Two groups of fishermen had recent close encounters with humpback whales off the Jersey Shore.
In early June, two men fishing in a 25′ boat not far offshore near Seaside Park, NJ were thrown from their boat when it was capsized by a humpback whale. The juvenile humpback was apparently feeding on the same school of fish that the fishermen were trying to haul in.
“He was six feet in front of me, kind of like if you’ve ever saw ‘Jaws,’” angler Robert Riley told ABC 7 of the harrowing moment a whale sprang from the sea on Monday. “The fish just breached the water and I was like, ‘It’s going to land on us.'”