Dead whale washes ashore in Long Branch
LONG BRANCH – A dead whale washed ashore on Takanassee Beach Saturday evening, sparking concerns and interest from onlookers and forcing police to block off portions of the area.
Residents said the deceased humpback was first spotted around 5 p.m. Saturday and remained there Sunday morning as many offered concern and surprise at the sighting.
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“We were sitting on the beach yesterday and I noticed it when people started running up to it,” said Soraya Nimaroff, who lives nearby. “I’m very sad. It is very sad.”
Police blocked off a portion of the beach immediately surrounding the whale.
“This whole area will be closed for the day,” said Long Branch Police Cpl. Lance Fanning. “They have to do what they have to do to remove it.”
When a recently dead whale washes ashore, experts look for wounds, lesions and injuries. Experts with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center of Brigantine and the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society planned to perform a necropsy and collect tissue samples, Stranding Center staff said on Facebook.
Experts look for physical wounds as well as parasites, bacterial and viral infections, toxic algae exposure and new diseases that could contribute to the animal's death, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Whale deaths have been increasing in recent months, with at least 11 previous cases documented off New Jersey since December 1, 2022. At least 12 dolphins also died along New Jersey's shores.
The most recent incident occurred when a deceased humpback whale was found floating in Raritan Bay on May 31. The 28-foot-long female appeared to have died from blunt and sharp force trauma consistent with a vessel strike, according to preliminary results from NOAA.
The whale, who was discovered in the waters off Keansburg, was found to have had bruises, lacerations and fractures in several places across its body, including fractures on its skull and left pectoral fin, which had been severed, according to preliminary results from a necropsy, NOAA spokesperson Andrea Gomez said at the time.
Data and scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection all agree the most common cause of whale deaths in New Jersey recently has been collisions with ships.
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Of the whales that washed ashore in New Jersey, nearly half had wounds that experts said most likely happened from ship strikes. Most of the others were too decomposed to determine a cause of death.
The cause of the whale deaths have sparked a sharp political debate. Advocates such as the environmental organization Clean Ocean Action and numerous New Jersey politicians have called for thorough investigations into the whales' deaths and a moratorium on offshore wind development activity off New Jersey until a cause of the strandings is determined.
Some opponents to the offshore wind farms blamed the activities of the survey boats, such as sounding the ocean floor, as the source of the injuries to the whales. Federal and state authorities such as NOAA, Gov. Phil Murphy and the state Department of Environmental Protection, however, have said there is no link between the wind farm activities and the whale deaths.
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Whale experts are also investigating whether behavioral or ecological changes could explain the rise in deaths. Last year, a Rutgers University study found that humpback whales were spending more time in the waters off New Jersey and New York, which experts said could expose the animals to greater risks from ship strikes around the region's busy ports and other potentially harmful human activity.
“Is it pollution? We don’t know what it is,” said Jack Hazah, a Long Branch resident who came to view the latest whale victim Sunday as word spread. “This is my first time seeing this, it is pretty unique.”
To report the stranding of a marine mammal or sea turtle in New Jersey, call the Marine Mammal Stranding Center at 609-266-0538.
Contributing: Amanda Oglesby
Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience who covers education and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of three books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at jstrupp@gannettnj.com and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Dead whale NJ: Another dead whale at the Jersey Shore
