Stranded Whale Rescue East Moriches, NY

Stranded Whale Rescue East Moriches, NY

As reported yesterday, a Whale went aground in East Moriches, NY, near the Coast Guard station. I went down to EM to see if the whale was extricated… No such luck!

By chance I met two people near the water who were very upset because the whale has not received adequate help within 24 hours! I advised the couple to remain anonymous, in lieu of the current atmosphere of fines, for getting closer than 200 yards to the whale! Let’s call this couple John and Janet!

John who appeared to be a naturalist had resources such as a dredge and a helicopter, available to him to possibly help extricate the whale.

The DEC, and the Coast Guard advised of severe fines for going closer than 200 yard from the whale! The riverhead foundation advised that you should not go close to the whale because you would only get him upset! Upset hummm! Janet told me that the whale was actually exhibiting behavior that she considered to be “crying!” Is it possible that the whale was actually crying! OK! All of the above agencies are waiting for a Marine scientist to arrive from Massachusetts, to survey the situation!

Newsday reports that the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation was out in boats that were intentionally making waves hoping that they could move the whale off of the sand bar!

John and Janet had heavy equipment that was available to them, but were forbidden to use it!

It has become obvious to me that all of the above agencies were totally unprepared to deal with an emergency of this type! All of the above agencies should have had regular disaster preparedness drills so that they would not flounder when a real emergency occurred! Whales do not normally appear in Moriches Bay, but they do appear in the waters west of the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn, NY. I believe that as we speak, a whale is indeed in the water east of the bridge! In the absence of a disaster preparedness drill, all of the above agencies are forced to respond with the only tool that they have… Fines!

I do not believe in writing an article that is critical of an agency, without making a suggestion that might help the situation! I have navigated the waters in Moriches Bay, with my 30 foot Reliance cruiser that is bigger than the whale that is currently stranded! A boat or a whale must stay in the Moriches bay channel! I have managed to get my boat stuck on sandbars in Moriches bay twice, while traveling at a speed of about Five miles per hour! In both cases, it took me Two minutes to extricate my boat from the sandbars, using the 90 horsepower engine at about 500 RPM. What if a Bunge cord were temporarily attached to the whale’s tail? The ground in Moriches bay is not rocky, but slippery! A small boat may be able to help this whale by slowly pulling the bungee cord! It is not that difficult to get off of a sandbar, when you got stuck at a speed of only 5 miles per hour! I’ve been there! Just a thought! The whale could not be very far from the channel because the tides are not very high!

Also… If you drop 30 people with shovels into the water, they may be able to clear enough sand to help extricate the whale. You might also make a call to Stony Brook university Marine Sciences department, and ask them if they may be able to help! In the past they have been doing research on Whales; I have spoken to a few of the graduate students in the past! The Marine Sciences department does have a boat, and I would bet that they would be available to help!