Moriches Bay, NY - November 23, 2016 - "I'm not only sad, I'm angry. We had absolutely no plan and no response for this situation," said Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "Congressman Lee Zeldin and Senator Ken LaValle need to form a whale response task force so we can prevent this from happening in the future. Doing nothing is not an option, we are better than that.  This scenario can easily happen again and when it does, we need to be ready for it."

Esposito noted that some Long Islanders are already naming the whale 'Morey' after Moriches Bay, where the whale was stranded on a sandbar. The name also happens to be ironic, since 'Mori' is Latin for death.

"Let's honor Morey's death by making sure it doesn't happen again," added Esposito.