Natural resource officials are keeping a close eye on what is believed to be a juvenile gray seal that is seemingly trying to haul itself onto the beach after being found stranded in shallow waters off of Chappaquiddick’s Wasque Reservation this weekend.
The seal — according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — is one of nine other reported seal strandings on Martha’s Vineyard already this month, three times what was documented this time last year.
“We’re seeing a lot of them this month,” NOAA marine mammal stranding coordinator Ainsley Smith told The Times, adding that the cause of the uptick has not been identified. “They may be spreading out, and having their pups on [the Vineyard] now or getting washed over in the storms. . . There’s a lot of different factors at play.”
Most of the seals reported in the last few weeks were pups (it’s currently pup season), and only one was found already deceased. Last week, a newborn seal, which still had its umbilical cord, was rescued from Edgartown Great Pond by local animal officials and transported to the National Marine Life Center, where it died soon thereafter.
Following reports of a seal stranded on Chappy on Saturday, NOAA, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head’s ’s marine mammal strandings officials, The Trustees of Reservations and Edgartown’s animal control officer have been working to figure out how to handle what they say might be a neurologically ill seal.
Officials say the seal has been displaying unusual behavior, such as swimming around in shallow waters and struggling to get onto the beach.
On Saturday, the Edgartown Fire Department was able to chop up some of the ice that was forming on the beach, in order to give the seal an easier path to solid ground. However, the animal’s assumed illness is also impacting its ability to move back into the water, NOAA says.
Once on the beach, animal rescuers are better equipped to assess the seal’s health and relocate it if possible; however, currently there are no rehabilitation spots available at the marine mammal rehab facilities, marine mammal stranding officers say.
For now, natural resource officials are urging the public to stay back at least 150 feet from the animal to minimize its disturbance.
If you see a stranded, distressed, or dead marine mammal, contact a local stranding network partner or call NOAA’s stranding hotline at 866-755-6622.
Seals are very sensitive to sound. Wind turbines…..perhaps!
Not mention high speed ferries.
Seems like they’ll do anything but consider the nearby deafening construction noise offshore from Vineyard Wind and Southfork Wind.
Deafening? How many decibels?
Let’s plow some more holes in the ocean floor! Another tragic circumstance due to offshore wind undoubtedly.
Wishful thinking.
“Let’s plow some more holes in the ocean floor!”
This is not acceptable for making electricity.
It’s just fine for sucking black goo from beneath the ocean floor.
Before I looked at the comments about this one
I knew there would be some people blaming
the windmills. Of course, that is a possibility.
But of course there is no evidence to corroborate
that.
I am curious if there is any discernible increase in sound
within a few hundred yards of the coast, where the seals
like to hang out. There is certainly
a lot of natural noise to overcome.
The article only compares the number of strandings
this year with the number last year.
We don’t know if 10 is the average over the
last 20 years, or above or below average.
There are of course, other considerations.
The seal population in this area has been
dramatically increasing over the last few years or
so. Perhaps seals find the symphony from the windmills
soothing, and the increase in population can be attributed to that.
That has about the same chance as the windmills driving them ashore,
and I can present as much evidence as those who think differently.
Yeah, I know, the windmills haven’t been in operation
for that long, but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone from
blaming them for whale deaths. — But I digress.
The fact is that if there are more seals, and more seal
pups, more seal pups will be stranded.
It’s likely that recent storms could be the culprit.
Clearly that is the case of the one that died while
in the care humans. The gestation time of seals is
11.5 months, of which 3 or 4 of those months
are held in stasis. So every pup that has been recently
stranded was in utero during those storms.
We know that when pregnant moms are exposed to trauma,
the outcome for the baby can be affected. This certainly could be the
case for the one that has apparent neurological problems.
Since these recent storms were made worse by climate
change, that is clearly the problem, or not…. but more likely
than windmills.
Or it could be that it’s all “sleepy Joe’s” and the liberal’s
fault. Why not just blame them ? It’s easy, takes no thought,
requires no evidence and it can aLL be summed up in one
sentence.
Sort of like blaming the windmills.
Perhaps vineyard wind or south fork could help fund the necropsies (and release the info to the public)of these animals that have been dying in greater numbers than average.
This would be truly the only way to end this ongoing debate of “is it offshore windfarm construction or not?”
Until necropsies are performed and results are released to the public , then we can only speculate on the cause of UME (Unusual Mortality Event) that NOAA says is happening.
I’m of the opinion that the mono pile driving noise is causing temporary deafness of any animal that’s close by , how could it not?
Noise is extremely amplified underwater and every fiber of the creatures being relies on acoustics to survive.
Put Google aside for a bit and stop and think to yourself , could there be a correlation?
Call some stranding groups as I have and get their opinions.
Environmental damage stands in the way of industrialization, so studies funded by the wind industry most likely will be skewed to favor them. All scientists know who signs their paycheck. Because of this spike in the rate of marine mammal deaths, since the introduction of wind development in 2015, all activity should be halted for independant studies.
Jason– I agree– but let’s not start necropsies
for pups that are stranded just yet.
So, OK– I couldn’t find real numbers about
how many pups are stranded in a normal year.
Is the UME you are referring to in relation
to the whales on the east coast of the U.S
or is there a statement from NOAA that there is
an unusual event going on with seals on the Vineyard ?
Since you talk to people who know about this, perhaps
some of them could come up with actual numbers.
How many pups are stranded on average every year?
What percentage of the estimated population of seal
pups in that?
In my first paragraph above, I said
wind farm activity was a possibility.
Will you concede that the unusual storm events (USE)
could have something to do with this ?
No one needed a necropsy to determine that at
least one of these pups died as a result of the USE.
And I ask again– is there a measurable increase in the
sound from windmills close to the Vineyard ?
By the way, NOAA has plenty of money to perform
necropsies on stranded animals,does them
and does release that information to the public.
According to their data, no marine mammal has died as a
result of wind farm activity. NONE– NOT ONE–
Do you really expect that if the wind people finance
and/or perform
necropsies they will be less biased than NOAA ?
Don- NOAA does not pay for the necropsies, marine mammal stranding groups do.NOAA will from time to time will kick in funds if a necropsy is extensive.
I’m not saying that these seal deaths are part of the UME , I’m just pointing out that any time something washes ashore the finger pointing will begin. If Vineyard Wind (and others) would help finance the necropsies to help clear their name , it’d be beneficial to them.
Unfortunately the stranding groups have to turn over their necropsy information to NOAA and NOAA has conveniently changed their policies on what information becomes public.
Seems a It’s a little fishy! ( no pun intended)
Jason– You allege that NOAA has “conveniently changed their
policies on what information becomes public.”
Could you document that , please?
I found this:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-stock-assessment-reports
which in no way alters the way information
is disseminated to the public. Please be careful what you
read into some things. You were quite wrong when you
read something and concluded that NOAA was allowing
V.W to kill 20 right whales. Please try not to disseminate
clearly untrue disinformation. Thanks
There is certainly no excuse for that.Very fishy indeed —
if true of course– the story itself seems a bit fishy.
As for funding of necropsies, I don’t think it really
matters who funds them. They are what they are.
But, I would rather independent stranding groups
do it to keep potential bias out of it. And you know
if the wind industry funded and released the results,
the wind-o-phobes would not believe them and use that
argument to cast doubt on ANY study.
But clearly , no matter who is funding them, ship strikes
and entanglements are the cause of the great majority of
deaths.
I wonder if you could find someone with underwater
acoustic equipment. that would be willing to actually
measure the current decibel levels on the south shore
of the Vineyard and be able to verify noise from the V.W project.
I get a little tired of reading people who claim the noise
is “deafening” , but in actuality have no idea either way.
I have posted decibel levels close to and during construction.
It would be refreshing if a wind-o phobe or 2 could actually find
some verifiable data that would indicate that the decibel levels
are high enough to deafen or drive seal pups out of the water.
That’s what this article is about —
I can’t find it— that doesn’t mean it is not so.
I do not profess to be an expert in this field which is why I ask questions. But something is definitely happening in areas with wind mill projects. NJ has had record amounts of dead dolphins and whales being beached this year. Maybe it’s a coincidence or not. Perhaps it is climate change. Or could it be because of the nuclear mishap in Japan but it think we should come out of our respective camps and figure it out together.
https://www.nj.com/monmouth/2023/12/dolphin-found-dead-on-jersey-shore-beach-is-49th-stranding-this-year.html#:~:text=The%20dead%20dolphin%20is%20the,2021%20and%2030%20in%202020.