In 2009, a humpback whale sighting in New York Bay was a surprise. In 2011, there were 5 whales sighted over the course of the season. By 2012, there were 25 whales sighted, then 43 whales in 2013, and in 2014, the number reached 100. Gotham Whale, a volunteer non-profit founded by naturalist, Paul Sieswerda, has been tracking the influx of whales in New York water, in partnership with American Princess Cruises, which runs seasonal whale-watching three times a week.
Where once the closest whale watching was in Cape Cod, this year humpback whales breaching within sight of the New York’s skyline have become almost commonplace. The whales are believed to have returned to the waters of the bay due to cleaner water and an abundance of menhaden, a relative of the herring, which had been seriously overfished along the East Coast. Whale sightings in New Jersey from Sandy Hook to Cape May are up signficantly.
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There was a fleet of “bunker” boats out of Red Bank, NJ that served to decimate the menhaden school. The factories there gave off an atrocious stench. There was also a menhaden rendering plant in Napeague near Montauk. It probably provided an atmospheric barrier to enchroachment on Montauk from the Hamptons. It faded with the fishing as well. Glad the bunker are back.
Watch those Azipods!
It’s like the gamblers going to A/C, the deer just jump out onto the
GSP. Using the Deer Whistles, and the deer jump out of the woods, to see who’s whistling.
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