Humpback whales sightings ‘not really uncommon’

Humpback whales have been making a big splash along the shore the past few weeks. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center reported sightings in Ship Bottom and Ocean City Saturday, Oct. 17. Another sighting took place in Bay Head Sunday, Oct. 18, and the last reported sighting was in Point Pleasant Monday, Oct. 19.

According to Sheila Dean, co-director of the center in Brigantine, fishermen in Cape May also reported whale sightings in that area last weekend.

Photo by Jim Verhagen
Beach-goers catch a humpback whale
making waves in the water in Surf City.

“As far as the whales off LBI, it is always amazing to see such large marine mammals in our waters,” said Kyle Gronostajski, executive director of Alliance for a Living Ocean. “People seem to have a real connection to most marine mammals, and hopefully it makes them more aware of the numerous environmental issues facing our oceans. We are lucky to get to see such creatures right here in our own backyard and should never take that for granted. We'll only continue to see them if we keep our waterways clean and work to make it a great home for these creatures as well as for ourselves.”

Although the stranding center has not had any whale reports in a few days, Dean said it is not unusual to see humpbacks this time of year.

“We see them every year. We’ve been seeing them close to shore every fall, so it’s not really uncommon,” she said.

Although she wishes the center could identify each one of the whales, she said, “We’re not researchers.” And she doubts passing the photos along to researchers would help them in any way.

“Most of the time they need to see the bottom of the tail, and these whales are not in deep water. They’re in shallow water, so their tails are not going to come up,” she said.

“By the time we would drive to where the whales are, they’ll be gone. It’s not like they stay in one spot, so we rely on people to take photographs,” Dean explained.

There have been a lot of baitfish in the water lately, which is what humpbacks feed on.

“That’s what they’re going after, the small fish, because they’re filter-feeders. That’s what they eat,” said Dean.

Baitfish are typically around during the fall when the water is warmer, but the temperatures are dropping, which could be the reason why whale sightings have been less frequent.

— Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.