by Kiara DeVaughn

Following two sperm whales being stranded and dying along NC’s coast at Cape Lookout and Nags Head, marine experts set out to clear any misunderstandings regarding the cause of the strandings. According to Vicky Thayer, a coordinator from NC’s Marine Fisheries Division, they were “very emaciated,” meaning abnormally thin and weak.

This search for information will also help the public in realizing that despite NC’s yearly marine strandings, 92 mammals per year, the numbers are slightly decreasing. The director of NC State’s marine health program, Craig Harms, clears up the common misconception that these mammals can simply be “pushed back into the water” by stating that the mammals that end up stranded are usually very sick or injured. These injuries being caused by boat collisions or even entanglement, or more recently discovered: balloons. Ballons are now known to have caused the death of a young and nursing female beaked whale in November of 2023.

The stranding coordinator also shed light on NC’s offshore wind energy development, stating that there is no evidence of wind energy development being a cause of whale deaths. Given that NC does not have much wind energy activity, scientists wanted to debunk the claim that it could be a possible cause for whale deaths.

To protect whales from a potential future of increased wind energy development, in late January of this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a strategy that targets protecting whales. This strategy being to “ensure that offshore wind energy development is done in a responsible manner.” With much of the public being misinformed on the causes of whale strandings, these recent discoveries and investigations have shed more light onto the topic. Including a plan that can be put in place if potential threats, wind energy development, increases in the near future.