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Post subject: Dead whale in Cape May be linked to boat sinking
 Posted: Oct 01, 2006 - 10:54 AM
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Puffer
Joined: Dec 31, 1969
Posts: 73
Status: Offline
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Dead whale in Cape May be linked to boat sinking
By RICHARD DEGENER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6711
(Published: September 29, 2006)
Press of Atlantic City www.pressofatlanticcity.com
WILDWOOD CREST A dead humpback whale washed ashore Thursday off Wisteria
Road, and investigators are exploring whether a sport-fishing boat that
sank last weekend hit the 35-foot animal.
The Chief, a 51-foot custom sport-fishing boat, sank quickly Saturday
morning during a tuna fishing trip to the Wilmington Canyon. The crew was
heading home to Delaware when the boat hit something large more than 30
miles off the coast of Cape May.
The crew reported hitting a black object shortly before the boat began
taking on water. All seven aboard the boat were rescued by the U.S. Coast
Guard on Monday after spending two days and nights on the open sea in a
life raft.
Robert Schoelkopf, who directs the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in
Brigantine, said the male humpback, an endangered species in New Jersey,
has the type of trauma consistent with a boat strike. He said it also
appears to have been dead in the water for several days before washing
ashore, so it meets the time frame of a collision with The Chief.It was
struck by something,A said Schoelkopf, while sharpening the flensing
knife he would use Thursday afternoon to dissect the whale.
Schoelkopf pointed to the area under the left pectoral fin that showed
signs of intense trauma, which he estimated was four or five days old. He
said the whale was hit so hard that the impact knocked its stomach and
intestines right out of its mouth.
Schoelkopf said he asked U.S. Coast Guard investigators to try to study
plot plans of the last voyage of The Chief to see if a collision could have
occurred.
'There's no way I can say it's that boat or any boat,' Schoelkopf said.
Sick whales sometimes beach themselves, but Schoelkopf said there is no
sign this whale, a healthy male not yet full-grown, was ill. He said fish
bones were found in its stomach.
'It was actively feeding. It wasn't sick. It was a robust animal,' he said.
The dead whale, spotted at about 4 a.m. by a Wildwood Crest worker cleaning
the beaches, drew a huge crowd. Hundreds of people arrived to see it while
news helicopters hovered overhead.
The crowd included the owner of The Chief, Frank Redmiles of Philadelphia,
and the boat's captain, Francis Gessler of Media, Pa. They came looking for
answers. They did not want the whale to be the object they hit.
'We were hoping it wasn't, but we saw something black when we came off the
top of that wave. I was hoping we didn't do this. Maybe it was dead when we
hit it,' said Redmiles, who was in the bridge during the collision.
Gessler was steering The Chief when the collision occurred but can't be
sure he hit a whale.
'There was a big boom and the starboard engine died. One of the guys said,
'What was that big black thing?' I caught it out of the corner of my eye as
we came off that wave, a black object, Gessler said.
Some have speculated it could have been a floating pile. It's officially
listed as an 'unidentified object' pending an investigation. If it were a
whale, that would explain such a big collision. The beached whale is
estimated to weigh 40,000 pounds. Redmiles said his boat, fiberglass over
wood, is 51 feet long, 18 feet wide and weighs 72,000 pounds.
The crew immediately had bigger problems. The Chief was taking on water and
Gessler began making mayday calls.
'I didn't have any concern about what I hit. I was just concerned for my
life,' Gessler said.
The crew faced 8-foot waves and winds gusting to 70 mph. Gessler was
broadcasting coordinates to the Coast Guard while Redmiles tried to
activate the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, or EPIRB. Water
was coming in so fast that he abandoned that task and went for a life raft.
'I stuck the EPIRB in a seat. It's still probably in the seat,' Redmiles
said, noting that EPIRB's don't work when they sink with the boat.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has enlisted
Schoelkopf as the lead investigator in the case. Coast Guard Sector
Delaware Bay is also investigating and said until its work is complete it
can't confirm The Chief sank due to striking a whale.
Whale watching boats in the area have been reporting sightings of three
humpbacks in the area, likely heading south for the winter. Humpbacks can
live to be 95 years old and reach lengths of almost 50 feet. It feeds on
fish and krill, as much as 9,000 pounds per day. Although found in all the
world's oceans, humpbacks are considered internationally vulnerable as the
historic population of 125,000 whales is now down to between 30,000 and
40,000 animals, according to the American Cetacean Society.
Schoelkopf said humpbacks have been dying mysteriously in New England
waters. He took numerous tissue samples for scientists to study.
Wildwood Crest has buried whales on the beach before, but in this case
decided to dissect the animal and take it to a landfill, Public Works
Superintendent Don Twist said.
'We've buried them before and we cut up a 60-footer a few years ago,' Twist
said.
Schoelkopf said the whale actually was discovered floating in the ocean
Wednesday. The Coast Guard placed a tracking device on the carcass.
The whale drew quite a crowd, in spite of the pungent odor. Kim Troiano, of
Wildwood, brought her triplets Ernie, Ava and Dominick, all 2, to see it.
'Want to see the big fishy? That's a whale like in Pinocchio,' she told
them.
Redmiles said The Chief was worth about $3 million but was insured for only
half that.
'They're trying to deny payment until the investigation is complete,' he
said. |
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