Yesterday a small whale washed up against the fishing pier at Port Mahon. Alex Tkachuk was there fishing and sent me a couple of pictures. Someone there called DNREC, and I called Suzanne Thurman at MERR. They sent a crew out there to decide what to do with it which most likely would be tow it off the pier out into the bay or even to the ocean. Today they were going to try and tow off the whale but the conditions are not good for a boat to get into there and tomorrow might be an issue as well. No idea what happened to the whale, apparently identifying it was not easy due to so much decomposition. Suzanne Thurman “Possibly a humpback, it is stuck on a piling right now. Can’t plan a tow until the seas calm down and then it is unknown as to whether a vessel can access the area”.
As of this afternoon the whale has been washed ashore which will make MERR’s job much harder disposing of the whale. Alex Tkachuk … “It is between what’s left of the old sea wall and the rocks, and it is starting to smell pretty bad” I remember the one that washed up on Bethany Beach, it is definitely a rough smell. Suzanne Thurman of MERR … “Unfortunately it is wedged at the jaw hinge on that piling, so it won’t go out and we can’t tow it to the land side because it will break up on the rocks. We can’t get a vessel in close enough either. We will have to wait and see if the next couple of tide cycles will float it over the pilings or bring it closer to shore. Access wise it is a lousy place for a whale standing.”
Fish On!
Rich King