Study shows negative impact of offshore wind farms on whales and other marine mammals

2PROVINCETOWN, MA – Beneath the rolling Atlantic, a silent crisis brews as the hammering sounds of offshore wind farm construction clash with the delicate acoustic world of the North Atlantic right whale.

A study entitled “ Impacts of Noise from Wind Farm Construction and Installation on Large Whales A Brief Summary ” by Karen Stamieszkin of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies shows how offshore wind surveying, construction, and operations negatively impacts marine mammals.

These rare whales, along with humpbacks, fins, and minkes, rely on low-frequency calls to navigate, forage, and communicate across vast stretches of ocean.

But the pounding of steel monopiles into the seafloor—sometimes reaching sound levels above 200 decibels—may drown out or even damage the hearing of th