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A whale is dead after colliding with a boat in New Jersey
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center announced that a boat collided with a 20-foot-long Minke whale in Barnegat Bay, resulting in a passenger to go overboard, on Aug. 2
"I don’t know how they even got where the whale was because it was so shallow,” the center's director said
A whale has died after colliding with a boat in a New Jersey bay this weekend, resulting in a passenger to be thrown overboard.
On Saturday, Aug. 2, around 2:45 p.m. local time, the New Jersey State Police Marine Unit contacted the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) — a center dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of animals — to report a whale located in Barnegat Bay. Around 3:40 p.m., a nearby boater reported that a boat "struck the whale," which caused the boat to nearly capsize as a passenger went overboard, per the MMSC.
Footage from the collision, shared by NJ.com, shows the moment the boat nearly flipped when coming into contact with the whale. A passenger wearing a blue shirt and sun hat could be seen falling off the back right of the motorized vessel as witnesses on a nearby boat yelled to the fellow boaters and encouraged them to "shut the motor off."
"Oh my God, they're going over," one witness could be heard saying as the boat tipped, dumping one person into the bay. "Oooh, man overboard!"
The passenger soon resurfaced from the water, as the whale began to swim away from the scene — continually splashing its tail above the water while seemingly in distress. Kim Mancini, who took the footage, told NJ.com that the whale initially went under her boat before colliding with the other. TowBoatUS Barnegat Light shared additional footage of the scene on social media.
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The center responded to the scene after connecting with the U.S. Coast Guard, State Marine Police and Sea Tow. First responders with Sea Tow then reported that the whale — later identified as a roughly 20-foot-long Minke whale — had died, according to the MMSC.
“We know the whale has died. We’re not really sure why, but we’re going to find that out,” center director Shelia Dean told NJ.com.
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New Jersey's Island Beach, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay, where the whale wasOn Facebook, the MMSC wrote that it confirmed with officials at a nearby state park that they can tow the animal to the park for a necropsy — an animal's post-mortem examination — on Monday morning, due to "availability of heavy equipment and the upcoming tide cycle." Sea Tow will assist.
The center will continue to update locals on the operation, while boaters are encouraged to keep a distance of around 150 feet away from the whale carcass for the time being.
Referring to the footage, Dean said the whale appeared to be in shallow water and was "surrounded" by boats as one got "very" close. "I don’t know how they even got where the whale was because it was so shallow,” Dean said, adding that the whale was possibly cut by the boat and that those nearby should not have approached it.
“If the whale approaches you, you shut your engines off and just lay dead in the water until the whale swims away,” Dean said. “You should never approach a whale.”
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