Whale Floating In Raritan Bay Showed Signs Of Boat Strike, Feds Say

RARITAN BAY, NJ — The dead humpback whale floating in Raritan Bay last week most likely died because it was hit by a motorboat. A second whale that washed up on a beach on Long Island last week also showed signs of being hit by a boat.

This is according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal agency that monitors whale deaths nationwide.

However, the two whale deaths do not appear to be related, as the Long Island whale appeared to have been dead for a much longer period of time, said the federal marine agency.

NOAA is the same federal agency that said in this statement New York/New Jersey has seen an increase in dead whales and whale strandings since 2015; they call what's happening an "unusual mortality event."

NOAA performed necropsies (autopsies for animals) on both whales, and they published their findings to their Facebook page this past Saturday, June 3:

"Preliminary results indicate that this was a 28 ft long female," NOAA wrote about the whale found in Raritan Bay. "This animal had bruises, lacerations & fractures in several places across its body, including fractures on its skull & left pectoral fin, which had been severed. The preliminary cause of death is suspect blunt & sharp force trauma consistent with vessel strike and samples were collected for further analysis. The whale was buried on the beach."

Here is what they found about the whale on the beach in Wainscott, NY (Long Island):

"On Thur, the whale drifted into Shinnecock Inlet, & was brought to shore in Hampton Bays, Southampton. The examination showed that it was a 47 ft long male. While this carcass was heavily decomposed, scientists observed bruising in the blubber & muscle on both sides of the head. The cause of death was suspected blunt force trauma, & samples were collected for further analysis. The whale was buried on the beach."

"While these whales were seen on the same day, their different levels of decomposition indicates that these strandings were not related," NOAA added.

It was a fisherman from Middletown who first spotted the dead whale floating in Raritan Bay at about 11:30 a.m. last Wednesday.

It floated in the bay until Thursday, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and agents from the NJ Fish & Wildlife Service towed the whale to Sandy Hook, where its body could be cut open for the necropsy.

Sheila Dean, executive director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the group that helps retrieve dead mammals that wash ashore in New Jersey, has long said she is not sure what is causing the increase in whale deaths off New Jersey.

She also said she is not convinced of the argument put forth by Republican lawmakers that sonar testing for wind turbines could be hurting the whale's ears or brain, causing them to surface in confusion and be fatally struck by boats.

Instead, she has long theorized that the whales are simply coming to the surface as they naturally always do, and are then struck by motorboats. The increase in deaths is due to the increase in both the whale population and the number of pleasure boaters off the Jersey Shore, she said.

"Lotta food out there (for the whales). Lotta whales. Lotta boats," said Dean this past February.

Last week's report: Dead Humpback Whale Floating In Raritan Bay, Another Off Long Island (June 1)