By BROOKE FELDMAN
Hundreds of community members flocked to Ventnor’s Suffolk Avenue beach Sunday afternoon to raise awareness of the recent wave of marine mammal deaths.
The backdrop for the rally was a 52-foot-long sand sculpture depicting a whale, her calf and eight dolphins.
Local sculptor John Gowdy and his wife, Laura Cimador, of Italy were inspired after the second dead whale washed ashore on Jan. 7 in Atlantic City, Gowdy’s hometown.
Since then, about 30 dead whales have washed up along the Northeast coast, including 10 in New Jersey. The eight dolphins in the sculpture are a tribute to the pod that washed up in Sea Isle City on March 21. Two died on the beach and the others were euthanized.
“We decided to make a statement in sand,” Gowdy said. “It’s the way we convey our thoughts these days.”
The idea became a reality when Ventnor City Public Works, with the permission of the governing body, agreed to pile about 1,000 tons of beach sand for the project.
“We are happy to have it here and support this cause,” Ventnor Mayor Lance Landgraf said.
Gowdy knew art would bring attention to the issue and called on his friend Johnny Higbee to write a song about the whale deaths. The two have remained close since their early days working on the Atlantic City Beach Patrol.
Higbee and The Blues Street Band performed his song, “Save the Whales,” to urge people to take care of the ocean and beaches.
“This is our way of showing that we care by putting our expression into it,” Higbee said.
The artistic collaboration drew community members, elected officials and scientists to the beach to advocate for marine life. Speakers included U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd), N.J. Sen. Vincent J. Polistina (R-Atlantic) and Assemblyman Don Guardian (R-Atlantic).
Most of the speakers stated that the offshore wind energy development is to blame for the deaths of marine mammals.
However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA), said there is no evidence of a link between offshore wind energy projects and the whale deaths.
“At this point, there is no evidence that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales, and no specific links between recent large whale mortalities and currently ongoing surveys,” NOAA said.
NOAA has declared it an “Unusual Mortality Event” and indicated vessel strikes and entanglements are causing many of the marine mammal deaths.
Presenters at the rally unanimously asked NOAA, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the federal government to further investigate the cause of the whale deaths.
Guardian demanded the studies be conducted in a timely fashion.
“We want these studies to help us save the whales, not to be used as the eulogy for the last whales,” Guardian said.
Van Drew was met with loud applause for his efforts to address the issue in Washington, D.C.
“Those whales … I know this sounds corny and I don’t mean it to sound corny, were a divine blessing from God to wake us the hell up and say we’ve got to do something,” Van Drew said.
Like Van Drew, Polistina has the same concerns about offshore wind energy projects and urged the community to fight for an in-depth investigation into the unprecedented number of marine mammal deaths.
“In my 51 years here in Atlantic County, this has been one of the most frightening things we have experienced here,” Polistina said.
No one spoke or advocated for the offshore wind energy projects.
Higbee performed his song once more to conclude the event.
“We got to save the ocean – save planet Earth, too. We got to save the ocean under skies of blue,” Higbee sang.
