A 20-foot Minke whale stranded in very shallow waters in Barnegat Bay this weekend in the Jersey Shore area later died before marine rescuers could make it to the distressed whale.
Video from nearby boaters showed the black-and-white Minke whale in Barnegat Bay near the Double Creek Channel on Saturday splashing in shallow waters.
Witnesses told FOX Weather the whale came in contact with at least two boats while in the bay. Boater John Barrett said the whale was “flopping around” and flopped onto a pontoon boat. Another video showed the whale coming in contact with a boat, causing it to tip and a passenger to fall off the vessel.
Barrett told FOX Weather he saw the whale around noon in the inlet, where the water is about 20 feet deep, but several hours later, it was in the Double Creek Channel, where the water is only a few feet deep.
“Some boats were trying to get a picture, getting closer and closer,” Barrett said. “They were getting too close to get a picture.”
Experienced boaters like Barrett, who is out on the water four days a week, said encountering whales in Barnegat Bay is rare.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) in Brigantine was contacted by the New Jersey State Police Marine Unit about the whale in Barnegat Bay near the inlet. A multiple-agency response was coordinated with the U.S. Coast Guard, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Conservation, marine police and Sea Tow with a stranding coordinator from MMSC.
A Minke whale in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025.
(John Barrett / FOX Weather)
Sea Tow remained on scene while the stranding coordinator was on the way.
According to the MMSC, at 3:40 p.m., a boater reported that a vessel had struck the whale, causing the boat to nearly capsize.
Before MMSC could arrive, Sea Tow officials reported the whale was dead.
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MMSC and New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Conservation officers arrived to find the whale “resting on a sandbar in very shallow water outside of the channel.”
Due to the tidal conditions, teams could not reach the whale on Saturday. The whale will be moved to a nearby New Jersey state park on Monday by Sea Tow and a necropsy will be performed.
“Boaters should be advised to use caution in the area north of Double Creek Channel in Barnegat Bay and to keep a minimum of 150 feet away from the whale carcass for your safety,” the MMSC said.
Any whale or marine distress sightings can be reported to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center Hotline at 609-266-0538.
According to the MMSC, this is the third whale stranding this year in New Jersey. A long-finned pilot whale and a humpback whale were also stranded this year.
