MINKE WHALE DIES : SANDBAR : BOATS : STARVATION? : WHALE STRANDINGS DRAMATIC INCREASE

It appears that a Minke whale may have been starving, come close to shore, got stranded on a sandbar, and in it's struggle to get free, hit into a boat, throwing a boat occupant.. Here's the coverage by Newsweek.

NEWSWEEK : MINKE WHALES DIES AFTER BOAT COLLISION


Excerpt: However, vessel strikes, entanglement, and habitat disturbances remain significant threats to whales along the eastern seaboard.

U.S. maritime law, specifically the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, prohibits the harassment, hunting, capturing, or killing of marine mammals. The law includes specific rules for recreational and commercial vessels, requiring operators to avoid approaching whales within 100 yards and to reduce speed in certain areas to minimize the risk of collisions.


CBS NEWS: MINKE WHALE DEATH EXAMINATION RESULTS


Excerpts: The whale was 26 feet, 4 inches long and confirmed to be an adult female. The MMSC said the whale's body condition was thin. It also had "superficial cuts" externally and "bruising present in the blubber and muscle in the areas of trauma on the dorsal side." Blood was also present in the whale's lungs, according to the MMSC. .... "GI tract was empty with very little digestive material present, and a scant amount of fecal matter," the MMSC wrote. "Lesions were present in the stomach."

HOW BAD WILL THE SEA LEVEL RISE BE FOR CALIFORNIA? SURFRIDER FOUNDATION RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT ON BEACHES

SURFRIDER ANNUAL REPORT  Not just the Pacific or California...  but California got an 'A'.

Go to the FULL REPORT.  Washington state improved. Florida and New Jersey got worse.

Go to the GUIDE to see what change you can make.

***

Remember that the BEACH ecology impacts the OCEAN and EVERY MARINE ANIMAL IN IT!

MARINE MAMMAL STRANDING CENTER - ATLANTIC OCEAN : SEA MAMMALS and SEA TURTLES HEALED and RETURNED TO SEA : BEACHED WHALE INVESTIGATIONS

MARINE MAMMAL STRANDING CENTER  Dedicated to responding to marine mammals and sea turtles along all of New Jersey's waterways...  When an animal cannot be released, it is kept at the facility and given a place to live.

***

Excerpt:  MMSC's Large Whale and Dolphin Response.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center continues to be on the front line as the first responders during the recent increase in whale strandings that began in December 2022.  As a member of the Greater Atlantic Marine Mammal Stranding Network, we are the boots on the ground working together with or fellow network members to help find the answers.  The work that we perform is the first step in many that will bring us closer to understanding why we are seeing so may whale standings along the East Coast.

TWENTY THREE RECENT EAST COAST WHALE DEATHS SPARK ALARM : SHIP STRIKES KILLING MINKE, HUMPBACK, and NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALES

NEW YORK TIMES - 23 RECENT EAST COAST WHALE DEATHS 

These whales have washed ashore in recent weeks.  North Atlantic Right Whale - critically endangered. Minke whale.  Humpback whale.  Could it be that we just have to order things on line that are exported by other countries, rather than buying American made products and produce grown in the U.S. so that more ships are coming in and colliding with whales.

Well, my priority is not to buy anything from another country without an exhaustive search for MADE IN THE U.S.A. because most of the things you see for sale we really do not need.

Also windfarms offshore may be a problem for sea life.

BUT THERE IS ANOTHER ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR

Excerpt: The population of humpbacks, hunted legally until 1985, has rebounded, thanks in part to decades of efforts to clean the Atlantic Ocean and heavily polluted tributaries like the Hudson River. As the climate changes and oceans warm, whales and favored prey, menhaden, are migrating and feeding in new locations, often closer to shore.