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LONG BEACH ISLAND (N.J.), May 7, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Save Long Beach Island, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated in protecting our oceans against needless industrialization, filed suit with other interested parties to force the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to act on the 2025 petition intended for the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW). Image caption: The critically threatened North Atlantic right whale. Credit: Save LBI. (Generated with AI tools). The population of the magnificent right whale has been declining dramatically in recent years. It is also facing a number ongoing threats. Save LBI submitted the petition a full year ago, on March 31, 2025, requesting that NOAA designate the whale’s primary historic migration route as a “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act. The corridor identified in the Petition [media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2025-05/NARW-Petition-March-31-2025-508-.pdf] is based on the observation of historical whale migration and the location of its prey. NOAA has failed to act on the request despite multiple follow-ups letters. This is despite the mandated deadline of 90 days. Thomas Stavola Jr., the attorney handling the case, said that the deadline for the Agency to respond has long passed. “We must go to court,” he added. This lawsuit forces NOAA to comply with its legal duty and consider Save Long Beach Island’s critical habitat petition. The primary historic migration route designation would require federal agencies ensure that actions they authorise, fund, or implement are not likely destroy or adversely alter the corridor, which the whale needs to migrate and survive. This would create a vital link between the critical habitats that NOAA designated and expanded in 1994 to protect the feeding grounds of the right whale off the coasts of Maine and New England and its calving grounds and nursery grounds of Georgia and South Carolina. There are no habitat protections between these areas, which are located in the far north as well as the south. This puts the whale’s life at risk. Denise Boccia is the Save LBI Board member and primary architect of the petition. She explained that there are only 380 North Atlantic Right Whales left. “Every preventable impact counts,” she said. The designation of the NARW’s primary historic migratory corridor as critical environment would require federal agencies to: Evaluate the impacts of major projects, such as large-scale industrial development offshore, on the miles-wide migration corridor itself. Avoid actions that could destroy or degrade the whales’ migratory route, such as activities that increase underwater noise levels or alter the availability of prey. A critical habitat designation will discourage wind-energy development on lease areas, such as the Atlantic Shores South & North areas off the southern New Jersey coast. These areas were placed in an unwise location in the whale’s main migration corridor. Save LBI’s detailed study of the operational noise from wind energy complexes, summarized in the Addendum below, reveals that the noise from wind turbines can be heard for miles and is above the level that disturbs whale behavior. Save LBI President Bob Stern is a Ph.D. Scientist and former manager of Office of National Environmental Policy Act Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy. He said that these projects could negatively and significantly affect the miles-wide corridor itself, and not only seriously hinder, but also potentially block, the whales’ essential annual migration. What the designation would not do is: Regulate or limit vessel traffic. The areas that NOAA designates as having lower vessel speeds will be governed by separate authorities and processes based on the presence whales. The labeling of those areas as critical habitat has no impact on the restrictions. Regulation or restriction of commercial or recreational fishing. The designation has no impact on private or state sanctioned fishing. Federal fishing gear regulations, and related measures, are governed by separate authorities and processes that are based on perceived impacts of the whale. Additional measures based on critical habitat designations would require a separate assessment that fishing is likely destroy or adversely modify the miles-wide corridor itself. This is not a plausible argument. Save Long Beach Island, Inc. is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that protects the marine environment, coastal eco-systems, and the quality of life of residents and visitors to Long Beach Island. The organization advocates for balanced, science-based policies that protect wildlife, preserve local economies and promote responsible stewardship ocean resources. Visit SaveLBI.org to learn more. Contact: https://www.savelbi.org/contact For more information click here: https://www.savelbi.org –ADDENDUM: SAVE LBI ESTIMATED NOISE RANGES– Summary: The Extent of Behavior-Disturbing Noise from Offshore Wind Energy Complexes Save LBI’s calculations of the noise from wind-turbine complexes proposed in the New York Bight (an area that extends from the southern tip of Cape May, New Jersey, to the southeastern coast of New York’s Long Island) showed that sound levels exceeding the whale’s behavioral disturbance threshold, represented by the red lines in the illustration, extend through the wind complex and for miles from its perimeter (the green line represents all known migration paths, which is wider than the closer-to-shore primary historic migration corridor identified in the petition).

Image caption: A section along the right whale migration route off the coast New Jersey. Credit: Save LBI. Straightforward math leads to a similar conclusion. During wind turbine construction, pile driving noise levels are in the range of 240 decibels. It takes a significant reduction of 80 dB to bring these noise levels down to NOAA’s “impulsive noise behavioral disturbance threshold” of 162 dB. The noise level generated by a typical turbine complex is around 200 dB. This would have to be reduced to NOAA’s lower “continuous noise behavioral disturbance threshold” (120 dB) of 80 dB. Both cases require an 80 dB noise reduction, so the distances that sound must travel in order to reach acceptable behavioral thresholds are similar. Numerous acoustic studies conducted by wind-energy projects showed that pile-driving sound levels remained above the acceptable impulsive level for several miles beyond the source. The red lines in the illustration show that the same distances of multiple miles are required to reduce the continuous operation noise generated by wind complexes to an acceptable level. These long distances with elevated noise levels create a barrier to migration, and can even degrade the viability the migration corridor. MULTIMEDIA: IMAGE link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/25-0407-s2p-savelbi-whale-300dpi.jpg Image caption: The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. Credit: Save LBI. (Generated with AI tools). News Source: Save Long Beach Island (Save LBI)To view the original post, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/new-jerseys-save-long-beach-island-sues-noaa-for-failure-to-protect-migration-corridor-of-critically-endangered-north-atlantic-right-whale/. This press release has been issued by Send2Press (r) Newswire for the news source. The news source is solely responsible and accountable for its accuracy. www.send2press.com.