Myth:
Offshore wind turbines are harmful to whales, disrupting their migration routes and causing them to strand. In addition, sonar mapping of the seabed in preparation for the construction of wind turbines can be distressing to whales.
Fact:
Every major study that has examined this issue has concluded that offshore wind turbines do not harm whales. They do not cause them to strand, nor is there evidence that they disrupt their migration routes. Even Greenpeace, which has been campaigning for fifty years to protect the creatures, agrees with this assessment.
As for sonar mapping, it is true that it may have some impact on whales that pass by, but that impact is minuscule compared with the impact of sonic blasting, which is used to search for offshore oil and gas.
The real threats to whales include entanglement in fishing nets and ropes, collisions with ships, whaling (still practised by Japan, Norway and Iceland), plastic pollution, overfishing and climate change (which threatens the food chains upon which whales depend). Claims about offshore wind turbines emanate almost entirely from think tanks funded by the fossil fuel industry, which has a vested interest in stopping the rollout of renewable energy.
Researchers examining the body of a whale that was hit by a ship. [Source: Wikimedia Commons]
Sources:
Jacinta Bowler, “Are offshore windfarms a problem for whales?” Cosmos, 8/8/23
Dave Lavallee, “Offshore wind turbines not cause of whale strandings, deaths, says URI ocean engineering professor,” Rhody Today, 24/3/23
“The low-down on whales and wind farms,” Greenpeace, 1/11/23. https://www.greenpeace.org.au/article/the-low-down-on-whales-and-wind-farms/ Caitlin Fitzsimmons, “‘Absolutely incorrect’: The evidence is in on whales and offshore wind farms,” Sydney Morning Herald, 11/7/24