Whale Found Dead On N.J. Beach, Last Seen Near Nuke Plant

A humpback whale that disappeared after it was seen in New Jersey near a nuclear plant was found dead last week along the shoreline.

The whale was found in the Cohansey River in Cumberland County, just three weeks after it was seen in the Delaware Bay. Ed Hymer, who fishes in the area, took a picture of the animal on Saturday.

Bob Schoelkopf, founding director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, said the whale was seen near the cooling water intakes at the Artificial Island nuclear generating station.

"The power plant was in a panic because they were afraid it would get caught in the intake pipe," Schoelkopf said.

Joe Delmar, a spokesman for PSEG, which operates the plant, said employees spotted it in the Delaware River and contacted the Marine Mammal Standing Center soon afterward.

But there was never any fear that the animal would interfere with the plant's operations, he said.

"We didn't think it would come near us," he said, "but we were just monitoring it in case it did."

Schoelkopf said people could see the whale's flipper was "bloodied up" and possibly injured before it disappeared for a few weeks.

The whale was estimated to be about 30 to 35 feet long and weigh eight to 10 tons. It was the second whale found along a South Jersey shoreline in a month. The other was found near Brigantine.

Schoelkopf said the whales are too big to be removed, so they were left at those two locations to decompose.

Photo courtesy of the family of Ed Hymer