Experts investigate rising whale fatalities along Southern New England coast

The death toll continues to rise amongst whales along Southern New England coastlines.

On Wednesday, a juvenile humpback whale was stranded along Richmond Pond Beach in Westport.

"This is the 13th whale that has washed up dead in the past three weeks from Massachusetts to Kitty Hawk North Carolina," said Constance Gee of Green Oceans.

It's a troubling trend in Atlantic waters.

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, of the Whale and Dolphin conservation in Plymouth, spoke with NBC 10's Erin Coogan. (WJAR)

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration reporting higher than usual numbers of whale deaths, spanning from Maine to Florida, since 2016.

"It's been an ongoing trend, unfortunately, that hasn't been slowing down," continued Regina Asmutis-Silvia, of the Whale and Dolphin conservation in Plymouth.

In Southern New England, organizations including the Whale and Dolphin Conservation and Mystic Aquarium, work year-round to track, analyze, and report local incidents.

Scientists said in the past month alone, there have been five separate whales found just in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

"It makes me sick to my stomach," Gee said.

First in Plymouth, a young humpback whale was spotted washed up along the shores of Bayside Beach back on Dec. 9.

Six days later, another dead humpback, was discovered in Brewster.

Then just days before Christmas, scientists were called to conduct and on-beach necropsy of a dead minke whale, washed ashore in Charlestown.

A week later, on Dec. 26, a third dead humpback was recorded in Marshfield.

It's the potential cause behind these deaths that has become the cause for controversy.

"What they never say is maybe it's connected to all of the industrialization and construction related to offshore wind projects right off our shores. They never say that," Gee began.

The first large-scale wind farm began producing power off the east end of Long Island last March.

However, some conservationists say there's not enough data to link the off shore turbine construction to the recent increase in whale deaths.

"People are looking at correlation data," Asmutis-Silvia said. "These windfarms started to develop, and they started to and became aware of these strandings, they associated correlation to it. And I think that can be dangerous because correlation and causation are not the same."

It's the reason, scientists stress the importance of necropsies in all beached whale cases.

"We're definitely seeing that the two biggest causes are entanglements and fishing gear and bustle strikes, and that those continue to be the predominant threats and we have," Asmutis-Silvia continued.

Westport town officials said they will dig a hole just up shore on the beach to bury the body on Friday.

Meanwhile, necropsy results for the current beached whale are expected in a few months' time.