OCEAN CITY — A dead whale that washed ashore on the Seventh Street beach Monday may be the same whale that was reported in a shipping channel in Lower New York Bay, officials said.
Robert Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, said a similar dead whale was spotted last week about a mile from Ambrose Light, a light station at the intersection of several major shipping lanes between New Jersey and New York. Reported by a tugboat, he said, that whale was likely the victim of a ship strike.
“It’s an area with a lot of freighters coming in and out of Jersey City and Elizabeth,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for them to strike whales feeding offshore.”
Schoelkopf said the whale drifting in the shore break off Ocean City appears to be a 40- to 45-foot-long adolescent fin whale, based on photographs and video footage. Technicians won’t know for sure until they are able to perform a necropsy, he said.
As of 5:30 p.m. Monday, responders’ efforts were hampered by the fact that the whale’s carcass had not yet beached.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_75fbac4c-45ef-11e1-89a3-0019bb2963f4.html
Robert Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, said a similar dead whale was spotted last week about a mile from Ambrose Light, a light station at the intersection of several major shipping lanes between New Jersey and New York. Reported by a tugboat, he said, that whale was likely the victim of a ship strike.
“It’s an area with a lot of freighters coming in and out of Jersey City and Elizabeth,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for them to strike whales feeding offshore.”
Schoelkopf said the whale drifting in the shore break off Ocean City appears to be a 40- to 45-foot-long adolescent fin whale, based on photographs and video footage. Technicians won’t know for sure until they are able to perform a necropsy, he said.
As of 5:30 p.m. Monday, responders’ efforts were hampered by the fact that the whale’s carcass had not yet beached.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_75fbac4c-45ef-11e1-89a3-0019bb2963f4.html
