You’ve probably seen the headlines or the viral tweets. A humpback or a North Atlantic right whale washes up on a beach in New Jersey or New York, and suddenly, the internet is on fire. People point toward the horizon at the massive steel towers rising from the Atlantic and ask a blunt question: Are wind turbines killing whales? It’s a messy, loud, and incredibly politically charged debate that has pitted environmentalists against, well, other environmentalists.
Honestly, the answer isn’t a simple yes or no, but it’s also not the mystery some make it out to be.
Since roughly 2016, the Atlantic coast has seen what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls an "Unusual Mortality Event" for humpback whales. When you see a 40-ton animal dead on the sand, it’s traumatic. It’s natural to look for the newest variable in the ocean. Offshore wind energy is that variable. But if we’re going to be real about saving these species, we have to look at the necropsy reports and the actual acoustics of the ocean floor.
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The tension is thick. On one side, you have local grassroots groups and some researchers worried about high-intensity sonar. On the other, federal agencies and massive energy companies like Ørsted and Equinor insist there’s zero evidence of a link.
The noise beneath the waves
Let's talk about how these things are built. It isn't quiet.
To put a turbine in the ocean, you have to know what the floor looks like. Companies use High-Resolution Geophysical (HRG) surveys. This is basically fancy sonar. Critics argue these sounds can disorient whales, specifically the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, of which fewer than 360 remain. If a whale is deafened or confused, it might swim into a ship. Or it might wander into shallower waters where it can’t find food.
However, there's a scale of sound we need to consider.
The sonar used for wind farm mapping is generally much lower in intensity than the seismic air guns used for oil and gas exploration. According to Dr. Douglas Nowacek, a professor of marine conservation at Duke University, these wind surveys are highly directional and move quickly. They aren't the same as the massive blasts used to find offshore oil. But—and this is a big "but"—the ocean is already a deafening place for a whale. Between cargo ships, military sonar, and fishing vessels, the acoustic space is crowded. Is the wind industry the straw that breaks the camel's back? Maybe. But current peer-reviewed science hasn't found the "smoking gun" connecting survey noise to mass strandings.
What the autopsies are telling us
When a whale dies, scientists from organizations like the Marine Mammal Stranding Center perform a necropsy. It’s a grizzly, massive undertaking.
They look for broken bones. They look for hematomas. They look for "entanglement scars."
About 40% of the whales that have washed up since 2016 show evidence of ship strikes or fishing gear entanglement. That is a hard, verifiable fact. Our obsession with fast shipping—getting that Amazon package in two days—means the Atlantic is a highway of giant propellers. In many cases, the whale was hit by a boat, not a turbine.
Wait.
Does the presence of wind farms cause more ship strikes? This is where the nuance lives. If construction vessels are flooding an area where whales feed, the risk of a collision goes up. It’s not the turbine itself killing the whale; it’s the traffic required to build it. NOAA has implemented "slow zones" and requires independent observers on ships to watch for blows, but whales are notoriously hard to spot in choppy seas.
The "Wind Turbine Killing Whales" Narrative vs. Reality
It’s easy to blame the big white fans. They are visible. They represent change.
But we have to talk about the North Atlantic right whale specifically. This species is on the brink of extinction. For them, a single death is a catastrophe. Some activists, like those from Save Long Beach Island, argue that the cumulative impact of dozens of planned wind farms will create a "gauntlet" of noise.
They aren't entirely wrong to be cautious. We are performing a massive industrial experiment in a sensitive ecosystem.
Yet, we also have to look at the alternative. Climate change is warming the Gulf of Maine faster than almost any other part of the ocean. This is shifting where "calanus"—the tiny crustaceans whales eat—are located. The whales are moving into new areas, like the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to find food. In these new areas, there aren't as many protections against shipping and fishing. So, ironically, the very thing wind turbines are meant to fight (climate change) is already driving whales into harm's way.
Does the tech have a solution?
Engineers are trying to make things quieter. They use something called "bubble curtains."
It’s exactly what it sounds like. They run a perforated hose around the pile-driving site and pump it full of air. The rising bubbles create a wall that absorbs sound. It’s pretty effective. In some European offshore wind sites, bubble curtains have reduced noise levels significantly.
There is also "soft start" pile driving. They start with light taps to warn animals to leave the area before bringing the heavy hammer down. Is it perfect? No. But it shows the industry is aware that the "wind turbines killing whales" PR nightmare is a death sentence for their projects.
Breaking down the numbers
Let's look at the actual stats from the last few years.
In 2023, a particularly bad year for strandings, dozens of whales washed up along the East Coast. Media outlets went into a frenzy. However, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) pointed out that many of these whales died before any offshore construction had even begun in those specific areas.
Some people think the vibration of the spinning blades creates a low-frequency hum that drives whales crazy. Researchers at the University of St. Andrews have studied this. While there is a low-frequency vibration, it usually dissipates within a few hundred meters. Compared to the roar of a container ship's engine, it’s a whisper.
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But we don't know everything. We don't.
We lack long-term data on how these structures change the "benthic" environment—the stuff living on the seafloor. If the turbines change the way water flows, does it change the concentration of plankton? If the plankton moves, the whales move.
Why this is so polarized
Money. It always comes down to money and politics.
Groups funded by the fossil fuel industry have been caught boosting the "wind turbines killing whales" narrative. It’s a convenient way to stall renewable energy. On the flip side, some renewable energy advocates are too quick to dismiss any concern as "misinformation."
The truth is in the middle. The wind farms probably aren't directly "zapping" whales or blowing their eardrums out with sonar in the way some claim. But, the industrialization of the ocean does bring risk. More boats, more gear, and more noise is never "good" for a whale. It's a trade-off.
Do we accept the localized risk of offshore wind to mitigate the global risk of a boiling ocean?
What you can actually do to help
If you actually care about the whales and aren't just looking for a reason to hate wind turbines, there are real steps to take.
- Support Ship Speed Rules: The single most effective way to save a North Atlantic right whale right now is to force boats to slow down to 10 knots in high-risk areas. Many boats ignore these voluntary zones.
- Push for Ropeless Fishing Gear: Entanglement in lobster and crab pots is a massive killer. Ropeless tech exists, but it’s expensive for fishermen. Support subsidies for this gear.
- Demand Transparency: Hold wind developers' feet to the fire. Demand that all their acoustic monitoring data be made public in real-time. If they have nothing to hide, they should share the raw audio files from the ocean floor.
- Check the Necropsy Reports: Next time you see a headline about a dead whale, don't just read the tweet. Go to the NOAA Fisheries website. Look for the preliminary necropsy results. Look for the words "vessel strike" or "blunt force trauma."
We need to stop treating the ocean like a silent void. It's a living, breathing, and very loud ecosystem. Whether we're building turbines or shipping sneakers, our footprint matters. The wind turbine debate is a wake-up call that we need better ocean management, period.
The offshore wind industry is moving fast. Massive projects like Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind are already sending power to the grid. As these projects grow, we need more independent, third-party scientists—not just those paid by the companies—to be out there on the water. We need to be humble enough to admit when we don't know the long-term effects.
Saving the whales and saving the climate shouldn't be at odds. But if we keep shouting at each other across the beach, we’re going to lose both.
Practical next steps for staying informed
Don't rely on social media algorithms for this stuff. Follow the New England Aquarium’s Right Whale Research Program. They are the gold standard for data on these animals. Also, keep an eye on the Marine Mammal Commission, which is an independent federal agency that provides oversight on these exact issues. If you want to see where the ships are in real-time, check out MarineTraffic. You can literally see the "gauntlet" of ships that whales have to navigate every single day.
Look at the maps. See where the wind lease areas are. Compare them to the sightings of whales. The more you look at the raw data, the less the "wind turbines killing whales" debate feels like a black-and-white issue, and the more it feels like a challenge of engineering and empathy.