Questions remain after another whale washes up at the Jersey Shore

By Katherine Scott

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    ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (WPVI) — Another humpback whale washed up at the Jersey Shore over the weekend, concerning both residents and conservationists.

At least three others have washed ashore along the South Jersey coast since July.

“It’s just sad, that whales are just washing up,” said BK of Atlantic City, who declined to provide his last name.

“I have no idea why they’re washing up,” said Jay Bednar of Millstone Township.

Atlantic City officials say the 30-foot adult humpback whale was discovered on the beach near South Mississippi Avenue Saturday, only a few blocks from where another whale washed ashore on Christmas weekend.

The whale has now been buried on the beach.

Spectators watched as scientists began a necropsy on Sunday.

“Want to see what’s going on, what’s in the water? What’s bringing them in,” said Cecile Herskovitz, who lives in Atlantic City.

“I’ve lived here for many years and I can’t remember the last time I saw or heard a whale washing up on shore,” said Robin Shaffer from Ocean City.

On Sunday, a team from the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society in New York, which specializes in necropsies on large whales, collected samples. The samples will be studied to determine the cause of death.

“You thoroughly go through the animal, open it up, find out what happened with each organ, if you can, if everything is still intact,” explained Sheila Dean, the director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

NOAA Fisheries reports since January 2016 elevated humpback whale mortalities have occurred along the Atlantic coast from Maine through Florida. They said more research is needed to determine why.

Some ocean advocacy citizens groups believe an offshore wind turbine project is behind the problem. Groups are gathering on Monday to call for action.

“We’ve never had this number of whale deaths and beachings ever as far as I recall,” said Frank Leone from Protect our Coast New Jersey.

Still, experts say it’s too early to tell and it could take months to figure out why this whale died.

“They could blame maybe the Navy sonar. They could blame the fisherman. They could blame the pollution. They could blame people who throw plastic bags and still use them. They could blame people that drive their cars too fast because they’re using up more gas creating more emissions. There’s a lot of things that could happen,” said Dean.

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