administration goal of increasing wind energy development.
The North Atlantic right whale, weighing multiple tons and growing to be more than 50 feet long, is considered to be at the brink of extinction.
According to federal studies, only about 360 of the animals are left in the world, and of those, fewer than 70 are reproductively active females.