Overview

• A six-meter juvenile minke whale struck a small recreational boat in Barnegat Bay on August 2, ejecting a passenger who was rescued unharmed.
• Tidal conditions prevented close inspection when the whale later stranded, and initial observations found no obvious external marks.
• On Monday morning, stranding teams towed the carcass to a state park for a necropsy aimed at uncovering trauma and other factors behind its death.
• NOAA has opened an investigation into the collision’s circumstances, reviewing vessel speed, environmental conditions and footage suggesting pre-collision wounds.
• Wildlife experts and authorities are considering stricter safe-distance rules and speed limits to reduce vessel interactions with near-shore whales.