[font face=Serif][font size=5]Right Whales Threatened by Planned Seismic Surveys Along Mid- and Southeastern Atlantic Seaboard, Say Scientists[/font]

[font size=4]Letter to President Obama from right whale experts sent today urges a halt to permits for seismic surveys in important marine habitats

Planned airgun surveys will cause massive disruption to one of the world’s most endangered whale species[/font]

April 14, 2016

[font size=3]NEW YORK (Thursday, April 14, 2016)—A series of seismic surveys for oil and gas planned for the mid- and southeastern Atlantic coastal areas of the United States pose a substantial threat to one of the world’s most endangered whale species, according to a group of renowned marine mammal scientists urging a halt to the surveys in a statement released today.

In an open letter sent to President Obama, the 27 leading right whale experts—including scientists from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, New England Aquarium, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Duke University, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution—stated that seismic oil and gas surveys planned in the waters between Delaware and Florida would significantly impact the acoustically sensitive North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species numbering no more than 500 animals, and “would jeopardize its survival.”

Last month, the administration excluded oil and gas leases in the same regions for the next five years, but the controversial seismic surveys may continue as planned.

The statement says that the surveys would introduce a significant amount of noise pollution into the marine environment most critical for the survival of the North Atlantic right whale, an animal that gives birth and nurses in the relatively warm coastal waters from North Carolina to Florida. The cacophony produced by the airguns is likely to disrupt the whales’ vital behavior, with the resulting stress causing negative impacts on the health of individual animals.

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