Half a dozen marine mammals, including four dolphins, have washed up dead in New Jersey in just four days.
The dolphins, a porpoise and another mammal washed ashore between May 18 and May 21, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in the state.
Strandings occur all over the world for a variety of reasons, but there has been an uptick in cases across the New York and New Jersey coast since December.
The exact reason for this increase is puzzling scientists.
On March 21, a pod of eight dolphins washed ashore in Sea Isle City, New Jersey. Six of the dolphins were still alive when they were discovered, but officials had to euthanize them to stop their suffering, The Guardian reported.
Less than a week after these deaths, two more dolphins stranded on different beaches.
Even marine mammals that are discovered alive rarely survive stranding. They are often in poor condition and dolphins rapidly become dehydrated.
So far this year, 34 stranded dolphins have been discovered in New Jersey, according to local radio station New Jersey 101.5.
The four dolphins found in May will undergo necropsies so scientists can try to determine what is causing the deaths.
Nearly a dozen whales have also washed ashore off the coast of New Jersey and New York since December.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries office says the "unusual mortality event" in the region actually began in 2016. Most of the strandings have involved large whales, particularly humpbacks.
Nearly 200 humpback whales have been discovered and 40 percent of them displayed signs of injury from humans, in the form of either a ship strike or fishing line entanglement, according to NOAA Fisheries.
Environmentalists and some political groups have suggested that offshore wind development in the area could be responsible for the injuries.
There is no evidence to support this, however, and NOAA Fisheries has reiterated that the development should not be harming marine life.
Patrick Miller, a professor in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, told Newsweek in March: "Strandings do occur for natural reasons—any whale that dies at sea might wash up on shore. As there are increasingly more humpback whales off the east coast of the U.S., which is good news, an increased number of strandings for natural reasons would be expected."
Pointing to the NOAA statistic that 40 percent of the whales "had evidence of a direct human interaction," he added: "Such interactions are clearly harmful to animals, and the high rate of association with those interactions should therefore be an ongoing focus of attention."
Do you have an animal or nature story to share with Newsweek? Do you have a question about whale strandings? Let us know via nature@newsweek.com.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more
