New Jersey’s federal lawmakers are demanding an action plan from the White House over marine mammal deaths off the region’s coastline. Two more bottlenose dolphins were found dead over the weekend, pushing the total to 28 dead dolphins off New Jersey’s coast in the last five months.
In a letter to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, all nine of the state’s congressional Democrats pressed the agency to do more to address vessel strikes and entanglements, which have been shown to be the major cause of the deaths. The members also highlighted the threat climate change poses to marine mammals and called out unsubstantiated claims that have blamed offshore wind activity for the increase in the deaths.
