August 29, 2014 — Cleaner waters affect the bottom of the food chain allowing plankton to flourish closer to shore. That in turn provides a food source for small bait fish like menhaden. And whales like nothing more than to scoop a school of menhaden into their mouths for lunch.
While it hasn’t become Cape Cod just yet, the number of whale sightings around New Jersey has increased substantially this year, suggesting that the state’s coastal waters are now clean enough to sustain humpbacks, finbacks and other species during their feeding season.
Since April, dozens of whales have been spotted from Sandy Hook to Cape May chasing down schools of small fish sometimes within a mile of New Jersey’s shoreline.
“They seem to be staying in the same area all season long, which is something we haven’t really seen before,” said Amy Bergeron, a marine biologist with the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center, which runs tours along New Jersey’s southern coast. “Some are not even a mile out. We know they come here for the food, and you’re seeing huge batches of bait fish close to the shore.”
As of last week, the Cape May center had 37 whale sightings, compared with 15 through October last year. And Gotham Whale Watch, a group of “citizen scientists” who catalog marine mammals in New York and as far south as Monmouth County, has reported 57 whale sightings so far up from 43 in 2013.
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