#Harbor spotted another whale in the E. River this morning right next to Gracie Mansion. Even the wildlife want to ring in #NYE2017 in #NYC pic.twitter.com/oQNbnGBirm
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) December 31, 2016
A whale was seen swimming in New York’s East River on Saturday. The whale was spotted at around 10AM along the shore of Manhattan’s upper East Side, close to Gracie Mansion, where the mayor lives. The initial police report identified the whale as a humpback. Based on the shape of the whale’s spout it appears to be an endangered right whale.
In November, a humpback whale swam into New York’s inner harbor and made its way up a short distance up the Hudson River. The whale, nicknamed Gotham, lingered in the harbor for a few weeks before heading out into the Atlantic in December.
While a tweet by NYPD SpecialOps suggested that “Even the wildlife want to ring in #NYE2017 in #NYC”, it is possible that the whale was going to join a pod in Long Island Sound. Despite its name, the East River is not a river but a tidal estuary connecting Long Island Sound to Upper New York Harbor.
After being rare for the last fifty years, humpback whales have also been returning to Long Island Sound. Last summer, several humpbacks were seen off the shore of Long Island Sound near New Rochelle, NY and Norwalk, CT. As we posted in November, humpback whales have made a dramatic recovery around the world.
Right whales, on the other hand, are highly endangered. The western North Atlantic right whale population contains roughly only 450 individuals. Right whales are slow swimmers and are highly vulnerable to ship strikes.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)has established speed restrictions in ports along the East coast to help prevent as many right whales ship strikes as possible.