it's not so much the number but the pace of whale deaths that's concerning scientists Federal environmentalists confirmed 23 dead whales have washed up on the East Coast Shore since December and as of this afternoon another dead humpback whale is drifting towards the Jersey Shore it's causing more pushback from critics who claim offshore wind development is to blame despite evidence showing otherwise Ted Goldberg has the story as more dead whales wash up on New Jersey's beaches more people question if there's a link to surveys for offshore wind farms my wife and I went to Alaska and one of the most beautiful skyscrabble stores whales breaching so and we are stewards with those animals and just the thought of us harming those animals that is very painful to me Joe panaccio and other state senate Republicans are asking to pause surveys for a month it seems like a very reasonable temperate approach if it's not 30 days we can continue if we see that there's a moratorium and these poor animals are still being washed up on on the shore then we may surmise that that's not it Republicans have found an ally in the Environmental Group clean ocean action but scientists say there is no evidence of a connection between offshore wind surveys and the recent rash of stranded whales it is a little bit frustrating for me seeing you know so much of the claims like oh my God oh my God offer wins killing whales you know that my my crass assessment is like yeah you know what else is going to well is the climate change Aaron rice is a researcher at Cornell focusing on how whales and fish produce and perceive sounds in the ocean he says the techniques used to evaluate the sea floor aren't deadly to whales and they're not unique to New Jersey seismic survision are ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico yet you're not seeing a rash of whale mortalities down there sonar mapping that's a really really high frequency signature that that most whales excuse me yeah the vast majority of whales won't hear in doing autopsy it'll say the whale was killed by ship but that doesn't tell you if the well was attracted to that area because of the construction and sonar that they're using there's no good evidence for that taking place they would they would perhaps leave an area of loud sounds the same way that humans would leave areas with jet planes flying over or other loud sounds Paul seeswarda leads Gotham whale a research group based in New York he says the rise of whale deaths is likely because whales have moved closer to the shore and more cargo ships leave Harbors in the tri-state area it also doesn't help that the fish whales eat are increasingly found near the Region's busy ports ceswirtis says this debate has grown toxic because of how people argue online I'm very impressed uh dismayed sometimes about the kind of impact that social media has on on the on the debate about issues like this every single thing that we post um goes immediately back to we're Liars we're hiding the truth we're taking money yeah I think most of them are misinformed but there are a few that we know are being slanderous they and you know they're doing this with a purpose not really sure what it is Sheila Dean is in charge of the Marine Mammal stranding Center they respond to stranded whales up and down New Jersey's Coastline and they deal with the flood of angry commenters online it is discouraging to to the people that work here it's hard to deal with sometimes because it's it's like they don't stop you know it's just constant Governor Murphy has pledged to push forward with these surveys so don't expect this issue to go away anytime soon especially if more whales are stranded on the shore for NJ Spotlight news I'm Ted Goldberg [Music]