Island agencies saw a record number of marine mammal strandings in 2024, responding to more than 40 incidents, the highest in recent Island history.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head’s Environmental Laboratory team, primary contact for all strandings on the Island, responded to calls about 19 separate marine mammals, and there were 25 other stranding responses led by network affiliates, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and trained agents from the Island towns.
The strandings included dolphins, seals, and other marine creatures, as well as the most publicized, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale that washed ashore in January.
The uptick in strandings is concerning, but many scientists and responders are still trying to understand what has led to the increase.
“It’s tragic,” said Andrew Jacobs, manager and environmental technician for the tribe’s laboratory. But Jacobs couldn’t necessarily see the increase in findings as a trend, at least yet. There are not enough cumulative data to distinguish whether recent years are outliers or part of a larger phenomenon.
“I hope I don’t get a single whale call this year, and we just had a really unfortunate year,” Jacobs said. “If this does continue, it’s going to involve significant investigation.”
Regional researchers say that the uptick on the Vineyard, for some species, falls in line with a rise in strandings reported along the Massachusetts coast, but while they have some clues, they can’t point to a single great and obvious culprit.
Jacobs said the increase could be due to the public being more active in reporting strandings.
In 2024, Island stranding teams logged 52 total responses to 44 marine animals, an increase from 34 responses the year prior, based on records from the tribe. Sometimes they respond multiple times to the same animal before the team intervenes. Seventy percent of those stranded were deceased.
In 2022, the Island logged 18 total responses, and in the year prior, there were 14 responses. The year before that saw 19 responses.
Jacobs said that the numbers show an increase, particularly in whale strandings, over the past few years. In fact, almost half of the whales stranded from the past 15 years occurred in 2023 and 2024. There were two whales, one right and one sperm, that washed up on the Island in 2024. The team also tracked a deceased humpback that came close to the Island, but ended up in Buzzards Bay. In 2023, they logged three whales, two humpbacks, and one minke.
Though documentation is less reliable farther back, Jacobs said that from 2010 to 2022, there were six whale strandings reported on the Island in total.
The Vineyard is hardly an outlier. Dani Stone, veterinary technician for the nonprofit International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said that 2024 was the busiest year on record in Southeastern Massachusetts for stranding responders.
“It was a wild year for sure,” she said.
The IFAW leads responses to marine mammal strandings in Cape Cod and the southeast coast of Massachusetts. In total, IFAW responded to 599 cases in 2024, which is more than twice the annual average.
Two events in 2024 contributed to the higher numbers. In June and July, the largest mass dolphin stranding in U.S. history occurred on Cape Cod, involving 146 dolphins. In September, IFAW also responded to a stranding of 14 bottlenose dolphins in Brewster; this was the largest bottlenose dolphin mass stranding in the Northeast region, according to IFAW.
“What we do know is that coastal marine mammal dynamics have been very different this year,” Sarah Sharp, animal rescue veterinarian for IFAW, said. Humpbacks were in Cape Cod Bay in higher numbers in the fall and winter, North Atlantic right whales showed up earlier in larger quantities, and dolphins swam closer to shore in large numbers, she reported, adding that some whales showed signs of infectious diseases, blunt trauma, and entanglement.
Many blame the increase in marine mammal strandings, especially of whales, on offshore wind development, but there is no science-backed evidence to support that claim.
“There are many different factors at play right now in our near-shore marine ecosystems, and it may take a little time to tease it all out,” Sharp said. “We have not found any evidence that these deaths are being driven by offshore wind development.”
Charles (“Stormy”) Mayo, senior scientist and chair of the Department of Ecology at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, agrees.
“There is not right now a very clear single cause,” Mayo said. He also said that it’s hard to see trends in wild animals because they fluctuate so much.
Mayo suggested that instead of one red flag, there is a series of possible causes, which include entanglement in fishing gear, increased human and industrial activity in the marine environment, increased chemical and biological pollution, impacts to the food web, and changes in the ecosystem, particularly along the coast. Certain marine mammal populations, like gray seals, have also grown, so that could mean an increase in mortalities, he said.
There could be an answer when all of these elements are stacked up on top of one another, but Mayo said they don’t yet know the synergy between all of them.
Besides the fact that reports of mortalities weren’t well-kept before 20 years ago, Mayo said, changes in climate could also mean that they don’t even know about all of the deceased mammals. If there’s a westerly wind, for example, dead animals won’t wash ashore.
NOAA Fisheries also maintains that there is no scientific evidence that noise from offshore wind sites causes whale deaths, but do say that some surveys done by developers to map the ocean bottom produce a noise that could disturb marine mammals.
Though NOAA Fisheries doesn’t anticipate and hasn’t authorized death or serious injury of whales for offshore wind development, developers have requested Incidental Harassment Authorizations to allow for Level B harassment. These authorizations allow for acts that could disturb, but not injure, the behavioral patterns of a marine mammal, including migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, and sheltering.
The sound from wind surveys has a smaller impact zone than oil and gas surveys, or military sonar, according to NOAA Fisheries, because it has a quieter noise and higher frequency. Exposure is also at lower levels and for a shorter duration.
There is a lot of unfortunate speculation that surrounds strandings, Jacobs said. “People’s thoughts on this run pretty wild.”
He suggested that to help ease some of the speculation, marine mammal responders could do a better job at getting information to the public, but said they can’t give a cause of death until there’s a formal release from NOAA or agencies that perform necropsies.
While researchers look for clues to the increase, there is a human emotional toll. The Wampanoag see whales as relatives, even cousins. “They have our oldest songs, those we’ve forgotten on land,” said Brad Lopes, tribal citizen and education and outreach coordinator for the Aquinnah Cultural Center.
It’s not right when they “move on” prematurely or not from natural causes, he said.
Lopes said he thinks there’s validity to the concerns around offshore wind development and whales, even though there’s no science to support the argument.
“It takes time to see these effects,” he said. Ultimately, he said, data and research may suggest increased activity in these waters raises the probability of strikes and entanglements.
He places blame on capitalist market forces that push for continued progress, including the industrialization of the sea. “I find that the best thing we could be doing is not pushing forward in these ways, and letting it all reset,” he said.
The tribe, meanwhile, has responded to strandings of at least two harp seal pups, one deceased and another rehabilitated and released, this year. So far, no whale calls.
If you see a stranded, distressed, or dead marine mammal, contact the tribe’s and NOAA’s stranding network hotline at 866-755-6622.
As anyone who has looked to the South or West of the island lately knows, Off Shore Wind development has been intense and very active in the waters all around the island for the past 3 years. It’s the one thing that has created drastic, visible and physical changes for humans and anything that lives in the ocean. To summarily dismiss OSW as a possible cause seems to be ignoring the elephant in the room.
If NOAA is so sure the cause is anything except OSW activities why have they granted so many “takes” in their approvals? Who is keeping track of the “takes?” And why are they not publishing the results of these “takes?”
It’s worth noting that many of the scientific research organization that exists in New England (and whom are quoted in this article) have been granted/given money for “research” by Off Shore Wind companies for the past 8 to 10 years. And while accepting money from OSW developers does not necessarily mean they are corrupted or are withholding information – it’s at least something to be aware of.
https://docs.wind-watch.org/Save-RIght-Whales-COI-report.pdf
Marine strandings have increased significantly every year over the prior five years. The scientists do not have an explanation for this increase. How many more strandings and how many more years pass before the EXPERTS figure out the cause? OSW is likely the major contributor to the death of marine life across the entire coast of Massachusetts.
“The IFAW leads responses to marine mammal strandings in Cape Cod and the southeast coast of Massachusetts. In total, IFAW responded to 599 cases in 2024, which is more than twice the annual average.”
Nothing to see here folks. Move on. Oh and enjoy those lovely views of that industrial park in our ocean off the south shore.
Huh an uptick in marine stranding couldn’t be the 30 foot wide piles being driven into the ocean now hooked up with electric current running between them
The uptick started long before Vineyard Wind.
I think every thoughtful person on the Vineyard knows the ocean is vast. Truly vast. Our love of the ocean should remind us to be patient AND vigilant about the changes we can see.
The increase in strandings started well before OSW began it’s work. What has changed is that people are paying attention and counting. Most of these strandings are connected to fishing activities and ship strikes.
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-atlantic-right-whale
The article should be corrected to include the level “A” takes issued to many of the OSW companies that include multiple different species. These “A” takes are more severe and could result in a mortality.
Chris – This article is talking about strandings as well as mortalities of many different species, the UME you are bringing up pertains to humpback and right whales that started in 2016 , coincidentally the same year that surveys began.
It’s kind of interesting that the UME started out slowly and began to increase as OSW activities increased, isn’t it?
This article mentions that the surveys are less harmful than oil/gas exploration but still harmful and suggests that surveys could lead to a variety of “takes”
Entanglements in the UME are the lowest factor, vessel strikes account for 66% more mortalities than entanglements and vessel strikes have been trending upward since 2016 , while entanglements have been trending downward.
It also should be noted that the two major stranding groups have also received money from OSW developers , that’s not a good look and puts them in a position of being labeled as “biased”
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6PQb8vWd8xKjEmco6
https://turnto10.com/i-team/climbing-whale-deaths-sparks-questions-over-offshore-wind-scientist-denys-loud-noise-farm-construction-beach-turbine-pile-driving-shore-future-stranding-feb-17-2025?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0po-GUeuxEJ0spVVYZxxI9sAwg4lmEKAKTXDtR3N0JyXWthbUSrfXcx5I_aem_yiUfiwNfYyRzXY0sfvudQw
Jason– If we are looking for “co incidences” of timing, 2016 was the year donald trump came to power and started dismantling many important environmental laws and restrictions. Just sayin’
We have been trashing the environment for a solid 150 years. Trump is just doing what he can to speed it up . . .
We can’t pretend that the industrialization of our ocean the past 2 years hasn’t had a significant effect, especially in the absolutely important migratory & habitat grounds around our island. Disappointed to see NOAA reiterate that idea when those on the island that know our ocean, species & their timing the best have seen the notable difference out there. The sheer amount of activity, the levels of sound created by pile driving the turbine structures into our ocean floor, the amount of response to our concerns as well as Nantucket’s are alarming.
These Federal agencies failed to due their due diligence under the Biden administration’s misnamed Inflation Reduction Act that paid our taxpayer dollars to developers.
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM),
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
Department of Energy (DOE):
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL):
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