Boaters are being given a shocking revelation after a humpback whale crashed into a fishing boat off the coast of New Hampshire, with teenage brothers capturing the entire incident on video and helping to rescue two fishermen who were thrown overboard.
In a highly unusual incident, a humpback whale leapt out of the water and landed behind a boat on Tuesday morning, tipping it over. Video shows fishermen Greg Puckett and Ryland Kenney falling into the water. They were quickly rescued by Wyatt and Collin Yeager of Elliot, Maine.
The accident involving the 21-foot-long boat happened near the mouth of the Piscataqua River on the Maine-New Hampshire border, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The crew was unharmed, but it’s unclear if the whale was injured, NOAA said.
Seeing a whale close to shore probably wasn’t a huge shock to boaters: The same whale, or other humpbacks, have been spotted in or near the river several times since July 2, garnering widespread coverage, said Jen Kennedy, executive director of the Blue Ocean Marine Conservation Association, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based nonprofit.
Kennedy said in her 30 years of experience, she had never heard of a humpback whale in the Piscataqua River until three weeks ago. She also had never heard of a humpback jumping on a boat in the area. “I’ve never heard of anything like that. I’ve been whale watching here since the mid-1990s.”
Why did the whale jump out of the water?
In the incident off the coast of Rye on Tuesday morning, the whale appeared to be charging in a classic humpback whaling tactic, Linnea Mayfield, a nature manager with Boston City Cruises, which is affiliated with the New England Aquarium, said after viewing the video.
Mayfield said whales blow big bubbles underwater to corral fish, then push through the bubbles to scoop up the fish. He said the incident was almost certainly an accident. Humpbacks have a blind spot, and “it’s entirely possible that the boat was in the blind spot when the whale jumped up to feed.”
Kennedy and Mayfield said they hear occasional reports of whales striking vessels in the region. Although rare, such incidents do happen from time to time, according to NOAA. Just two years ago, off the coast of Plymouth, Massachusetts, a humpback whale jumped out of the water in the middle of a group of boats and landed behind a fishing boat.
How rare is it to spot a humpback whale off the coast?
The whale, believed to be a juvenile humpback, had been spotted several times over the past three weeks, including July 2-4 in or near Pepperell Bay along the Piscataqua River in Kittery, Maine. At the time, the association and Kittery’s harbormaster warned that the whale could pose a threat to boaters because it was feeding in close proximity, The Portsmouth Herald, part of the USA Today Network, reported. The whale had attracted large groups of curious boaters.
The same juvenile humpback whale was spotted further upstream near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Sunday, Kennedy said. NOAA said the juvenile whale spotted in the river was likely chasing menhaden, a predatory fish.
Mayfield said it’s not unusual for humpback whales to stay in areas where they have easy access to food: “If the prey is staying in one place, they’re not going to go and look for food somewhere else. They’re going to stay where the food is easily available.”
Authorities hope to identify the whale
NOAA Fisheries is investigating whether the whale that struck the vessel is the same one previously spotted in the river, said NOAA spokeswoman Andrea Gomez.
The Blue Ocean Society is asking the public to share any photos they have of the whale that was captured Tuesday off the coast of Rye, New Hampshire, Kennedy said. If the photos are good enough, biologists may be able to identify the whale by comparing it to a photo catalog of known humpback whales in the area.
To identify it, biologists need clear photos of the underside of the whale’s dorsal and tail fins, Mayfield said.
Whale conservationists and NOAA offer this advice to boaters:
- Watch out for bubbles, they will turn the water surface a frothy seafoam green so try to avoid them.
- NOAA advises maintaining a healthy distance from whales by staying at least 100 to 600 feet from humpback whales and 500 yards from Atlantic right whales.
- In areas where whales are present, travel only at 10 knots to allow the whales and your vessel to safely leave the area.
- If a fisherman has a fishing line in the water and sees a whale, he should reel the line in as quickly as possible.
- If you see a stranded or entangled marine mammal, please report it immediately to NOAA’s Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline at (866) 755-6622.
Are the whales fishing close to shore this summer?
Regina Asmutis Silvia, executive director of the North American Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said it’s possible that multiple whales were targeting menhaden.
“NOAA has received multiple reports of humpback whales near the coast between Maine and Massachusetts, where there are abundant schools of prey fish along the coast,” Asmutis Silvia said. “Earlier this week, NOAA received a report of three whales in the outer harbor of Plymouth.”
The whales are mainly concentrating on young, relatively fast-moving prey, she said, and a typical lunge happens fairly quickly. “These whales have the concentration of a driver who’s circled the car park for a while and then turns his attention to the last free parking space — they’re not paying attention to anything but food, so boaters need to remain vigilant.”
Contributors: Glenn Sabalevski, Ian Lenahan, Portsmouth Herald
Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate change, whales and other wildlife for USA TODAY. She can be reached at dpulver@gannett.com or @dinahvp.