Whales spotted off Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich

NORWALK — Sal Rodriguez, a captain for Copps Island Oysters, was minding his own business Thursday afternoon, cleaning his boat near Greens Ledge Lighthouse when suddenly something startled him.

“The whale jumped up right next to me,” Rodriguez said. “It was the first time I’ve ever seen one. I thought it was a boat coming right toward me, but it was a whale.”

Humpback whales have returned to Long Island Sound, following schools of menhaden fish, and have been sighted on at least three occasions this week along the Connecticut coastline from Norwalk to Greenwich.

“Three whales have been sighted,” said Joe Schnierlein, research and university liaison for the Maritime Aquarium. “It could be the same whale in three different locations or it could be multiple whales. We don’t know at this time.”

David Simpson, director of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Marine Fisheries Unit, said they’d gotten word of sightings off Norwalk and in New Rochelle. Whale sightings have also been reported from Stamford and Greenwich. Simpson said whales can swim many miles in a day and could be anywhere in the Sound on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s clearly menhaden they’re feeding on,” Simpson said of photographs showing a whale coming out of the water with the fish, also known as bunker, spraying out to the sides.

Patrick Killion, of Rowayton, was out fishing with his friends Wednesday afternoon when they spotted the massive creatures swimming alongside their boat.

“It was just amazing,” Killion said. “We hung out for a good 45 minutes. We saw it a whole bunch more times. We thought there was maybe two of them, it was hard to tell. It was very cool. I’ve never seen them up close like that before.”

Schnierlein said three whales made their way into the Sound to feed on bunker last year, which are plentiful this time of year. They stayed in the Sound from August to October. Schnierlein said it’s unclear if these are the same whales, but that it is possible they remembered how good the feeding was and returned with that in mind. He said the bunker are rich in fats and oils, making them a great food source for whales.

Last year, one of the three whales was killed in a boat collision when a sail boat went through a bubble net during a regatta. Schnierlein said it is imperative that recreational boaters keep an eye out for circles of bubbles and schools of menahden, which indicate a whale could be near.

“The big thing right now is to get the word out to as many as people we can, especially to recreational boaters because they tend not to pay attention to Coast Guard warnings as much as commercial boaters do,” Schnierlein said. “We want to avoid a boat-whale collision, because we know of one, probably two from last year. We want to get the word out that if you see a large school of menhaden, approach with caution, and if you see a bubble net, go to the outside of it. It’s not normal to have bubbles coming up in the sound.”

Schnierlein said boaters should stay a minimum of 100 yards away from the mammals, but if boaters see a whale or capture a good photo he asks people to let him know so they can track the whales and where they are. There is no electronic monitoring of whales currently being conducted in the Sound.

Whaling was banned in the continental U.S. in 1982, which has lead to a slow population growth in recent years. Whale sightings in the Sound are rare, but data provided by the Maritime Aquarium shows there have occasionally been humpbacks, beluga whales, manatees and pods of dolphins that have made their way into the protected waters. Prior to the 1950s, sightings of marine mammals, specifically dolphins, were fairly common and even expected during the warmer months as more people were on the water or at the shore.

The DEEP will be putting out an advisory to boaters, reminding them that by federal law they must stay 500 feet from marine mammals, and not act in a way that changes their behavior.

Schnierlein can be contacted at 203-852-0700, Ext. 2352 or jschnierlein@maritimeaquarium.org.

“It’s exciting knowing that they’re back and it’s exciting knowing there’s enough food for them, but at the same time it’s something that the people who live and play on the water need to be aware of.”