NJ whale deaths: Animal experts work to dislodge dead minke whale stuck in Leonardo Marina

MIDDLETOWN — A dead whale was stuck on Thursday morning between a bulkhead and breakwater at the Leonardo State Marina, where authorities attempted to dislodge it during the morning's high tide, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center of Brigantine.

The roughly 20-foot-long dead minke whale was spotted before 3 p.m. Wednesday at the marina — upside down and trapped by the bulkhead — and reported to the stranding center, according to the organization's Facebook page. Marine mammal experts could not remove it Wednesday due to low tide, according to the stranding center.

Middletown Public Works personnel will help stranding center staff remove the dead whale on Thursday and move it to a new location, where whale experts are expected to perform a necropsy, according to the stranding center.

Another minke whale died earlier this month along the Jersey Shore. That whale was euthanized by marine mammal experts after it stranded multiple times in Barnegat Bay.

Minke whales are found throughout the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and are hunted commercially in a small number of countries, including Greenland, Norway and Japan, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

Other threats to minke whales include entanglement in fishing gear, noise pollution in the ocean, vessel strikes and climate change, according to NOAA.

Related: Big ships speed through safety zones off Jersey Shore, putting whales in danger

NJ whale deaths: See the full list to learn how each of them died

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers education and the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than 15 years. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Whales dying: Dead minke whale stuck in Leonardo State Marina