October 9, 2014 — The menhaden have returned in numbers that local fishermen say they have never seen before — likely due to the improvement of local water quality. Sieswerda says all the environmental work since the ’70s is finally paying off. There is also a cap in place now on the Atlantic fishery for menhaden, a fish harvested for fertilizer and omega-3 fish oil.
The waters are calm as the American Princess cruises through the New York Bight, a nick of the Atlantic Ocean splayed between the shores of New Jersey and Long Island. Squinting, I spy a gentle “boil” of the ocean as hundreds of small shiny fish break the surface in circles spreading slowly outward.
Suddenly, a humpback whale bursts through this bait ball off the starboard side like a torpedo to its mark. The whale’s mouth is open wide and scooping in as many fish as it can hold, with the remnants spilling back into the sea. As it smacks its massive head down, a wave of very fishy whale’s breath blows across the bow of the boat.
The New York seascape’s warm waters are coming back to life, and these great leviathans are here to take a bite of the Bight.
Paul L. Sieswerda, a naturalist with Gotham Whale (the citizen science group that partners with the American Princess) is on board with me. He thinks the return of humpbacks to the New York Bight is a matter of their finding good food.
The menhaden have returned in numbers that local fishermen say they have never seen before — likely due to the improvement of local water quality.
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