“There are five people in the world who build search engines,” I’m one of them.” — Apostolos Gerasoulis After 10 dead humpbacks in 9 weeks (Dec. 2022 - Feb. 2023), 2 in particular, beloved by many who cherish the New Jersey Coast, Apostolos Gerasoulis needed to find the reason and he knew he possessed the skills to do just that. Meet LUNA the NOAA Lie Busting Machine. Gerasoulis analyzed NOAA data that revealed prior to 2016 (the first year of OSW site surveying) the average whale deaths in the NY, NJ, RI waters was 2 per year. Post 2016 the number of deaths rose to 10, just as offshore wind developers started mapping the ocean floor with seismic surveying. Last year, there were 21 humpback whale deaths, and this year the numbers are becoming staggering — at least 20 already — all occurring in and around the OSW seismic surveying and construction along the East Coast. “You have 20 dead whales. You used to have 2 and now it’s 20, so I started looking at this from every perspective.” Gerasoulis said. And so was born LUNA, the “whales search engine”. After loading NOAA data on whale deaths, the zigzag courses of survey ships, and even wave action, into LUNA, patterns that point to offshore wind seismic survey vessels as the cause of whale deaths was revealed. Gerasoulis divided his data into two samples, pre and post OSW surveying and subjected the samples to two sophisticated statistical test, both indicating that the difference in whale deaths pre and post wind survey was statistically significant. “If you are statistically significant, it means something seriously is happening and you better find the root” said Gerasoulis. NOAA, however, is sticking to its story — whales only die by fishing gear and ships strikes. Don’t ask if the entanglements or ship strikes were pre or post mortem. NOAA wont’ tell you.
No worries, Gerasoulis analyze cargo ship traffic and whale deaths in the central area (NJ, NY Conn. RI). What did he find: 2020-2021(low amount of surveying) container ship traffic was up 18% whale deaths were down 92% BUT… 2022-2033,(exceptionally intense OSW surveying), cargo ship traffic was down 18% whale deaths were up 162%. Take that NOAA. LUNA integrates NOAA data on whale, dolphin and porpoise deaths with vessel traffic data from MarineCadastre.gov. The program then generates maps of the U.S. East Coast and plots the locations of offshore wind survey/construction zones, dead whales, dolphins and porpoises and the routes taken by various survey ships. LUNA can display any geographic area, time frame, marine mammal species, or ship, depending on the query. LUNA shows exactly where each marine mammal called its final resting place and correlates that spot to the location of OSW surveying or construction. Gerasoulis’ data creates detailed reports, for example in NJ/NY 2022: survey vessels traveled 4,213 miles….1 humpback whale died. 2023: (Jan. & Feb.) survey vessels travel 11,977 … 7 humpback whales died, including Luna & Saint. Gerasoulis didn’t stop there, far be it for this whale loving, turbine hating, founder of Save the East Coast to give NOAA, or BOEM for that matter, any room to hide. He analyze the other regions along the East Coast. The northern region (Maine, NH and MA) and the southern (DE, MD & VA). What did he find? Northern Region: No surveying and no significant change. Central Region Prior to 2016: no surveying … average of 4 humpback whales deaths per year. Post 2016: average 50,300 surveyed miles per year … 10.625 (avg) humpback whale deaths per year. Southern Region: Prior to 2016: no to minimal surveying … average of 2 humpback whales deaths per year. Post 2016: 23,264 surveyed miles per year … 5.25 (avg) humpback whale deaths per year. “The numbers never lie,” Gerasoulis says. “There is a cause. We have shown that the cause for the death of whales is offshore wind. Period.” The research has teeth: Understanding that surveying for turbine placement locations requires the use of sparkers to send acoustical pulses in the ocean floor that are then reflected back to the receivers, Gerasoulis, and others, enlisted the help of Robert Rand, a veteran acoustical consultant. What they found was much worse than expected. Rand found that the frequency and sound power levels he recorded did not match the equipment National Marine Fisheries Service (part of NOAA) and the project sponsors said would be used. Underestimating the actual noise level of sonar used by survey boats would lead to the specification of shorter 'safe' distances from marine mammals than were necessary for their protection. Rand’s data showed the noise emitted from the seismic sonar equipment was much louder. The sound was 224 decibels at the source but 1/2 nautical mile away peak sound level were measured at 151.6 decibels; all well above what was reported to and approved by NMFS/NOAA, and all at levels that harm marine mammals hearing. Per NMFS, marine mammals can temporarily lose hearing at 152 decibels of continuous sound, although the agency does not say for how long that temporary loss lasts. At 173 decibels, permanent hearing loss happens. A deaf whale is a dead whale. It cannot hear so it cannot navigate or communicate. If it is deaf and gets hit by a ship, what killed it….. the cause of deafness? or the ship?
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