Beached whale gets sandy burial in Rockaway

The 28-foot-long humpback whale that washed up on a Rockaway Beach earlier this week was buried Thursday morning. Photo courtesy of NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Rachel Vick

The 28-foot-long humpback whale that washed up onto Jacob Riis Park’s shore on Tuesday was buried on the beach Thursday morning.

Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, or AMSEAS, received a call about the beached behemoth at 1:30 p.m. on March 31, and continued to monitor the animal while working with Gateway National Recreation Area, National Park Service and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to determine the best way to remove the unfortunate mammal. 

The scientists were unable to conduct a full investigation because social distancing guidelines forced them to move quickly, but humpback whale beachings often occur after a whale is struck by a boat, said AMSEAS chief scientist Rob DiGiovanni. 

Photos taken on-site will be analyzed to try and determine the cause of this young whale’s death.

Humpback whale sightings in the waters off of New York City have increased dramatically in recent years as environmental efforts decrease pollution in the region. Whale watching groups like Gotham Whales have noted well over 200 sightings in single year.

DiGiovanni compared the migratory pattern of whales to human highway travel, with off-ramps to rest stops on the way to a final destination. The more food at the rest stop, the longer the whales are likely to stay, he said. 

“Because rest areas of today are better than those of 20-30 years ago, they tend to spend more time there, so there’s a higher likelihood of seeing them,” DiGiovanni said. “We’re likely seeing them here more because they’re protected and more are hanging in the area.” 

Whales have begun moving north after a winter break in warmer climes, he said.

“They've always been going through here, it's just a matter of them stopping,” he added. “It's really a byproduct of more animals here and more food close to the shore.”

There have been an unusually high number of large whale deaths in the northwest Atlantic, which includes New York, over the past three years. AMSEAS recorded 44 deaths since 2017, compared to about one a year a little more than a decade ago.

The organization is working to determine whether that number is indicative of the whale population as a whole or simply a result of an increase in the number of animals passing through.

Though whales traditionally travel in pods, there were no other sightings reported this week.

“Whales, especially large whales, can communicate over great distances, so they might be traveling together  but not be as close together as we would usually see,” DiGiovanni said. “There might be one you can see from shore and then one half mile off we don't see, but that's part of why we encourage the public to report what they see whenever they can.”