Yesterday, we posted about the remarkable recovery of humpback whales after have been hunted to near extinction in the 1980s. Coincidentally, yesterday morning, a humpback whale was spotted swimming in the Hudson River in New York’s inner harbor near the Statue of Liberty.  

In recent years, humpback whales have been more common near New York City, delighting whale watchers as humpbacks swim and often breach within sight of the New York skyline. A whale in the inner harbor is far less common. Yesterday, the Coast Guard issued a notice to mariners to proceed with caution around Liberty Island.  Petty Officer Steve Stromeir said the whale doesn’t appear to be hurt and is just swimming around the island.

Sadly, as whales have returned to the waters around New York harbor, so have the number of whales being hit by ships. Most whales seen in the inner harbor recently have been dead, the victim of ship strikes. Last July, a fin whale was killed after being struck by a ship and being carried into New York harbor on its bow. 

2015 was a particularly bad year for ship strikes. Kimberly Durham, the rescue program director of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation on Long Island, reports that 2015 was the worst year yet for whale mortality in the area. “Nine dead whales, mostly humpbacks, washed up on Long Island beaches,” she said, “almost double the number in our previous peak year of 1991.” Most of the carcasses had wounds consistent with ship strikes.

2014 was almost as bad. In one month’s time in the spring of 2014, two dead whales were carried on the bows of ships arriving in New York’s upper harbor.

Humpback whale spotted near Statue of Liberty in New York City