Overview

• Exclusive video shows two humpback whales breaching next to a haddock boat about 6–7 miles past the Isles of Shoals on Tuesday.
• One whale surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel as Captain Dale Sprague and first mate Matt Hamilton looked on.
• The crew quickly pulled in their lines, moved away from the animals, and reported no injuries after what they called a rattling encounter.
• Marine Mammal Conservation’s Ashley Stokes says breaching is uncommon and typically linked to play or shedding parasites rather than aggression, and she advises vigilance on the water.
• Sprague and Hamilton say the scare won’t keep them off the water, and coverage notes a separate July 2024 incident in Portsmouth Harbor when a breaching humpback crashed onto a boat and the occupants were rescued unharmed.